This is the second WD Passport that has crapped out on me. It’s a 3TB I believe. It shows in Device Manager under Disk Drives. It also shows in Disk Management through the Computer Management console but says it’s “unknown” and an error saying that it it needs to be initialized. When I click to initialize it gives me an IO error. I ran it through Data Lifeguard Diagnostics and it passes both the quick and extended tests (ridiculously quick with the amount for the amount of data I have on the drive) but Smart Status says “? Not Available.” Strange how it is detected in three separate places but just won’t allow me to see or access the drive through Windows Explorer. I am at my wits end…someone please help!
It is possible that the partition on the drive may be damaged. Try to initialize the drive using the instructions from the link listed below, keep in mind that the process will erase all data from the drive. If you’re still unable to access the drive, you’ll have to replace it.
