I know the only way to be 100% sure is to test it but I followed the link to the newegg site, and there it was, my hdd model, only in blue.Well that doesn't mean that your WD 500 GB My Passport Essential is compatible. WD ext. hdd's come in a lot of different flavours. WD changes the hardware a lot without changing the name.
I searched the drive for the files you mentioned: none found. Incompatible drive, isn't it so?