Review on WD 4TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - Black (WDBYFT0040BBK-WESN) by Zach Flores

Update... Searching the web I found an article that suggested that one option was to change the drive's security permissions. I went in and found out (after 2 tries) that this was indeed the problem. So I changed my rating from 1 star to 5. I used to use WD services quite a bit, so losing a drive so quickly was very disheartening. I would suggest that WD should have been more proactive in sending out tips. with the drive... it turns out I had the same problem with another WD drive a few days later. It would save me time and trouble. But to be honest with the vendor, after I fixed the permissions issue, both drives are working now. And while I didn't realize it until I went back online to update this review, the seller responded to my "blast" with some helpful suggestions and an invitation to call customer service. I wish it was in the box with the disc. So I'm changing my rating to 5 stars now, partly because I feel like I blew WD pretty hard for the problem they were trying to solve, and partly because I had several of their drives in the past. who were stable. Less than a week after I uploaded all my files to the drive, right after plugging the drive into the USB port I received an error message saying "There is a problem with this drive". When I tried to access the drive directly from Explorer, I get a "Location not available", "Drive not available", "Access denied" message. I've also tried plugging it in while the computer was off and then turning it on... same error message. Finally, I tried using WD's troubleshooting utilities and I got a message saying "Smart Status Passed". It also scanned the hard drive and showed the message "Passed on Thu 14 Jun 2018 20:07:31". Then I went back and tried to access the drive, again I get a message that says "Location Unavailable", "Drive Unavailable", "Access Denied". Now all of my personal information is on the drive and I can't erase it, so I can't safely return the drive for a refund or replacement. What a waste of time and money. It's a shame as I've been using Western Digital drives for many years and only switched because I needed more space. But this experience is so disappointing that it will be the last WD drive I will buy. I can't afford to throw that much money away after less than a week of use. It looks like my only option is to use online backups rather than the cheaper option I was hoping for.