WD My Passport Essential 500GB P/N: WDBACY5000ABK-00

WD External and Portable SSD Portable SSD
1

I have had this My Passport for about 3 years now and all of a sudden it stopped working. I am using Windows 7 SPc1. I have tried downloading a new driver and I have downloaded updated firmware. The error message from Windows tells me that the device is disabled and when I try to enable it, the error message comes up saying that Windows cannot enable the device. When I go through My Computer, there is no listing for the drive and no letter. (It used to be drive M). When I use the disk management, it is not listed there either.

I sometimes get an error message saying the device was not functioning properly and Windows has disabled it. It gives me a chance to enable it there when I follow the enable links, it fails again.

I have taken the drive to a neighbor and plugged it into his computer and it is recognized immediately. When he clicks on the device, it opens and shows the three main folders on the drive. That leads me to believe that the driver is okay, the USB cable is okay and the device is okay.

I have read many of the other request for help and I see that other people have part of my problem, but none of them adress all of the troubles after trying all of the remedies that I have implemented.

Seems to me that if the cable is okay and the device works and other computers can recognize it in Windows, then I should have use of it on my computer. BTW, I also have moved the device’s USB cable around on the back of my computer. Nothing seems to work.

I will appreciate any help I can get because my Computer is in serious need of a Back-Up and a System Image.

JLA

2

Welcome to the community SkyyMann. If you have verified that the Passport is working fine on another PC then I would recommend checking that the USB ports on your PC are working fine. Also see if you can download the latest USB drivers for your motherboard. Avoid using USB extension cables or USB hubs since these can cause power inconsistencies. 

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I don’t know how many others might fall into my category but my solution came to me about 7 AM on Friday morning after being up all night long. It was so plain and simple that I was embarrassed for myself.

I finally decided rather than keep re-installing new drivers and going back to the old one  I should uninstall the entire device and reboot my computer. I unplugged the device while the computer was shutting down and I re-plugged the cable in while the computer was re-booting. As I expected, my Windows 7 SP1 recognized the Passport as new equipment and started installing the proper drivers for it. Once it was finished, I re-booted and when the computer was in full operation again, I clicked on My Computer and lo and behold, The Passport was listed. It was not on “M” andy longer but it works fine where it is.

I appreciate the help, but I had all ready checked the USB ports. Actually I had checked every thing except reinstallation. All my data was intact and I am happy as a lark. I hope this helps someone else.