What WD says may sound believeable, but it is a load of c**p!!I have an 80gb passport that has been used continuously without any problems on 3 different desktop pcs, a laptop and a standalone DVD player with a USB port for almost 11 months. However, 10 days ago, I pluged it in my desktop pc USB port and I got the "unrecognized USB device" error message. After that all the above devices (including the DVD player) would completely ignore it, although the blue led would light up when connected. I was still within warranty so I took it to the local dealer of WD and a few days later I went back certain that it would be replaced but to my surprise, they told me that no problem was found. I asked them to see for myself and the technician connected it to his computer, through a USB hub using my cable and the drive would show up fine (making me look like a newb ). Seriously pissed off, I went back to test the drive on 2 of the computers mentioned above, only to find that the drive was not recognized at all !! I tried then to connect it directly to the USB ports and not through the USB extension cables THAT I HAVE BEEN USING ALL THIS TIME WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS and guess what.. I could see the drive just fine !! I really don't know what conclusions to draw from this, besides the fact that I'm never going to buy a WD external harddrive ever again!!
