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  • #2167881

    WD external hard disk not recognised

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    by jhm530 ·

    My WD external hard disk doesnt show up in my computer(windows xp). The safety remove hardware appears when it is connected and i can hear the hard disk starting up and also the blue light though it doesnt blink, just lights up. But it doesnt appear in the disk management, although it is at the device manager but the device status states that it is working properly. any help?
    i dont want to reformat as i want to retain the info. i’ve tried uninstalling the USB, connecting to different computers, using different USB cables but there’s no difference.

    i’ve also searched on the net but cant seem to find any solution. HELP?

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    Replies
    • #2937753

      Clarifications

      by jhm530 ·

      In reply to WD external hard disk not recognised

      Clarifications

    • #2937730

      Drive Letter?

      by bincarnato ·

      In reply to WD external hard disk not recognised

      Do you have a PC that has a bunch of media card readers or something? It could be assigning a drive letter that is already in use. I would right-click on the My Computer icon and choose manage. Then click on disk management. Does your drive show up in there? Does it have the same drive letter as another drive on your pc, like a media card reader? Right-click on the external drive, if it is in there and choose change drive letter or path. Then pick a letter that isn’t in use.

    • #2937680

      External drive

      by butkus ·

      In reply to WD external hard disk not recognised

      There are lots of problem with these external drives. Usually Maxtor and Seagate.
      Do you have two wires to the external, have you tried plugging in both. They do use a bit of power and sometimes one USB connection does not supply enough power.
      Plug into the back (directly to MB)of your PC.
      Try a Reboot ?

    • #2937679

      Remove the Drive

      by brian ·

      In reply to WD external hard disk not recognised

      If you know how to take the drive out of the case, you can try taking the drive out and hooking it directly to your computer, bypassing the usb completely. The external drive shell could possibly be faulty. i have had this happen a few times before with wd drives.

    • #2937384

      tried and tested with no results…

      by jhm530 ·

      In reply to WD external hard disk not recognised

      ive tried plugging in both usb plugs but there’s no difference.

      it shows up in device manager but not in disk management

      by taking it out of the casing, u mean the metal one inside the plastic outer one

      • #2937358

        take it out….

        by brian ·

        In reply to tried and tested with no results…

        by taking it out of the casing i mean by taking it out of the plastic outer one and also the metal inner one, you need access the the interface (SATA or IDE) and power plug on the drive so you can plug it in directly to the computer motherboard and power supply. by the way, i didn’t mention in my prior post, but this WILL MOST LIKELY void your warranty on the drive. if the external drive shell is indeed bad, the good news to this situation is that you now have an extra hard drive to use!!

        • #2937314

          oh

          by jhm530 ·

          In reply to take it out….

          okay, is there any other way? such as a programme to reconnect the hard disk to the computer? im not very tech savvy…im afraid i’ll spoil the disk if i dismantle it.

        • #2937300

          ahhh, i see….

          by brian ·

          In reply to oh

          i see what you are asking, some of the external drives have a foil heat wrapping around them, i thought that is what you were talking about…as for dismanteling the drive, you don’t want to do that. you just need to take it out of the external plastic shell so you are holding the drive in your had, it will say western digital on the top of it on a label. from there if you look at the back of the drive, you will see the hard disk i/o plug in’s (as in the power and sata/ide). as i said before, the external shell output card sometimes goes bad on the shell, but the drive is good, you just need to hook it into your computer like another hard drive. remember, don’t dismantle the hard drive so you can see the internal workings of it, just take it out of the protective plastic external shell/casing.

        • #2937281

          sigh…noway…cnt be helped…

          by jhm530 ·

          In reply to ahhh, i see….

          its not a foil wrapping, there’s another hard metal casing with the WD label inside the plastic one and the usb outlet is part of the metal casing, i dont think there’s any difference as the usb outlet is the same, there’s a hole cut in the plastic casing to fit the usb outlet protruding from the metal casing. the only way to open the metal casing is with screws, and i dont think im supposed to do that right?

          i can hear the disk whirring but it stops after a while. and it still doesnt show up in disk management, just device manager:( sooo…i guess the only way to get the info back now is to go to those data retriving company?

        • #2937279

          mini drive removal

          by butkus ·

          In reply to sigh…noway…cnt be helped…

          You only need to get to the pins on back of the mini HD. Then you need a USB to HD adapter. They are found at various places for $15+, you do not need the AC adapter type. They are for powering standard HD’s. The laptop type is powered by the USB.
          If the PC does not recognize the HD, try another PC. If nothing recognized it. Time for recovery software.

        • #2937246

          give me the model number

          by brian ·

          In reply to sigh…noway…cnt be helped…

          give me the model number of the hard drive, i will try to find you some step by step hard drive removal instructions for it….it isn’t that hard to do, just kind of hard to explain the correct process without pictures 😉

        • #2938648

          nevermind…

          by jhm530 ·

          In reply to give me the model number

          recovery programs?

          hmm…its wd 3200 but i think it’s ok… the tech guy said most likely the internal thing(?) is not starting-up so…yeah… he said either i bring it to the wd repair centre, but most likely i cnt get the data back, or well, plan its funeral…

          these few days having never-ending technical problems…i wonder whyO.o heh. anyone knows how to repair a repeatedly restarting setup? windows xp. it just got that way suddenly. and i have no idea why:(

          *sigh*

    • #2938597

      hmm…

      by jhm530 ·

      In reply to WD external hard disk not recognised

      recovery programs?

      hmm…its wd 3200 but i think it’s ok… the tech guy said most likely the internal thing(?) is not starting-up so…yeah… he said either i bring it to the wd repair centre, but most likely i cnt get the data back, or well, plan its funeral…

      these few days having never-ending technical problems…i wonder whyO.o heh. anyone knows how to repair a repeatedly restarting setup? windows xp. it just got that way suddenly. and i have no idea why:(

      *sigh*

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