WD External Hard drive not recognized

[bal1985]

I have a My Book Essential 1TB External. I'm on Windows 7 x64. After I updated I've been getting a lot of bugs and extreme lag. I would click on the drive in My Computer, enter my HD password and the drive would open up with all my folders, etc. But then when I wanted to drag folders from my External onto my PC hard drive it would freeze up and automatically quit? Windows would no longer show the External as attached to my computer. No matter how many times I click on the icon in the task bar for WD SmartWare, it will never come back up. I have to restart my PC everytime so I can renter the External. I then installed all WD software from the Control Panel, didn't change anything or help at all.

I have no clue what to do or what has happened, but my External HD is pretty much useless right now. I have very important files on there, I need to get access to this immediately.

Please help!


EDIT: Now my PC has trouble recognizing the External. I tried it on my Laptop also, it doesn't show anything. It shows up under disk management sometimes. For example it'll show up then simply disappear.

Finally after restarting my PC a bunch of times and switching USB ports back and forth, this CD DRIVE E: icon appeared for the WD UNLOCKER. Whenever I try and double click on it to open it up, the green bar appears to load as seen below, then the icon just disappears, it will not open anything.

When the "CD Drive (E:\) WD Unlocker appears like above, my external HD will briefly appear under DISK MANAGEMENT. It shows up then just goes away along with the E:\ drive icon. I don't know if the USB cable that connects the External to my PC is bad or not? My external was working an hour before all this happened, so I don't understand what is happening?

Also, when I click on "Devices and Printers", an icon appears with "My Book 1130". This is what is shows.

My External does light up when plugged into my PC and turns off when removed. I can hear a ticking sound which sounds like the HD working? All these problems seemed to start after I updated to WD SmartWare 1.5.1.6. I even unistalled all the WD software. For some reason whenever I try to install "WDSmartWare_Software_Upgrader_for_Windows_1.5.1.6 " it just sits there and hangs, doesn't do anything.

 

[marsmimar]

Hello bal1985 and welcome to Seven Forums.

You say "after I updated" you began having issues. What exactly did you update and can you undo the update? If this doesn't help you might have some damaged or corrupt drivers for your external HD. You can check the Western Digital site for the latest drivers.

WD Support / Downloads / Select Product

Another possible problem is if the USB cord got switched out. Sometimes a longer cord causes a detection problem ( data and/or voltage is compromised.)

Also, something may have scrambled the assigned drive letter causing the drive not to be recognized. Try changing the drive letter.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82994-drive-letter-add-change-remove-windows-7-a.html

Please post back and let us know if anything helped solve the issue.

 

[TVeblen]

If you look at the forums on the WD website you will see lots of people unhappy with smartware software. ex.: What on EARTH is this useless Smartware software? - Western Digital Community

You do not need any 3rd party software to run an external drive with Windows. I usually delete everything preloaded on these drives before I start using them. I never install any software for a hard drive. If there are any features in the software that you might find useful I can assure you that there are better stand-alone programs that do the same thing.

You may need to uninstall the problematic software to get this drive to function normally, but you must recover/backup your important files from it first. I would not uninstall the Smartware program until I did so.

Try the suggestions marsmimar gave you. See if you can connect long enough to copy your files.

One of our regulars, gregrocker, always suggests these for recovering files from non-reponsive drives:

Try this method using the Windows 7 Install DVD or Repair CD to copy out stranded data: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console - Windows 7 Forums

If that fails, try this: Paragon rescue disk; change drive letter; recover data

Or use the Knoppix to copy the files over to external or another HD, then wipe and format the problem HD.
​

 

[bal1985]

I took a screenshot of "Disk Management" to show you what it says. I'm not quite sure what this means but here you go: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/4.png

All the comes up is the "WD Unlocker". I tried changing the drive letter, so I changed it from E: to K:. It changed but nothing happened. When I try to click on it to bring up the password screen, it just disappears. I then have to restart my PC a bunch of times to get the "WD Unlocker" to come up again. The My Book drive does not show next to the C: drive though.

I think it does show up under "Device Manager", under the name of "My Book 1130". I'm assuming this is my External drive. Here is a screenshot: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/2.png

I do have a power strip/surge strip that I've been using, I never had any problems. My Book was working fine all night yesterday, then an hour later I start getting these problems. So I don't see how the power strip could be a problem. Because I also plug it into the wall outlet also, nothing changed.

I have Windows 7 x64 and everything is up to date, like I said my External hard drive was working fine for the past few months and all the way up until last night. I haven't update Windows 7 or changed anything, so Windows should not be effecting the hard drive. I did remove all the WD Smartware, I wanted to see if that would fix anything. Now when I try to install "WDSmartWare_Software_Upgrader_for_Windows_1.5.1.6" it just freezes at the installation screen, for some reason it wont install?

I've tried plugging my external hdd into several USB ports, on the front and back of my PC. I even tried plugging it into my Laptop, I get nothing. I've tried the front and back on my PC and the side on my Laptop, I've tried every port. I have no tried a different USB cable, I only have the Cable that came with my external hard drive. Where could I get one, as I really do not have the money for this. This external hard drive is not old at all, and has been working fine, I don't see how this could just break? Also, I seemed to get all these problems after I updated to the latest WD Smartware. I hadn't updated in awhile, so I went to my Product support page and downloaded the last WD Smartware. Maybe something is corrupt and not allowing me to use it? I did go into Add/Remove programs in the Control Panel and removed the WD software.

I also have a Airless USB plugged in to my PC, that works. I also have a Wireless Keyboard that is plugged in to. No problems with those at all as I'm typing now with my Wireless Keyboard/Mouse. And yes the External doesn't seem to work on my Laptop.

 

[TVeblen]

You need to work on recovering and/or backing up your data from that external hard drive. The reason is because to truly reverse the assumed problem, that seems to be pretty obviously caused by the Smartdrive software upgrade, you may need to format the drive as well as uninstall the software. Formatting the drive will destroy all of the data on the drive.

You can buy a data cable almost anywhere. You want to pay attention to the connector that goes into the drive. Most use a mini USB connector, but some of these newer drives are using a proprietary connector. You want a cable that is short and thick.

Your Disk Management shows 6 Hard Drives and 2 CD/DVD drives. Does this match reality? If so, what are the 6 Drives?

Your C: drive is a single partition on a single 640GB drive.
Drive N: looks like a Manufacturer's Recovery Partition.
WD Unlocker E: looks like a CD/DVD Data Disk in UDF format. It is not your external drive. It is that CD-ROM 1 Drive shown.

Now, Disk #5 looks like your external drive. It is 1TB. It is not initialized.
You could try and initialize it, that would make it visible to Windows, but I am nervous of what this might do to your data (You need to work on backing up your data!). I will ask around to see if this would be an issue.

In the meantime, more information about your system - reality vs reported - would be most helpful.

EDIT: You may not be able to initialize the drive without formatting it. You need to back up your data.
There is no reason to believe that the drive did not just die. It would not be the first time. Working to back up your data will also determine whether the drive is dead or is just not being recognized.

 

[bal1985]

You need to work on recovering and/or backing up your data from that external hard drive. The reason is because to truly reverse the assumed problem, that seems to be pretty obviously caused by the Smartdrive software upgrade, you may need to format the drive as well as uninstall the software. Formatting the drive will destroy all of the data on the drive.

You can buy a data cable almost anywhere. You want to pay attention to the connector that goes into the drive. Most use a mini USB connector, but some of these newer drives are using a proprietary connector. You want a cable that is short and thick.

Your Disk Management shows 6 Hard Drives and 2 CD/DVD drives. Does this match reality? If so, what are the 6 Drives?

Your C: drive is a single partition on a single 640GB drive.
Drive N: looks like a Manufacturer's Recovery Partition.
WD Unlocker E: looks like a CD/DVD Data Disk in UDF format. It is not your external drive. It is that CD-ROM 1 Drive shown.

Now, Disk #5 looks like your external drive. It is 1TB. It is not initialized.
You could try and initialize it, that would make it visible to Windows, but I am nervous of what this might do to your data (You need to work on backing up your data!). I will ask around to see if this would be an issue.

In the meantime, more information about your system - reality vs reported - would be most helpful.

EDIT: You may not be able to initialize the drive without formatting it. You need to back up your data.
There is no reason to believe that the drive did not just die. It would not be the first time. Working to back up your data will also determine whether the drive is dead or is just not being recognized.

Here is a screenshot of My Compute which shows my drives. My PC has a bunch of slots in the front for SD/CM/MS etc. I'm assuming that is whats its for?
disk 5 is is my External, disk 6 is for my wireless usb connector, the rest I dont use.

Ive been talking to WD throught their email service. This is the last message I sent them:

When I plug the External drive into my computer this is the only thing I see. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/1.png
E: WD Unlocker shows up but If I click on it in any way it disappears and then I have to restart my PC. I also have to restart my PC several times to even get the WD Unlocker to show up in "My Computer" but like I said I can't do anything with it.

I did use Data LifeGaurd, here are the screenshots:
1) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/5.png
2) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/6.png
3) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/7.png

When I open up "Devices and Printers" from the Control Panel, "My Book 1130" shows up. Here are some screenshots:
1) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/2.png
2) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/3.png
3) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/3.png

And when I open "Disk Management" I get this:
1) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/4.png
2) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/5.png
3) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/6.png
4) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4598810/7.png

I do get a "Too Many Bad Sectors Detected" error. I also attached all the images for you.

They told me my HDD is to bad to repair because I got that error above. I dont know what to do? How could I do a backup like your telling me to do. I have no expierence in this. I do have Acronis True Image Home 2011 and other programs too. Just never used them. I'm extremely upset that this happened and they don't want to take any responsibility. I cant afford to pay someone to recover my data, its a lot of money. On the other hand I have every picture on there since my son was born so I might have to shell out a few bucks to get it done.

WD is sending me a replacement cable, but the time it gets here who knows if my HDD will still work at all?

And your saying that the WD Unlocker E: drive I'm seeing is not my external HD? If thats not it then my HD is not showing up at all. That is all I can see on "My Computer". So if I was doing a backup, what would I actually be backing up if nothing is their?

 

[Mark Phelps]

You have my sympathies, really. I had a recent WD 2TB drive fail suddenly on me. Only a few months old, and it started getting sector failures. I ran the WD software on it. Told me the drive was not repairable.

But ... I was able to connect the drive using a hard drive USB adapter and cable and copy off the files I really needed. You might have to try doing the same.

If it's not showing up in Disk Management as being assigned a letter, I would not "initialize" it. I'm not sure, but there's a chance that will reformat the drive -- not wiping out your files, but making it harder to access them.

That said, I have used GetDataBack for NTFS from Runtime Software in the past, and it did a great job at recoving lost files and data. You can download the trial version for free, run it against the drive -- and see what it finds. You have to purchase it to do data recovery, but it may be worth doing that if only for peace of mind in recovering your files NOW before the drive gets any worse. I think it costs around $80 USD for a single license.

Then, you could try "initializing" the drive, and if that makes it visible again, you could have a go at copying off the files you want to save.

Your data -- your money -- your choice.

 

[bal1985]

You have my sympathies, really. I had a recent WD 2TB drive fail suddenly on me. Only a few months old, and it started getting sector failures. I ran the WD software on it. Told me the drive was not repairable.

But ... I was able to connect the drive using a hard drive USB adapter and cable and copy off the files I really needed. You might have to try doing the same.

If it's not showing up in Disk Management as being assigned a letter, I would not "initialize" it. I'm not sure, but there's a chance that will reformat the drive -- not wiping out your files, but making it harder to access them.

That said, I have used GetDataBack for NTFS from Runtime Software in the past, and it did a great job at recoving lost files and data. You can download the trial version for free, run it against the drive -- and see what it finds. You have to purchase it to do data recovery, but it may be worth doing that if only for peace of mind in recovering your files NOW before the drive gets any worse. I think it costs around $80 USD for a single license.

Then, you could try "initializing" the drive, and if that makes it visible again, you could have a go at copying off the files you want to save.

Your data -- your money -- your choice.

How do you do that USB cable and adapter idea you where talking about above? What items do I need to buy and how do I do it. I'm really a beginner at all this stuff. Also, I did buy Runtime GetDataBack for NTFS FAT. How do I use this? Can it recover my data that way my external hd is now or do I have to take my external apart and connect it you my PC?

Did you mean something like this? Apricorn - SATA-to-USB Hard Drive Adapter - ASW-USB-KIT

I'm confused on what I need to get. No clue what is compatible with my external?

One last thing. I did open up GetDataBack, but I dont' see my external hard drive in the list?

 

[TVeblen]

The hope is that the drive is not getting power, or that a data cable is faulty, or there is some other loose connection inside the external's case. A physical problem that can be corrected.

The idea with the SATA to USB cable is that you will physically remove the hard drive from it's plastic shell (take the external drive apart) and direct connect it to the PC with new cables. I might even go further and suggest connecting it directly to the motherboard's SATA connector using a SATA to SATA cable and a spare SATA power connector inside the computer. You won't be able to tell if you can do this without looking at the connectors on the actual drive - whether it is a 2.5 inch or 3.5 inch drive.

If you can get the drive to be recognized you may be able to simply cut and paste your files to a new drive. If Windows still will not recognize it you could try one of the 3 methods I showed you in post #3 of this thread, or GetDataBack, or any other method you like.

But if the drives platters are not spinning, the heads are damaged or locked, or the controller board is fried then there will be no software solution that will work. The drive's file system must be recognized.

Best Buy has a Geek Desk. You might be better off bringing it to them, or a local computer shop, to see if they can do something with this. None of this is really easy for the novice. At least you will have confirmation of the scope of your problem.

 

[Golden]

I've tried every port. I have no tried a different USB cable, I only have the Cable that came with my external hard drive. Where could I get one, as I really do not have the money for this.

Hi,

Did you try a different USB cable as suggested by Mars? These are dirt cheap and can be purchased at any local PC retailer.

Regards,
Golden

 

[bal1985]

I've tried every port. I have no tried a different USB cable, I only have the Cable that came with my external hard drive. Where could I get one, as I really do not have the money for this.

Hi,

Did you try a different USB cable as suggested by Mars? These are dirt cheap and can be purchased at any local PC retailer.

Regards,
Golden

I went to Best Buy and they didn't have any, they said its a special cable. WD is sending me a replacement cable in the mail, I'll get it in 3-5 business days I believe. Geek Squad said there is a 20% chance that the cable is the problem and that if it isn't that they do believe that they could recover the data. The don't see a way of opening the case with out hurting the hard drive.

 

[TVeblen]

You are on the right track. Good luck.

And yes, cracking open the case to get the hard drive out could damage the unit and void your warranty, which is why I suggested the Geek Squad first. But if you need your data more than the cost of the drive then you will get out that proverbial nutcracker. The plastic case snaps together in two pieces. A little model glue will repair any damage caused.

 

[RochaMalhada]

I recently started suddenly having intermittent USB connectivity issues with one of my MyBook Essential 2 TB drives after using it for a little over a year with no problems (I was not using the WD software). I could see all of my files, but when I'd start writing to it, etc., the USB connection would drop off.


As it was still under warranty, I called WD tech support and they suggested the same; a faulty USB cable...

I tried the USB cable and power unit from my other MyBook, and duplicated the issue on two different laptops (other laptop is Windows XP).

WD then agreed to replace the unit on an RMA; however, I told them that I had over a TB of personal backup data I wanted to preserve and was not willing to send the unit back to them without wiping the drive.

I asked them for permission to crack the case open and pull the hard disk out without losing my warranty. They granted that to me, so I went and bought a dual SATA bare drive docking unit (BlacX Duet) and a WD Caviar 2 TB drive.

I found a page that shows how to disassemble a MyBook with written instructions:

Written instructions: http://carltonbale.com/western-digital-my-book-opening-the-case-removing-the-drive

There are some YouTube videos as well, but the units they were working on are different than mine.

The only problem I encountered was that Windows 7 wanted to initialize the disk I pulled out of the MyBook and loaded into the docking unit – not sure why, it was formatted NTFS.

You don’t want to initialize it (!) unless you want to scrap the data. I learned later from AddRam that there are utilities like Partition Wizard that you can use to fix the partition and access it.

I lost my data, but was able to reformat the drive prior to reassembling the unit and sending it off to WD on an RMA for replacement.

Overall, WD was very accommodating, and even agreed to send me a bare Caviar drive instead of another MyBook, so that I can use it in my new BlacX docking unit…

 

[usavkumar]

Problem with External harddrive

I have a unique problem with my western digital my essential portable drive. It was working fine until last week on my windows 7 home edition.
After I upgraded my laptop to windows7 pro I started facing problems. To being with the drive was detected, it asked me for an unlowck password, after unlocking it showed me the drive and the data. But the drive soon disappeared within

few seconds and I had reconnect to see the problem recur. I tried uninstalling the usb drivers and installing them freshly it did not help. Now the situation is so bad that when I connect it shows me the WD Unlock VCD. When I run

unlock.exe and enter the password, it says unlocked but doest show me the drive. If I try to perform any more operations on the drive, the machine hangs. I have tried the following but unable to solve the problem. Do you have

suggestions?

1. In Device manager > Disk Drives > uninstall drivers, reconnect the drive and windows automatically installs the drivers.
[outcome]- The problem is not solved

2. In DiskManagemnt all I see is a small partition of 27 MB called WD Unlock. I changed the Drive letter and tried
[outcome]- The problem is not solved

3. Installed WDSmartware updater on my machine (this is a illogical action, but just outof hope)
[outcome]- The problem is not solved

4. Went to WD support center, downloaded the latest firmware for the drive and tried to update it onto the drive by running the executible
[outcome] - the software intallation dialog box says that the drive already has the latest firmware. When I continued installation, it tried to install and came back saying update failure.

5. Called Western Digital Support
[outcome] - They say that because windows is detecting the drive, there must be some problem with the disk, it must be corrupt. They suggested that I eceover my data using freeware like photorec, if it fails pay for expect data retrieval

professionals. After that they can replace the harddrive as it was under warranty. This is a bad solution for me as I can't pay for the expert service

6. Ran TestDisk a free utility from CGSecurity
[outcome] - After a full scan it returns with disk read error/error reading sectors

7. Ran photorec a free data recovery utility from CGSecurity
[outcome] - After a full scan it returns with disk read error/error reading sectors

8. Tried on windows XP machine with antivirus disabled
[outcome]- The problem is not solved

I am almost helpless in getting this resolved. Any ideas please?

 

[RochaMalhada]

You might try burning a bootable Partition Wizard CD (free) to see if you can fix the partition and recover the data. Link:

Partition Wizard Bootable CD allows user to manage partition directly with partition manager bootable CD.

You might also try uninstalling the WD software. I never use it, instead set up as a disk in Windows

 

[aubbus]

bal1985 ..
how did you solve your problem? let me know. I have the same issue.
Did the new cable work?

My WD is out of warranty and I have 3 of those damn things. so I might get the cables if that solved your problem.
thanks

 

[IMAyNeed]

I tried different USB Cables, different ports, different computers.
Whenever I try to write, after some time it is getting stuck.
This happened after I changed it from gpt to mbr.
Before that, everything was perfect.
Now, I am dealing with it and trying to solve the problem, no luck so far.
Windows sees the drive in safely remove hardware and devices and printers, but most of the time it doesn't see it in disk management and windows explorer; I have to turn it off and on again.
Updating the firmware or using WD Formatter didn't help.
I wasn't using the smartware anyway.
I hope people will post their progress, so we can learn from them.
Right when I am typing this, it ejected, and inserted itself.

 

[aubbus]

Thanks for the update. I bypassed the problem as i had a pcmia slot and bought the pcmia to usb 3.0 and a usb hub and i am up and running now.

2 things came out of this
1. I got my on usb 3.0
2. I got a nas server so dont have the need for usb anymore. I have the 3.0 as backup

 

[AnnieSqueedle]

Hey, I was having the same problem with a brand new drive and did what this guy did to great effect:

WD My Passport Not Recognized On My Computer - Western Digital Community

This was the only thing that worked for me, but it worked right away. Only drawback is you lose all your information if you have anything stored on it...

 

[brainout]

I realize this post is a year later, but others keep on having the same problem. There are other fixes which don't have to be as drastic as reformatting the drive:

1. Hook the WD to an external POWERED hub, not one on your computer. This is especially important for laptops.

2. CHANGE THE CORD. The WD cords supplied with the units are glitchy. Sometimes they also absorb static, so will work for awhile then quit. To dissipate the static, just unplug the cord and plug it in again. But a different 3.0 cord, is better. Don't get the cheapest one in Amazon, get a brand name (Amazon Basics is great, so too Tripp Lite).

3. REBOOT WINDOWS and then plug in the unit again. Until Windows detects that the unit needs a 'WD SES' driver, it won't be reliable. This is true for either XP or Windows 7 (32-bit, I don't know about 64-bit). So you'd boot, then plug in the drive, and see if Windows recognizes it needs that driver. It will want to go get it from the database, if it's not already on your computer. Telling it where the file is ON the WD won't work.

In all events, there's no need to use the WD software to install the thing. I have six of these Passport drives, and am fixing to buy more. I use them on 2.0 USB ports, and on 3.0 laptop ports, now for over a year.

Since the same thing just happened to me now as happened to forum participants here, and that's how I (again, really) solved the problem, you know it's solvable with any new WD Passports you may have just purchased (mine are a week to a year old, Ultra recent and plain WD Passport, a year old, 500 GB and 1TB).

Yell at me if you need more info.