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WD Passport drive (1TB) now asks to be formatted!

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  • 17-04-2016 9:25pm
    #1
    raspberrypi67
    Registered Users Posts: 767 ✭✭✭


    Hi Folks,

    I've a feeling nothing can be done here and I've tried the obvious, but when a computer fails to see your usb drive its probably only fit for a drinks coaster!
    I had a lot of movies and holiday photos backed up on this WD passport drive, I'm sure you people know them. 2 years old only. Now when I attach the usb it tellsme the drive needs to be formatted....I nearly had a heart attack. Luckily im technician so I could potentially change the electronics in it with the same type in order to get the info off the platter. Has anyone ever done this before. ?
    Guess what, I wont EVER be buying Western Digital again ( F*****s)
    Tagged:


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    #2
    whizbang
    Registered Users Posts: 1,924 ✭✭✭whizbang


    About 1 in 10 times i use a usb storage media, i get this sort of crap from windows. 90% of the time, there is nothing much wrong, try it again a few times, different ports, even different pc.

    However, like everyone else before you, you find these things are not reliable enough to backup anything at all.


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    #3
    degsie
    Registered Users Posts: 8,740 ✭✭✭degsie


    raspberrypi67 wrote: »
    I had a lot of movies and holiday photos backed up on this WD passport drive

    When you say 'backed up' this would infer you have another copy as any technician worth their salt would do. ;)


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    #4
    PropJoe10
    Registered Users Posts: 5,253 ✭✭✭PropJoe10


    raspberrypi67 wrote: »
    Hi Folks,

    I've a feeling nothing can be done here and I've tried the obvious, but when a computer fails to see your usb drive its probably only fit for a drinks coaster!
    I had a lot of movies and holiday photos backed up on this WD passport drive, I'm sure you people know them. 2 years old only. Now when I attach the usb it tellsme the drive needs to be formatted....I nearly had a heart attack. Luckily im technician so I could potentially change the electronics in it with the same type in order to get the info off the platter. Has anyone ever done this before. ?
    Guess what, I wont EVER be buying Western Digital again ( F*****s)

    Have you tried mounting it in a Linux distribution to see if you can see the files on the drive? Worth a try. Worked for me before with a USB key that Windows told me was borked.


  • Options
    #5
    FanadMan
    Registered Users Posts: 3,820 ✭✭✭FanadMan


    Or even try a different USB cable. It's worked for me a few times with quite a few devices.


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    #6
    él statutorio
    Registered Users Posts: 1,259 ✭✭✭él statutorio


    You might have some luck with linux.

    However, firing all your important pictures etc onto an external USB drive isn't a back up. It's a copy, you don't have any redundancy (as you've now discovered).

    Get a NAS (with more than one drive) which would at least give you some redundancy if a drive fails. Or cheaper still is get a pair of USB drives and have the same stuff on both, the chances of both drives failing at the same time are much smaller.


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