USB External Drive not showing up


  1. babowen
    Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       New #1

    USB External Drive not showing up


    Hi all, I'm new to the forums, but I need help.

    So I'm sure you have to answer questions like this all the time, but I looked through several different threads and none of the solutions given worked for me. I have a 500gb WD MyPassport external USB drive. It used to work fine on this exact computer/OS but all of a sudden the computer stopped acknowledging it. I had installed several games onto it, as well as put a few other files on. Right before the computer stopped the acknowledgement, every time I would open computer and go to my G:\ drive, it would run slowly for a minute then the panel would stop responding. Now the computer just won't see it at all. I've looked through disk management and it's not even showing up as an unregistered device or anything. I used the command to show any hidden devices, but that didn't help either. I'm out of ideas. If anyone could shed light on this, it would be great.

    Btw, I'm using a Windows 7 Ultimate 64x. Also (some of you are gonna yell at me for this) I'm running it as a partition on my Macbook. I don't think that has anything to do with it (because my Lion OS still recognizes the device fine), but maybe it does. Thanks in advance
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  3. marsmimar
    Posts : 10,994
    Win 7 Pro 64-bit
       New #2

    Hello babowen and welcome to Seven Forums.

    Have you tried plugging the WD into a different USB port?

    You could also try running the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic test on the external.

    Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows
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  4. babowen
    Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Yeah, I've plugged it into a different port.
    And I can't run the WD diagnostic because the drive doesn't show up at all. All I have showing up are the C:\ and E:\ drives. There's no external USB (G:\) drive that I can select anywhere.

    EDIT: Ok I just found out it's not registering on my Lion OS either. There may be a problem with the HD itself, but I'm not sure what it would be exactly. The light comes on and I can hear noise. It's just that nothing pops up.
    Last edited by babowen; 17 Sep 2013 at 09:21.
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  6. blasth
    Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Professional 64bit
       New #4

    There are a few kinds of "noise" when talking about hard drives. I hope that one's not from the bad kind. Did you hit it or drop it, perhaps? Hard drives usually make noises after being hit or dropped, but they may just start clicking by themselves.
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  7. babowen
    Posts : 3
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    By noise, I mean the fan coming on. I feel it and hear it when I hold it close. I just said that to make my point that it was actually turning on. I haven't damaged it at all as far as I'm aware. I haven't dropped it or hit it on anything. What happened when I discovered the problem was I had been playing a game (that was on the external drive), then I had to leave to go to a class. When I returned, the computer wouldn't acknowledge the drive. The only thing I did between then was unplug it from my computer. I didn't even remove it from the desk it was on.
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