How to dismantle a Western Digital My Passport external USB 3.0 hard drive

[@lexwaldez]

1. Yay! Successfully took it apart, no clips broken, perfect. 2. Boo! Integral USB 3.0 connector! I was hoping to mount this in an external SATA bay to try and get data off of it. That's not happening. C. I found that if I used a tiny flat head and pushed perpendicular to the sides it opened very easily. Thank you for the helpful video. Appreciated!

[@mikeosbornevideo]

did you ever manage to get data off your drive? I have the same issue

[@griffinp8694]

So is there any point to dismantling this HDD if it doesn't have a normal SATA connection??

[@perisaiyan]

So, this means that its case can't be replaced?

[@whatheshow]

Super helpful vid. My passport died and I was looking to replace it with another 2.5" hd, but alas no SATA connection. You saved me a lot of time and aggravation. Thanks!

[@IraQNid]

You didn't talk about the pins on the front of the unit next to the USB 3 port. Are those used for setting slave/master states like in the old days of jumper pins?

[@mygame595]

Hey, At the end of the vid you showed your 1tb drive. IT had plexiglass attached to it. I am wondering what for? What are you working on?

[@greezay]

Thanks! I've had the rattle of the LED light for years on my passport and now it's put back together properly and no rattles. Thanks again.

[@KaWulfe]

please please please please, how do you open the drive or what it is that you took out of the plastic casing, the actual hard drive, because I can't find any screwdrivers that will fit. Please.

[@alcon04]

WD drives are bad quality they should make the enclosure easy to open so we can just put a better one instead mine didn't open with the credit card trick but i had the smart phones tool kit. Thanks!

[@stefannnn1k]

Nice guide, is there a way to add or remove a jumper so I can boot OS from the drive? Mine is currently not bootable.

[@robertmeyer1618]

I have a 2TB WD My Passport (seems to be more slim than what you've shown) and I need to start remedying problem with it by replacing the female port (connector) which I have but can't seem to get the green control board off, even after removing the 5 visible screws. What next? Concealed screws somewhere? Seems it's being held on one side only by something & don't want to break it. I had tripped over the cord and it stopped working. I heard a "creak" sound when catching it with my foot. So: how to replace the connector (first)? Can you or someone help?

[@justadrummervienna]

is the warranty realy lost if you open the enclosure? it has no effect to the drive since its only a plastic case.

[@xzhang8800]

1 second ago HI is there suitable external enclosure for WD Elements Portable WDBU6Y0020BBK, which I think doesn't use SATA drive, there are only 6 non-protruding pins and the USB port is directly connected to the circuit board. same as the one you are showing here, how can i fix/change it please? thank you for your help!

[@HattonBoxingTV]

How do you get the metal cover off the drive itself? I've removed all the screws with a torx T6 and still can't budge the bugger.

[@MrPelzi91]

Hatton BoxingTV u don't do it... :D it is the cover of the drive and if you remove it the hdd will not work after that unless u have special tool to put the screws back :D

[@sebastianad9222]

Hello is there a complete factory reset mode on the WD MyPassport " How do I reset my WD MyPassport external hard drive? "

[@ignae]

Is it possible to dismantle and use in a Drobo?

[@MasterNix]

Thanks to this video I finally was able to dismantle and get files from malfunctioning harddrive. Thank you.

[@mikeosbornevideo]

can you help? how did you get the data off of your drive. I have the same drive but the built in port means I cant get the data off

[@MasterNix]

@@mikeosbornevideo To be honest, I ended up smacking dismantled drive. It started working, and I took data before it broke again.

[@mikeosbornevideo]

@@MasterNix oh wow, you were lucky. Might have to give that a go. at this point i dont have much to lose!

[@dhianefka]

@@MasterNix LoL.... I'm in the same situation here, finding for answer for broken drive. your final answer are amazing! LoL

[@SomnathDas-ej3ve]

If its soldered into the main board so it is good or bad.

[@BlackHawkPSU]

Can a model WDBZFP0010BBK-01 be taken apart and plugged into a dock? I'd like to try and recover files as the drive for no apparent reason is not being recognized. No clicking sounds, it sound fine actually, but Windows won't see the drive.

[@eiabanana]

I accidentally dropped my WD my passport ultra 1TB and it won't read anymore (though the lights are still on). I know I have to accept the fate but is there any way I could retrieve all of my files there? Thanks.

[@jinx-nu4uj]

shit im in the position too 3 hours ago, so did you manage to fix your drive?

[@titamhau3857]

Mine too can someone help me pls

[@perplexed.wanderer]

Me too !!! Same situation with 4 TB My Passport Portable.

[@louminati4312]

If any of you figured this out let me know 😭😭😭

[@ah_luna]

Cool video...... but does this really mean once you lost your datas you canno recover them ? thank

[@SlayerFeast]

are those tiny holes(heat exit) on top side of drive or was that just design ?

[@darkangel59713]

Nah, just design. I've got the same one.

[@kemanth100]

Will removing just top plastic void warranty ?I just removed it but I placed it correctly and sent it for replacement please reply

[@Digikidthevoiceofreason]

Well it has been three months now so you tell us. Did your warranty get honored or not?

[@kemanth100]

I got my hdd replaced in a week no problems

[@kemanth100]

Ya I had 450gb data on HDD all gone they didnt recover They only sent a brand new HDD

[@m.m.imrankhan3438]

I have a 1TB silver WD My passport, same case structure as yours but silver in colour. Does that also have the USB3.0 connector fixed with the main board? Can you confirm?

[@mathewmjohn7322]

M. M. Imran Khan Check on the USB cable. You might see a tag mentioning that. :D

[@majsterV]

M. M. Imran Khan Yes.

[@SlayerFeast]

does these wd my passport drives spin ?

[@PSP_vip]

can plug it with saya cable for motherboard ?

[@robertsarao830]

Since the USB connector is part of the hard drive...... How can I get a broken USB connector fixed.....?

[@robertmeyer1618]

same issue here but no one responding . . .

[@UACNA]

Throwing it against the wall works too :P

[@abdullahbhatti4234]

It did !!!!!

[@deivuuk]

I managed to get the casing off with a very thin knife - the same I use to eat my food with. Came in seconds with zero damage at all. I only did this as a test though as the drive was already broken thanks to my having dropped it a couple of years ago. It still worked after that until just recently!

[@JuanDeLemos]

Hi !!! Can you make one from the new My Passport WDBYFT0040BRD-0A ???

[@LTDanno360mods]

dang just broke my heart ... wanted to put it Inside my Linux Box but no sata ports

[@lucylucy5452]

shattered my heart

[@mmkengg]

My USB 3.0 port came off ( separated from board). Is there a way to fix this problem?

[@SMGJohn]

MOHAMMED Mutai Khan Solder it back on carefully

[@wendellhanley6210]

MOHAMMED Mutai Khan how did that happen??????

[@msharathmanju6388]

Will WD Elements Portable 1TB USB 3.0 detect and recognized in TV's..??

[@angelf.4837]

msharath Manju yes

[@sebastianvalenzuela7397]

also, You can or can't use it in a PS3? I didn't understand because i am from Chile

[@amazingfred]

Can't

[@markwhidby5148]

Mine finally failed today 29/02/2024 - I took it apart to see how old it was - 14/02/2013 (13 days newer than yours!) . It's been in more or less constant daily use to keep my PC backups on, but it has now been replaced with a new disk.

[@mizunochocolatte]

can you put on the case again after dismantle it?

[@blahblahblahblha303]

Yes, it clips back on, if you're careful taking it off.

[@mizunochocolatte]

Steven Smith ok thanks

[@LoveFromNewYork]

Disappointing product! Got one and failed recently.

[@you2449]

had one for about a year. Hardly used. would just back up stuff onto it occasionally. Suddenly it's not recognized. Wow!

[@IsakWangberg]

Same here...

[@you2449]

UPDATE: It's working now! try running Chkdsk. Directions here: /watch?v=Ix13LRGmzk8

[@IsakWangberg]

Oh, glad it worked for you. It did not work for me, because i use the mac type...

[@Mr.kiran007]

Sir how to use this HDD as a internal hard drive??

[@jameshasanswers]

you can't - at least, not in a traditional way. The microusb 3.0 port is soldered to the drive, meaning, the only way to connect to it is via USB3. (You technically could get an internal USB3.0 port installed in your computer and run it that way, but not quite what I suspect you were thinking of)

[@Mr.kiran007]

@@jameshasanswers because my internal HDD wad dead, that's why i want to this hard drive use as internal ( i used this hdd via USB but i think speed is slow )

[@Mr.kiran007]

@@jameshasanswers because my internal HDD was dead, that's why i want to this hard drive use as internal ( i used this hdd via USB but i think speed is slow )

[@JulianPope]

no help, needed to see it be completely taken apart

[@leebeni8106]

Dont used this Western Digital My Passport portable hard drive, lose all your data.

[@anglicky69]

yeah. mine bricked too

[@ljilhk]

mine is on its way out

[@jeroenboom8]

Me too

[@mrbobo86]

Mine also crapped 0ut

[@Matowix]

why do they call this a flash drive when it has a spinning disc hard drive in it ?

[@coolmackerel6]

+Matowix this is an external hdd, flash drives are small and solid state.

[@Matowix]

the one I brought wd elements says flash memory on the box and in the specs which is misleading

[@coolmackerel6]

Might be an SSD, press your ear on the drive while it's running. I doubt it is though.

[@AmpliFreQuency]

Decided to take my 2TB model apart since it stopped working, just to look at it close up. Pretty pointless to build the drives this way; both size and connector. Now I'm thinking about taking the drive itself apart. Edit: Looking at the comments, these seem to be notorious for failing. I have hard drives from years ago that haven't failed yet.

[@reddevil9554]

A plectrum is also good to open things like that. That's what I use.

[@yahyaibnmasoud8130]

god bless you it was very helpful

[@lucylucy5452]

0:41 learned that the hard way

[@nickmcdaniel6071]

bought it to use with my ps4 but now I have to just plug it in and use it externally :(

[@hiteck007]

Well seeing this just saved me a few hundred.

[@blahblahblahblha303]

Or, y'know, just use a blade or flathead screwdriver or anything else with a bit more sturdiness than a credit card :P I was struggling to follow your tutorial... then I remembered I had a flathead. Ten seconds later I had the case open.

[@jameshasanswers]

if you use something metal like a screwdriver, it'll likely rip up the case - if you're fine with that, then not a big deal

[@blahblahblahblha303]

I just did it with a pocket knife, no scoring on the case at all, but I did it pretty carefully, so YMMV.

[@ExternalHDD-Reviews]

Use knife and case will be opened within 3sec :D

[@akpokemon]

Credit card was ripping up the credit cards and not doing jack. Careful with small flathead did great

[@amanraze]

Video is about 4mins longer than it needed to be

[@bijjames]

The card works great!! Didn't break anything!

[@juancabeza5809]

1:05 there!!!...

[@Nutekdo]

Very good video !

[@NicholasAthias]

Thanks for the great vid, unfortunately the brand is totally rubbish; just fell one time and I'cant use it anymore. I've had external hd's from other manufacturers that still work after falling down.

[@wendellhanley6210]

NicholasAthias i have that very same one and it fell and it still works fine....had it for about 4or 5 years now

[@Clara_Page]

Damn that scuppers my plans for using my 2TB My pass port X from my XB1 in my PS4 pro when i get it :-(

[@chrisolvera7904]

Clara Pagett why

[@Clara_Page]

Exciting Street Stars Because I was going to crack the 2TB drive out of its case and swap it into the PS4

[@Djmeqa]

thanks i was hoping to be possible to swamp dying hdd

[@ray_jack3703]

I just retrieved all the data on a My Passport 1To for a friend, with RecoverySoft. Had some dificulties to start it on my XP, but after some tries he founded the good driver. The name of the disk appears ! and I could retrieve 100Mo of pics and videos. My friend is very happy ! But after all of this, I couldnt read it any more, and could'nt reformat even in low level. If someone know how to get it alive...

[@msamorimsp]

TOP, TKS!

[@mahmoudnadi1992]

Well that's an annoying design. Was hoping to swap the drive.

[@Joshuaxiong2]

You didn't dismantle it all the way.

[@Digikidthevoiceofreason]

Explain please.

[@Joshuaxiong2]

The hard drive can still be opened and then you can see the metal disk inside it, very unsafe.

[@RDUBTutorial]

guess ya cant fix the blinking light but not mounting problem by cracking these open. Rats

[@domantasbronusas]

i damaged almost everyone of them.

[@Blue-Lady]

Uggh fuck.. no SATA.. ridiculous.

[@raveenwijesekara111]

I broke my credit card

[@diego.e.a]

This drive is a piece of shit. I barely used mine and it failed after 2 years. Waste of money. I will never buy another WD hard drive again!

[@race4785]

Never buy a WD hard drive they fail within a week