A day ago I bought the new Passport external HD and I have huge problems with the cable that was in the package. The USB cable on the side of the HD is very sensitive on moving. Even the smallest move of the cable disconnects the disk from the computer. I read a lot of complaints, but got no proper fix for the problem. Will I have to return the HD and get the portable of some other company?
Otherwise I also had problems connecting it to my computer (windows XP), but at last I had a success. The reason for not connecting was the USB 4 port bridge I was connecting too. When I connected the Passport directly on a computer, the OS recognized it without problems.
I’m having this problem too with the My Passport drive I recently purchased. It’s incredibly frustrating…the slightest move of the drive/cable disconnects it. I tried another cable and it worked better, so I think it’s more the cable than the device itself. I’m going to see if I can find a way to complain to WD and get a new one…
I have also had the problem with a 1tb passport usb cable of the new smaller variety. Any movement of the drive will disconnect the drive from the computer. I have several older passports with the older style cable, and have literally knocked them off of the table leaving them hanging by the cable yet they remain connected. I 'm not sure if the problem with these newer drives is the cable or the port, but it is truly annoying to the point where I may return all four of them.
It’s not the cable it’s the the whole idea of the WD USB plug/cable that’s so frustrating:
ADVANTAGES:
It’s smaller (but what for? Even the Passsport is not that small that the plug would make a difference)
DISADVANTAGES
It’s hyper-sensitive to any movement on the calbe (and hence bad for the HDD inside when it regularily gets disconnected on a whim every so often)
It’s unreliable
It’s easy to break
It’s imcompatible with the standard Mini USB cables.
It’s look and feels says fragile trash
It is important to address this issue to WD as a community because we aren’t the only ones who struggle with this new plug.
I guess the policy of WD to be “innovative” has been pushed a little too far by abandoning established (and proven!) standards in favor of trying to bond their customers to WD-specific cables.
Although I was usually very staisfied with WD my personal consequences in this matter are to not buy any more WD products until the issue is resolved or there is an option to decide between products with regular Mini USB and WD-USB plug & cable. Let the market decide. And we all know where this is headed.
Thanks for reading. I just had to let off some steam
I also purchased a drive with this problem, and I later found other instances in the product reviews at the site of the store where I purchased. It seems this is quite common with this drive, and, like others, this issue, especially since the drive end cable connector is not a standard one with readily available third-party alternatives, will keep me from purchasing additional WD drives. Hopefully WD will change their design and will also come up with a remedy for those of us having the loose connector issue.
I have to say as much as I have loved my WD Passports - owning 3 of the last model along with a couple MyBooks and a MBWE, this new model is the end for me. The engineer on this cable design needs to go back to school and take a few more dynamics classes and the usability testers should all be fired, seriously, they didn’t do their job. Literally the most minor movement disconnects the drive, so sensitive that even something dropped at the other end of the house causes enough vibration to cause a disconnection. Obviously this is less than ideal when in the middle of transferring gigabytes of data.
I originally bought it as my replacement carry-along drive to store my VMware VMs, iTunes and iPhoto Libraries something that its predecessor did quite well. Because of its sensitivity I still carry the older one and this one sits plugged in to my iMac largely unused.
I contacted WD support and they are going to ship a replacement cable. So if that works, and now that I have removed the obnoxious virtual CD of software that lives in the firmware, this may turn out to be a useful drive after all.
Just registered to say that the same happens to me. My Passport Essential SE 1TB, it disconnects too often. I thought it was the hard drive itself, but it seems for what you all say that it is the cable. Has anybody adress WD directly on this issue? Is a replacement cable the only answer? Because if the cable is the same it does not look to solve anything.
In any case, I still can return the product, so this Thursday it goes back to the store,
So it’s the cable?  I need a new cable also,  the one I have is uber sensitive.  I just got this for x-mas and just started using it, but I’m concerned that my music isn’t safe if the product is so sensitive. Â
Do WD admins read this? Â I need a better cable or a better product.Â
You need to go to the Western Digital site (westerndigital.com) and, under Support, go to Phone & E-mail Support. Submit an e-mail there with your cable request.
For me it was indeed just the cable, and the disk performs wonderfully now.
EUREKA!!  I’m not the only one going crazy.  I’m having the same erratic behavior.  I never know when my passport is going to be recognized by Win 7.
I’m going to complain tool
At least they allowed us this forum, but it doesn’t look like it’s being monitored.
I have the same problem with my cable. I’m done with this product. It’s outrageous that WD uses a proprietary cable and doesn’t even offer a replacement for sale on line. I misplaced my cable and have a lot of important data on the drive. Now I have to shell out $$ for another drive just to get the cable. As soon as I transfer the data, both drives are going in the trash. This is one crappy drive and a shabby piece of marketing.
But it isn’t a proprietary cable. It is mini-USB. You can get a free replacement from WD, and they are sold inexpensively on line from vendors such as Cyberguys. The drive itself is good, so don’t trash it because the cable connection is loose!
I guess I have the same problem. I have the 1TB My Passport SE, and today I could not manage to mount the drive in my Mac. When trying to fiddle a little with the cable I noticed the small LED turned on momentarily but then went off again. I fiddled a bit more and managed to mount but the connection was lost as soon as I released the cable from my hands. Â I tried different positions with no luck until finally I grabbed some rubber bands and striped the cable really tight to one side, then it finally mounted. Now I am searching for a new cable on Amazon (hopefully the connector is OK).
