My Passport Drive - blinking light, will not mount

Question

My Passport Drive - blinking light, will not mount

I have a WD 1TB My Passport for Mac external USB drive that no longer mounts. All I get is a blinking light. There are no unusal noises coming from the drive. I have ran Apple Disk Utlity but it cannot repair the drive.

I have a new external USB drive. I need to get my design files copied off! I checked into a few data recovery services that quoted me $1000+ (they didn't have the actual drive, these were just quotes over email).

Does anyone have advice on how to get the drive to mount so I can copy the files off? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Posted on Mar 22, 2014 6:55 AM

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Answer 1

BobRz

Level 5

6,138 points

Mar 22, 2014 7:09 AM in response to browncreative

Often it's not the drive that's failed, it's the SATA circuitboard in the enclosure. I'd remove the drive from the enclosure and put it in a generic enclosure if it were me.

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-Inch-Aluminum-Enclosure-EC-TB4P/dp/B005EIGUD4/ ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1395497340&sr=8-3&keywords=2.5+enclosure

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Answer 2

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Mar 22, 2014 7:08 AM in response to browncreative

Take the WD out of the enclosure and install it in another enclosure. The connect it to your MBP and see what happens.

Ciao.

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Answer 3

Mar 24, 2014 5:42 AM in response to browncreative

Thanks Ogelthorpe and BobRz. I gave it ONE more shot and was able to actually get it to mount using Apple Disk Utlity. So I managed to copy all of the files off the damaged drive.

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Answer 4

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Mar 24, 2014 5:44 AM in response to browncreative

Good. 🙂

Ciao.

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Answer 5

BobRz

Level 5

6,138 points

Mar 24, 2014 5:46 AM in response to browncreative

See if you can get another cable for it. If the SATA board had failed it's unlikely you'd be able to read it. It may be as simple as getting a $3 cable off Amazon.

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