WD My Passport 0740 USB Device not working

I’ve had this drive for about 6 months and at the start it was fine - I hooked it up to my TV with all my kids’ shows on it and it worked perfectly, then I hooked back up to my computer to add some shows to it and it said it needed to be formatted??  I plugged it back into the TV and again worked fine could watch the shows etc.

After a couple of goes I thought okay I’m going to have to accept that there’s a problem and I said Okay reformat it - it stalls for awhile and then it says “Windows was unable to complete the format”.  When I now plug it back into the TV nothing shows and it doesn’t recognize it.

I’ve tried chkdsk and the black screen pops for about 1 second and then goes away. 

It shows up as E: drive as a type of generic drive but when I go into properties it basically says there’s nothing there.

I gave up on it for awhile put it in the too hard basket and bought another WD drive.  Again working perfectly for a little while - was playing on the TV and I have just now plugged it back into my laptop (Dell - Vista) and it has done the EXACT same thing.  I haven’t pressed reformat because I don’t want to lose everything on it again.  I’ve plugged it back in and it’s still working on the TV at the moment.  I ran a chkdsk on it last night but it was taking ages so I went to bed and it was gone this morning so I assumed it was okay?

I don’t have another computer in the house but my next step is going and testing it on another computer but any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

Let’s just say not having the greatest appreciation for WD at the moment !!

Thanks

Dude the drives are getting corrupted when switching from the TV to the PC

please check the user’s manual on the TV to see what’s the best way to disconnect the drive from there

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Thanks I’ll look into that.

Do you think the drives are cactus now?  One won’t reformat any way I try (Dos/disk management and normal).  The other one says reformat but I’m too scared because I need what’s on it and I don’t want it to go the same as the other one.

If that’s the case you will need to get a recovery software before formatting

The EXACT same thing just happened to me to my 1TB WD Portable USB 3.0 HardDrive. Is there any updates on your situation, im very scared. This Hard Dive is only 7 months old!

I am having the same sort of problem with my device. I can only see this passport in control panel - hardware and sound- devices and printers. I do believe that my drivers may be corrupted, yet I am not sure what program i need to get to partition the device to make it work properly. Even though mydiagnositc test has stated that their is nothing wrong with the driver, there clearly is. Any help on this issue is appreciated.

I am having almost the identical problem with my WD My Passport 0740 USB Device, only my device has only been used in my laptop and desktop computer.  I have had this device for 7 months and it worked perfectly until a couple of weeks ago.

On my laptop, when I connect the device it states that the USB Device is working properly, however, does not show up on My Computer under hardware devices, but when you go to the control panel it is listed as available.

When I connect the device to my desktop computer it states that the device is not recognizable and will not prompt it.

The white indicator light continuously blinks on and off instead of going solid as it used to do.

There seems to be a major software flaw with this device which does not allow the driver to identify and connect the device to the computers.

Any suggestions on how to retrieve all the pictures and important documents off the USB Device?

Hey i am also having the same problem… can any one tell me how this can be formated…

Hey,

Any update on this? I am facing the same problem with my 0740 HD as well. When I connect it to my Laptop, the LED blinks on. Please let me know the solution to this. Thanks.

 am having almost the identical problem with my WD My Passport 0740 USB Device, only my device has only been used in my laptop and desktop computer.  I have had this device for 7 months and it worked perfectly until a couple of weeks ago.

On my laptop, when I connect the device it states that the USB Device is working properly, however, does not show up on My Computer under hardware devices, but when you go to the control panel it is listed as available.

When I connect the device to my desktop computer it states that the device is not recognizable and will not prompt it.

The white indicator light continuously blinks on and off instead of going solid as it used to do.

There seems to be a major software flaw with this device which does not allow the driver to identify and connect the device to the computers.

Any suggestions on how to retrieve all the pictures and important documents off the USB Device?

My son just handed me his backup drive WD My Passport 0740 with the same problem. Looks like a growing issue. So when does WD step up and acknowledge a solution?

What good is a backup drive if it’s unreliable?

I have the same problem. My HD is not recognized when I connect it to an USB 2.0 port. The light blinks and the PC (Windows XP) slows. After  a long time (i.e. 1 or 2 hours) the drive is recognized in my computer but takes a lot of time to open.  Tried to another PC, same result. Impossible to recover data.

OMG… I am having issues as of late also.  Have two WD 0740 that are doing weird things.  I am trying to transfer data from the Passport to my computer.  Nothing is working…

One will not recognize the path to where the file location is at.  Error tells me to check path?   Not sure what path it wants me to check it shows the files and folders in the WD itself just does not pull them out or open.  I really do not want to lose this Data. 

The second WD 0740 does not auto play and find itself.  I can see the device in the Ccntrol panel but it will not open.

I have tried different computers and Operating systems.  This is not the solution. 

What do I do?  I really need the data from these drives.  I have two years of Grad studies stored. 

Somebody please help me…