New WD Passport Studio Causing Problems

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New WD Passport Studio Causing Problems

Just got a new passport studio because of the firewire 800 and for the most part it's working great. It does seem to be a little quirky though. I plugged it in earlier and it didn't show. Then I tried again, and it showed up, but finder locked up, and then all of the desktop icons disappeared. The only way to get them back is to do a restart. I'm trying to figure out if something is wrong with the computer or with this passport studio. any suggestions are greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

powerbook g4 15-inch 1.5ghz aluminum

Posted on Apr 1, 2009 3:00 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 2, 2009 12:47 AM in response to bingston

I have a My Passport™ Studio™ 320 GB western drive but I was able to use time machine once. The info page says the latest backup failed because "the backup volume could not be found". My external drive no longer appeared in the finder. I used disc utility and tried to verify and fix disc. I had to erase it and start again. It appeared in finder, I started time machine, and same thing happened. This is obviously a little frustrating since I have to erase the external hard drive in order to read it again. In desperation I am just copying everything over without time machine's help.

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Answer 2

Apr 2, 2009 12:56 PM in response to bingston

Also just got my Passport Studio 500 GB. After pluggin in first with firewire 800 cable, i only get a ready status light. No drive on the desktop or finder. This also happens with the firewire 400 cable and also with the USB cable. What's wrong?? I have another Passport without any problem. And a WD My Book with also no problems. What's wrong with this one ??????

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Answer 3

Apr 2, 2009 2:40 PM in response to iPointBlank

Well well, I can see it now in USB mode. Seems like trouble with the cables, because i used the USB cable from my normal passport. Stil can't get it work with firewire. Strange........very strange.

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Answer 4

[Xero]

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Apr 6, 2009 7:39 AM in response to iPointBlank

Hi guys, I'm having the same problem with my "Passport Studio 500Gb" hard disk.

Sometimes finder doesn't recognize the drive and I have to restart the system. Often, while I'm listening to the music located on the WD drive, iTunes stops the current song, and after a few seconds it starts again, as if the data can't be read from the hard disk. This problem is similar to what happens with a streaming transmission and a slow connection.
Another problem I've experienced is a message from finder who says that the hard disk has been removed, but it is still plugged.

I updated the "Turbo Drivers" but still nothing changed, I removed "WD Drive Manager" but nothing seems to change. Now I'm going use it without any WD driver/software.
Later I will try other cables, now I'm using the FW800 cable.

Stay tuned, I've paid 160€ for this drive, and I can't believe it doesn't work properly.

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Answer 5

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Apr 6, 2009 10:55 AM in response to [Xero]

Western Digital's external hard drive enclosure electronics are just plain crummy. There's nothing wrong with the drive units inside them, and I don't hesitate to buy WD drives for internal use (I own two at present). But nothing could induce me to buy a WD MyAnything external drive at any price, because I've seen more problems posted in these forums involving Mac notebooks and WD external drives in the last three years than all other brands of external drives combined. WD's enclosures draw too much power, they won't stay mounted on the desktop, they misbehave when the computer sleeps, and sometimes they aren't bootable. It's just not worth the hassle. Remove your drive from its enclosure and throw the enclosure away. Buy a decent enclosure from OWC, NewEgg or ZipZoomFly.com and mount your drive in it.

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Answer 6

[Xero]

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Apr 7, 2009 5:39 AM in response to eww

Thank you eww

Yesterday I reset the SMC of my MBP and for all the day long the hard disk worked fine.
Now I'm having the same problem.

I can't believe It... did someone tried to contact Western Digital support?

Message was edited by: [Xero]

Message was edited by: [Xero]

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Answer 7

bingston Author

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Apr 7, 2009 6:32 AM in response to [Xero]

Seems like a lot of people are having problems with this thing. It's actually my boss that's having the problem. It happened again yesterday. Finder froze up and the desktop icons disappeared. He unplugged the drive and the icons popped back on the screen and everything was fine. Initially his time machine was turned on and kept failing while making a backup. Since then he's turned it off and things haven't been as bad, but like I said it happened again yesterday, so I guess that didn't fix anything. His USB port isn't working at all. Maybe he just got a bad one. Anyone have any suggestions? I guess we'll be contacting WD next. Thanks everyone, and good luck with the problems you're having

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Answer 8

jpma

Level 1

60 points

Apr 7, 2009 8:25 AM in response to bingston

I have been thinking to get the wd passport studio, never expect to see so much problem.

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Answer 9

Apr 7, 2009 9:23 AM in response to bingston

The Passport Studio series may claim to be fine with firewire 800, but they are not. I have a 320GB version that works fine with USB2, but is clearly not getting sufficient power over the firewire800 bus. Status lights come on, but the drive is unable to spool up. The same thing happens over firewire 800 on my 52-month old powerbook G4. An older 80GB OWC Mercury-on-the-go firewire 800 bus powered drive works fine with my MacBook Pro, so it is clearly not the port, but the passport drive itself.

If you really want to go Western Digital passport series, forget the firewire 800 version, save the money and buy the basic USB2 passport drives, which work just fine powered over a USB port (and the 320GB basic level passport USB 2 drive is only $90 at Staples). If you have a firewire passport, it should be fine with a USB connection. I have used both the "studio FW800" and the cheaper passport (USB only) drives, and both cloned and boot my MacBook Pro fine over USB2.

Western Digital needs to get their FW800 power issues sorted out.

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Answer 10

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Apr 7, 2009 1:28 PM in response to jpma

Don't even think about it. Instead, buy a bare 2.5" SATA hard drive and mount it inside one of these enclosures:

http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Search.cfm?Ntk=Primary&Ns=P_Price%7c0&Ne=5000&N =6586&Ntt=ExternalEnclosureKit

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Answer 11

Apr 7, 2009 2:07 PM in response to bingston

Have you checked to see if there is any new firmware for the drive? I have the 500 GB version and I recall ( though memory may be failing 😉 ) that there was a firmware update from WD that helped with that. You had to install the firmware via USB but it helped keep the drive ready and connected.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=113&sid=60&lang=en

Hope this helps..

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Answer 12

bingston Author

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Apr 7, 2009 4:05 PM in response to Rudy Milkovic

Thanks, I'll look into the firmware. I contacted WD today but haven't heard anything back yet. I'll post whatever they have to say when I hear from them.

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Answer 13

Apr 8, 2009 5:31 AM in response to bingston

I picked up a My Passport Studio yesterday, I already own a My Book Studio (which has been faultless for about a year) so I figured WD would be the brand to go with for my more portable option.

I installed the drive manager and turbo drivers then formatted the drive just to be safe. I then started to transfer a 300gb folder over which froze osx, so then I tried smaller sized folders which worked at first then froze on the second attempt. So after multiple attempts and freezes I removed the turbo drivers and the manager which made both my drives slightly less responsive. I then downloaded drive manager 2.5 from the wd website (2.4 shipped on the passport) and after installation has so far had no problems. I have just transfered a 100gb folder which it managed fine, I am currently half way through a second 100gb folder which i will keep you posted.

Maybe 2.5 has the reliability fix?

Sorry about the long winded post, didn't want to miss anything out.

Hope this helps...

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Answer 14

bingston Author

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Apr 8, 2009 8:08 AM in response to bingston

So this isn't much help, but this is what I got from WD this morning:

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support.

We truly apologize for the inconvenience you are having and we will be more than glad to assist you.

Are you hooking up your external hard drive to a FireWire hub? It is always recommend that you plug your external hard drive directly into your computer. Are you using the power adapter we supplied with your drive?

Do you plug your external hard drive's A/C adapter into a power strip or directly into a wall socket? If you are using a power strip or battery backup then we recommend that you connect your hard drive directly into a wall socket. In the past, we have seen several customers who have had issues using power strips and battery backup devices.

In order for us to help you further, we need to have more information.
- Have you installed the latest OS updates as well as updated the FireWire controller drivers on your computer?
- Have you tried connecting your external hard drive's FireWire cable into a different FireWire port on your computer?
- When connected to a different port, do you have the same problem? Have you tried a different FireWire cable?
- Are you experiencing any other problems with FireWire devices on your computer?
- Does your external hard drive have the same problems if you try it on a different computer?

The answers below may have resolve some or all of your questions.

Answer Title: Problems using a USB hard drive with a USB hub, PCI card, or PC card.
Answer Link: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?p_faqid=1233&pcreated=1091039432

Answer Title: What is the correct power supply to use with your Western Digital external hard drive?
Answer Link: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?p_faqid=1378&pcreated=1118358612

Sincerely,
Jose N.
Western Digital Service and Support
http://support.wdc.com

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Answer 15

Apr 8, 2009 8:41 AM in response to bingston

Looks like even Western Digital does not know the difference between their MyBook (externally powered drives) and Passport (connector bus-powered portable drives) lines. Asking about a Passport Studio's "power adapter" makes me think they did not truly read you email.

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