WD Passport Does not read 3.0 USB

EmDee8907 · May 18, 2023

Hello I am having a slight issue with my new laptop. I have had it since February of this year and have a lot of passports I am trying to sort through. I have one WD 2tb that will not read. It reads on my old laptop and if I use a hub it will read on 2.0 hubs, the laptop itself only has 3.0s and wont read just the one. the passport starts and the lights on but never get the pop up

I tried other cables and checking the drives. I found a couple of very old articles online but there are no resolutions listed.

I tried new cords, and formatting the drive as well.

TM21 · May 18, 2023

For whatever it's worth....
I've been given several external HD's from Western Digital, that appeared to be dead. In every case it was just the Drive to USB interface and not the drive itself. So I've removed every one of those drives from their enclosure and just installed them in my PC's as normal hard drives. My largest one is a full sized, 8TB drive. I use it for Large File backups.

Good Luck,
TM

MisterEd · May 19, 2023

It is possible the USB port is not putting out enough power for the Passport. Does the laptop have any other USB ports you can try?

I used to have an old laptop that stopped being able to connect to an external USB powered drive. I ended up having to use it with an old USB 2.0 4-port hub. The hub had an AC adapter to power it. That was OK since the laptop only had USB 2.0 ports itself.

idgat · May 19, 2023

WD devices come with added-in auto run software. Your device may be "protecting" itself from these programs.

What are the AutoPlay settings for your Windows installation?

EmDee8907 · May 19, 2023

idgat said:
WD devices come with added-in auto run software. Your device may be "protecting" itself from these programs.

What are the AutoPlay settings for your Windows installation?

open folder to view files. its the only hard drive that doesnt pick up using 3.0 hubs

EmDee8907 · May 20, 2023

MisterEd said:
It is possiIt has ble the USB port is not putting out enough power for the Passport. Does the laptop have any other USB ports you can try?

I used to have an old laptop that stopped being able to connect to an external USB powered drive. I ended up having to use it with an old USB 2.0 4-port hub. The hub had an AC adapter to power it. That was OK since the laptop only had USB 2.0 ports itself.

it has 2 one on each side and they are both 3.0. so odd it only works if i have it plugged in with a usb hub. i have other passports that are much newer and run find on the 3.0. hopefully I can leave this open and someone might have an answer. i finally got a new laptop after 15 years so dont feel comfortable playing with any settings to see if i can figure it out lol

idgat · May 20, 2023

Boot from a Linux distro (Mint is good) and test to see whether it's your device or the OS

EmDee8907 · May 21, 2023

idgat said:
Boot from a Linux distro (Mint is good) and test to see whether it's your device or the OS

not sure what you mean by this? sorry im still learning the laptop

idgat · May 21, 2023

EmDee8907 said:
not sure what you mean by this? sorry im still learning the laptop

Linux is an operating system that can be run from a USB device i.e. it is not installed on a device and it doesn't replace the existing installed OS (Windows)

To create the USB ...

download the iso file for Linux Mint
download and run the program Rufus to create the boot USB, using the abovementioned downloaded iso file
boot from this newly created USB (you'll need to know the boot options for your new device)
DON'T INSTALL MINT, just run it from the USB
plug in your errant WD 2TB device and check whether Mint can see it

Winuser · May 21, 2023

EmDee8907 said:
it has 2 one on each side and they are both 3.0. so odd it only works if i have it plugged in with a usb hub. i have other passports that are much newer and run find on the 3.0. hopefully I can leave this open and someone might have an answer. i finally got a new laptop after 15 years so dont feel comfortable playing with any settings to see if i can figure it out lol

I wouldn't mess with any settings. I have a feeling that it has to do with it being an older drive and the laptop only having USB 3.0 ports.

MisterEd · May 21, 2023

Winuser said:
I wouldn't mess with any settings. I have a feeling that it has to do with it being an older drive and the laptop only having USB 3.0 ports.

Being USB 3.0 has nothing to do with it. USB 3.0 is backwards compatible with USB 2.0. Also, if the ports are to spec then a USB 3.0 port should be able to put out more power than a USB 2.0 one. Of course that is only an assumption because I don't know what the specs are for the OPs laptop.

Like I said in Post #3, I only used a USB 2.0 hub because that is the only powered hub I have. The hub is powered by an AC adapter. That way the hub is powering the drive and doesn't need power from the computer's USB port.

BTW, I only needed to use the USB 2.0 hub with the external drive with my oldest laptop. The external drive works fine with my other two laptops which have USB 3.0 ports.

Dru2 · May 21, 2023

Agree with MisterEd,

As one who uses lots of WD Drives (internal / external) and have 3 My Books (USB 2 & 3) and one Passport (USB 2.0) whether the drive is plugged into a USB 3.0 or 2.1 makes no difference in operation outside transfer speeds. In short, you can use them on any USB port.

The only thing that will happen is if your device is 3.0 and anything in that chain is 2.0 (cables, USB port), the transfer speeds will run at USB 2.0 speeds. Additionally, a USB 2.0 device will not run at USB 3.0 speeds even if the chain is fully 3.0.

Anyway, one thing I will say, and especially for WD Passport drives on "hubs".... I've seen too many instances of inconsistency in working when attached to a hub. For this reason, I NEVER use a hub with external drives.

Additionally, "if" one is to use a hub, I'd suggest a powered one. That said, I'm aware hubs can also work. But....

MisterEd · May 21, 2023

USB 2.0 has pins 1-4.
USB 3.0 includes the same pins 1-4 for but adds pins 5-9 pins for added speed and power. This allows a USB 3.0 connector to be backward compatible with USB 2.0.

All the devices, connectors, and cables must have the USB 3.0 pins 5-9 to operate at USB 3.0 speeds. Otherwise they will run at USB 2.0 speeds. Note the pins are not enough. The controllers must also support USB 3.0.

Dru2 · May 22, 2023

Funny how others get credit for what someone else said. Must be a popularity contest thing

EmDee8907 · May 23, 2023

ok so i tried the linux option suggested above but no luck. I guess im back to googling or hoping someone helps with a resoltution

glasskuter · May 23, 2023

I totally agree with @Dru2 about using a powered hub. I have a 1 tb passport and a 1tb WD in an enclosure. As long as plug into my PC(either in 2.0 or 3.2 port) all work fine, but not when plugged into a hub. I bought a powered 3.2 hub and solved the problem.

MisterEd · May 23, 2023

glasskuter said:
I totally agree with @Dru2 about using a powered hub. I have a 1 tb passport and a 1tb WD in an enclosure. As long as plug into my PC(either in 2.0 or 3.2 port) all work fine, but not when plugged into a hub. I bought a powered 3.2 hub and solved the problem.

I guess you missed my post #3. I solved my power problem with an external drive by using a powered USB hub.

An unpowered hub is OK if you need little or no power. Each port on a 4-port unpowered USB hub has less power than the computer's USB port. Using it makes any power problem worse.

Winuser · May 23, 2023

The drive is and older 2.0 drive. The newer drives work. The drive works when plugged into a USB 2.0 hub. Yeah, I'm sure that my post is 100% wrong.

MisterEd · May 23, 2023

Winuser said:
The drive is and older 2.0 drive. The newer drives work. The drive works when plugged into a USB 2.0 hub. Yeah, I'm sure that my post is 100% wrong.

Like I said USB 3.0 is backward compatible with USB 2.0 so the external drive should work with either type of port. You probably had the same problem as I did where the USB port on the computer couldn't provide enough power for the external drive. To get around that you use a powered USB hub. Doing that allows the hub to provide the power for the drive.

BTW, I only used a powered USB 2.0 hub because that is all that I have. If it was USB 3.0, 3.1 or USB 3.2 it would have worked the same except would have been capable of faster speeds.

Winuser · May 23, 2023

MisterEd said:
Like I said USB 3.0 is backward compatible with USB 2.0 so the external drive should work with either type of port. You probably had the same problem as I did where the USB port on the computer couldn't provide enough power for the external drive. To get around that you use a powered USB hub. Doing that allows the hub to provide the power for the drive.

BTW, I only used a powered USB 2.0 hub because that is all that I have. If it was USB 3.0, 3.1 or USB 3.2 it would have worked the same except would have been capable of faster speeds.

Where does the OP say that they used a powered USB 2.0 hub? One drive and only one drive isn't working. I stand by my post that it's possible that it's because of it being an older drive. Why does the drive work on the old laptop and not the new laptop? Saying that USB 3.0 is backwards compatible is not solving the problem.

WD Passport Does not read 3.0 USB

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