2.5" external USB hard disk drives (for example WD Passport, Seagate Expansion Portable or generally any 2.5" USB hard disk drive) connected to single USB port may not work properly, especially if connected to one USB 2.0 slot as in this case, the device may not receive enough power for proper operation:

- it is possible that such hard disks can't be read/written or
- the hard disk drive is extremely slow
- the stored data may become damaged/corrupted and unreadable
- the health of the hard disk drive decrease as new problems (usually weak sectors) detected
- and/or the complete status, health/temperature of the hard disk drive can't be detected/dispayed

See https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_case_spin_retry.php for details about this situation and the troubles related to insufficient power.

If you have the opportunity, I'd recommend to check connecting the USB hard disk drive to a different USB slot (USB 3.0 if possible), a powered USB hub and/or an other computer.

Using an external 2.5" hard disk drive on USB 2.0 connection (which does not provide enough power) for long time can cause serious damages to the hard disk drive (or even complete, sudden failure), so it is better to avoid - and use USB 3.0 port which can provide enough power.