Windows 7 - WD External Hard Drive not working

First time posting something here so sorry if I forget to post something. I have a Asus Notebook K60IJ Series Model and my OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. Recently my boyfriend gave me his WD external hard drive because he didn't need it anymore. I tried plugging it in on my laptop and nothing comes up. No pop-up, sound or notice. I tried plugging it in all my USB ports and nothing. I already checked my USB ports to see if any are corrupt and they are all working. It did work on my friend's laptop though. Is there anything I can do to get it working on mine?

What's the exact model of your hard drive?

Try putting your computer into safe mode and see if it works then. Also, if it came with some sort of driver CD, try installing the drivers using the CD. Windows Vista and 7 should be able to pull drivers right off most devices you plug in, but if you have the CD, try it anyway. Might help.

I think the model is Wd1600me 00. He didn't give me the box just the hard drive. He said he as far as he remembers it didn't come with a cd. I tried plugging it in safe mode and nothing.

Hello Wesc227 and welcome to Seven Forums.

Plug in the WD to one of the USB ports, then open disk management and see if it's listed. It might not have a drive letter assigned. Or it might be offline. If it's listed right click and assign drive letter and/or select online.

Or it could be a bad cable.

Or you could try unplugging the WD, turn off your notebook, unplug it from the ac outlet, remove the battery. Leave the battery out for about 5 minutes. Reinstall battery, plug into ac outlet, start computer, plug in WD.

On the drive there is a light next to the USB plug. Is it coming on when you plug it in? It gets power from the PC's USB port. It will normally come on solid and then start flashing as Windows 7 loads it into the system and then goes solid. It will flash as data is read or written to the drive.

Jim

The light is on and blinking slowly, and it is not listed in the disk management.

Its getting power from your USB port which is good and looks like Windows is trying to communicate with it. Does it still work on your boyfriends computer? One thing you can try but may not make any difference. Go to Control Panel/AutoPlay and uncheck the box at the top "Use autoplay for all ......." then Save at bottom. This will turn OFF autoplay, you can always turn it back on. Then plug in the drive and see what happens. You can also try a different USB cable if you have one. The required driver is included in Windows so that should not be a problem.

Jim

There are two flavors of external hard drive: Desktop models that have their own power adapter, and Portable models that rely entirely on the PC for all power to operate. Which do you have?

There seems to be a huge and unexplainable difference in the power output on individual USB ports from laptop to laptop, which is inexcusable since these ports are supposed to operate on very strict specs. But time and again we see evidence that they don't.

But you want to be sure you are using your laptop with it's power adapter plugged in as you test this thing. Sometimes that makes a difference.

And definitely try another USB cable. The shorter and thicker the better.

TVeblen, you may have hit the problem. I have the same model drive but mine is 320 GB and these models use USB power. I have an extension USB cable on one of my rear ports and I get the same symptoms when using it. The extra length is causing a power drop and my drive will just sit there and slowly blink. So the OP may just have low power on her USB ports. The only fix would be a external powered hub that would supply enough power to the drive.

Jim

When you plug the drive in can you feel or hear it spin up and do you hear any noises? Try shuting the computer down, plug the drive in and start the computer.