Drivers For Wd Passport Portable Hard Drive

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These hard drives do some come with a driver of thier own as a design descision, which was fine and dandy before Windows 7 popped up, as all PCs ran a similar default driver system. Now, with Windows 7s new driver and file format system (which is still able to sommunicate with all other pre-Windows 7 product I own that can with its own driver), WD’s hard drives do not follow a format that Windows 7 can read.

Hi Donna,

Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for posting your query.

Let’s try installing the WD passport driver in compatibility mode and check if this helps. I suggest you to install the drivers supplied by the manufacturer any disc or USB which came along with the WD passport drive.

  1. Right-click on the setup file of the driver and select Properties.

  2. Select Compatibility tab.

  3. Check Run this program in Compatibility mode.

  4. Let the driver install and then check the functionality.

You can also visit the below link and try updating the driver and check.

If the issue still persist, I recommend you to contact WD passport team for further assistance.

Hope this helps. Keep posting us with the status we will be glad to help you.

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Hello,

thank you for replying to my query.

Firstly I have a couple of questions-

do I uninstall the WD security and WD utilities files before I reinstall them?

do I then try and start the install process again from the Manual I downloaded?

Also, I wasn't able to find a compatibility tab.

regards,

Donna

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Driver For Wd My Passport External Hard Drive

Thanks for your feedback.

Hey DonnaW2 :)
Billion gave you some good advice! The two WD software programs shouldn't be a problem and I don't believe you should uninstall them when working with the drivers. Feel free to post back if you have trouble finding the drivers or any other problem with the drive! you can contact our support here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=lckjWh
Cheers!
Captain_WD.

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Hello Billion and Captain_WD,

Thank you for your help.

Billion,

I did get so far with your advice but wasn't quite sure what software to download from the website you gave me.

I did try but it said I didn't have privileges.

My next step which was what you Captain_WD suggested was online support.

I've now done that and everything is working perfectly

Than you to both of you, much appreciated.

Donna

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Hi,

Thank you for keeping us updated. If you need further assistance with Windows in future, let us know and will be happy to help.

Thanks.

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Hello,

Well my WD passport is working but I still get the message that my File History Drive has been disconnected for too long.

I went in Settings / back up/options and it is still saying last back up was 25/09/15 which was probably just before I installed windows 10 and today I'm getting the same notification.

I did a 'back up now' but the back up date didn't update.

Thank you for replying to my questions.

Donna

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You are most welcome! Can you verify that the backup is current and not from the older date? If the update is OK and the date is the only problematic thing I'd say that you should turn to the MS's live support. If the backup is not updating I would try doing it on another external drive and see if the results are different.
Post back when you do the tests.
Captain_WD.

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Drivers For Wd Passport Portable Hard Drive

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Hello Captain_WD,

Thank you for your reply. How do I know that date of the back up? The online tech remote support did a back up yesterday after he downloaded the compatible win 10 version and the files backed up mirror those on my PC but there's no date that I can see?

Also in settings on Win 10 and I do 'back up now' nothing seems to happen. The date stills says Sept and immediately the 'reconnect your drive' error message comes up.

Sorry, not great with this stuff,

Donna

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Hey again :)
This should give you a good amount of info including how to check the contents of the backup: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/back-up-restore-faq#1TC=windows-7
I would recommend backing up your data with another tool to an external drive just to be on a safe side that you have a current backup of your data. You can try using WD SmartWare: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=45KZ4B
If you have questions for regarding software or anything else feel free to ask :)
Captain_WD.

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It doesn’t help that WD keeps the same names for its hard disk drive ranges even if new models are released almost every year. Take the My Passport Ultra, for example: TechRadar first reviewed it in 2013, and back then, it had a different design and a much smaller capacity.

External Hard Drive Wd Passport

The 2019 version is a major upgrade on the 2017 spin, introducing a new design, a Type-C connector (rather than the flat USB one) and an updated version of WD’s Discovery software. The My Passport Ultra (2019) is available direct from WD for $119.99 (4TB), $89.99 (2TB) and $69.99 (1TB) respectively.

Design

WD has given the plastic/metal combo from the previous generation a different design, fusing modern anodized metal and textures, in either a dark blue or a silver finish. That’s down from six options in the previous range (which are still on sale at most retailers).

There’s a white activity light which indicates that the device is active, idle, or in standby, and you get a USB Type-C connector (USB 3.1 Gen 1) plus a cable and a Type-C to Type-A adaptor.

The reviewed 4TB model weighs 232g without the accessories, with a footprint of 82 x 110mm and a thickness of 21mm, almost double that of the 1TB/2TB models as it carries more platters.

Benchmarks

Here’s how the WD My Passport Ultra 4TB performed in our benchmark tests:

CrystalDiskMark: 127MBps (read); 124MBps (write)

Atto: 130MBps (read, 256mb); 122MBps (write, 256mb)

AS SSD: 122MBps (seq read); 113MBps (seq write)

Performance

This storage solution uses an OEM drive that’s not available on the open market – WD’s laptop drives have a maximum capacity of 2TB. You can buy it (WD40NMZM) from eBay, but it will cost four times the price of the WD My Passport Ultra 4TB portable drive – the laws of supply and demand at work!

What we know is that this hard disk drive has 5,400RPM platters, probably two of them, each with a 2TB capacity, hence the increased thickness. We don’t know the cache capacity, but what we can observe is that it generally performs worse compared to the G-Tech 2TB mobile USB-C drive, which is likely to contain a 2TB single platter version of this drive.

Our standard 10GB test file was transferred in just under 100 seconds, making this one of the slowest drives we’ve tested recently. The WD My Passport Ultra does get relatively warm in use and produces an audible hum (about 48dB if you put your ear to it – not that you’re likely to do that, of course).

The WD Discovery software acts as a dashboard that offers access to the My Passport drive and to My Cloud Home (if you have an account). From here, you can switch off the LED light, and set up a password for your drive with 256-bit AES hardware encryption. It also carries an app store that provides direct access to free and paid applications at reduced prices. At least one of these apps – ENCSecurity’s Encryptstick– is obsolete, however. Grab WD Backup and WD Security, though, as they are decent and versatile solutions which cost nothing.

Then there’s Upthere.com which is the cloud storage solution from WD. You get 20GB free off-the-bat, with cross-platform compatibility and two-factor authentication by default. Upgrade to 100GB for $1.99 per month with no yearly contract.

Final verdict

With a three-year warranty by default, a useful set of utilities, a reasonable retail price and decent performance, the WD My Passport Ultra 4TB (2019) marginally improves on an already good product.

Drivers For Wd Passport External Hard Drive

In a mature market where the upper limit for portable hard disk drives seems to be 4TB – we tested one of this size back in 2015! – there’s little need or desire to innovate, with pricing becoming the sole metric these drives are judged on.

Against the likes of the Seagate Expansion, which costs 25% less, the lure of a three-year warranty and a Type-C connector might be diminished. Plus the Seagate drive comes with a two-month complementary membership to the Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan worth $20.

Then there’s the other more affordable WD portable hard disk drive, the 4TB Elements, which retails for a smidgen under $100. It lacks hardware encryption and the three-year warranty, but is more than likely to pack the same hard drive as the My Passport Ultra.

All in all, consider the My Passport Ultra if you want the lengthy three-year warranty and absolutely need a Type-C connector. The drive’s performance is on par with the rest of the competition, and its software bundle is useful.

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