# Western Digital My Passport Very Slow



## madgenius

Hi

My 1 TB Western Digital external HD has become unusably slow, it takes a very long time to access and even longer to copy anything off of it to my desktop, 2 1/2 hours for a 700 MB file.

I have googled for this fault and tried all of the common fixes I found online, I have also updated the drives driver software to the latest version, all to no avail, and I am now at my wits end.

Thanks in advance for the support.

Danny


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## spunk.funk

The USB Controller inside the Enclosure may be failing or the HDD may be failing. 
First use the *Safely Remove* Icon in the Task Bar to disconnect the drive from the computer. Unplug the USB cable from the computer end and restart the computer. After the computer comes back up, plug it back into a different USB port, in the _Back_ of the computer and not the front or through a Hub as these ports are weaker. Once the drive gets recognized, take note of the Drive letter. 
Go to Start/Search and type *CMD*, Right click the *CMD* results and *Run As Administrator*. In the Elevated *Command Prompt* type the Drive letter of the WD external (eg) *G: *and press enter (eg) *G:\> *at this prompt type *chkdsk /R* and press enter. Now type a *Y *for Yes to _Unmount_ the drive. *Check Disk *will go through 5 stages and will take a long time. This may correct some errors and check for Bad Sectors on the drive and try to correct them.


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## Frozwire

madgenius said:


> Hi
> 
> My 1 TB Western Digital external HD has become unusably slow, it takes a very long time to access and even longer to copy anything off of it to my desktop, 2 1/2 hours for a 700 MB file.
> 
> I have googled for this fault and tried all of the common fixes I found online, I have also updated the drives driver software to the latest version, all to no avail, and I am now at my wits end.
> 
> Thanks in advance for the support.
> 
> Danny


You might need to use *WD Lifeguard Diagnostic* utility to check and possibly fix your WD external drive's media related errors.


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## spunk.funk

As Frozwire suggested, other then check disk, another HDD diagnositc tool is the free WD DataLifeGuard for Windows. run the short and long tests on the drive. If either test fails the HDD needs to be replaced.


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## CK_WD

Hi there madgenius,

I'd like to say that I agree with both spunk.funk and Frozwire. The WD Lifeguard Diagnostic software will give you the option for an extended and short test.

Before all of that, though, I would advise you to first backup your files. You could use the WD SmartWare software to do that. 

You should keep in mind that if the LifeGuard tool finds any bad sectors, it would "cut them off"; basically telling the drive not to write any information on them, Still, when bad sectors occur, it's highly likely that they'll continue to happen. So you'll probably have to think about either assigning regular backups for your files, or getting a new external HDD up ahead. 

Also, have tried using a different (new) USB cable connecting it to the USB 3.0 port and using the SuperSpeed? 

You could also try connecting your drive to a different computer, just to eliminate the case, in which your PC's ports are damaged. 

Another cause for the problem could also be a corrupted file on the external drive, making all of its processes to lag. In this case you could backup your files on to a different device, erase everything from the external drive and try using it again to see if the issue continues.

WD Data LifeGuard Diagnostic:
WD Support / Downloads / Other Products / Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows 

WD SmartWare software:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=940 

I hope I've helped!
Best of luck!

CK_WD


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## electronicsguy

I know this is an old thread, but I have the exact same problem. My "WD My Passport Ultra" suddenly has started taking about 2 mins to get recognized in Windows 7. SES driver is installed and WD harddrive utility doesn't report any SMART or other errors. 
When it finally is recognized, it works perfectly.

I'll change the USB cable..I hope it's just that!


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