My WD Passport is failing - need help saving data

[Kodia]

I am almost in tears now. All my pictures, videos and other important irreplaceable files are in my Western Digital passport hard disk - about 450 GB worth of it.

The Problem (what happened :

I plug on my Hard Disk as usual, but this time when I click on certain folders, it gets jammed, and though I can still cruise through the folders, all the files had disappeared!
I try safely removing the hard drive, but it says that the hard drive 'is still in use', so I just pull it off.
When I plug it back on, I was relieved! Everything was there but after about 5 mins and/or going to certain folders - BAM - it happens again - freezes and everything disappears. And again the hard drive cant even be safely ejected and I have to pull it off.

So, I plugged it back & I tried saving some of my pictures the pictures were copying fine until it got to a certain picture - BAM - it freezes (said something like 'Access denied or no specified file to copy'.
Now I'm so scared to even plug it back on! What happened to those files? corrupted due to virus attack? irretrievable? But I can still see it there! it even previewed...


OMG. Please help me. I'm going out of my mind. Its enough that my laptop is dieing and now my hard disk too?

How am I going to save my data?...

 

[Tmagic650]

Take the Passport to a computer repair shop or back where you bought it and have them recover your data to a new external drive before it's too late. You will need a new external drive anyway

 

[Kodia]

Okay thanks...but is there anyway I could do it myself? what do you mean by before its too late? Is it gonna get worse as I leave it?

Btw, Do you know a more active forum where i can ask for help?

 

[Kodia]

is it okay if I do it after one month?

 

[Tmagic650]

It's your choice to wait or not. If your data is as important as you say, unplug the external drive and put it in a safe place. As I said, you will need a new external to move your data to

 

[Kodia]

Theres a big reason for the wait. But my sis told me the longer I wait the worse its gonna get even if its not used. Is that true? how is it possible if Im not even going to plug it?

 

[Tmagic650]

"But my sis told me the longer I wait the worse its gonna get even if its not used. Is that true?"... No, this is NOT true, unless you never turn it off again, and leave it running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you can't do this, put it away until you can get a new drive, or risk loosing your data forever!

 

[Tedster]

your drive will not get worse because you're not using it. But it can get worse if you leave it plugged in and on.

Try reading the files with an external cable on another computer. then transfer them away.

photos and other important documents should NEVER be not backed up.

 

[Kodia]

^ what do you mean external cable? can you explain a bit - I'm a computer noob,
and can you give me advice on how to back-up my files next time?

 

[r3dark]

the cable that connects the hardrive to the computer, and keeping the hardrive unplugged of power is what i got from that.

 

[mike1959]

If your WD passport is still under guarantee, and the reason it is failing is mechanical, you probably can get it replaced...but then you have lost all your data.
So to rescue the data yourself, you need some storage of 500GB, (on your main PC or another external HD), and then some software to do the 'recovering' for you.
But be aware, you probably won't rescue everything, if some sectors have failed on your WD drive, that data has gone.
Saying that, you might be surprised how much you can rescue and copy over to another drive.

 

[erwin1978]

It could be the enclosure is malfunctioning while the harddrive itself is still working fine. May be you can take out the harddrive and connect it via IDE or SATA directly to your computer.

 

[Tmagic650]

If the enclosure is still under warranty, it's not a good idea to take it apart just yet. Chances are that you can't do this yourself anyway. Just put it aside and leave it alone for now. In a month take it in for service

 

[Kodia]

^ thanks all. Will take your advice.