# WD 1600 BMV External Hard Drive is not Recognized by my HP Laptop



## tcookx5453 (Aug 27, 2012)

So, here's my problem. I have a lot of pictures that I need for my business stored on my WD 1600 External hard drive. And suddenly, out of the blue, I can't access the external hard drive. Whenever I try to access it I always get a warning saying that I have to reformat my disk, and when I do that it says the disk can't be reformatted. I have no idea what to do here. The driver is running smoothly, there are no clicks, and the light blinks to indicate it's working, but I can't get my HP laptop to recognize the external hard drive. Can anybody come up with a way for me to harmless reconnect or extract my important data for this device? Thanks in advance.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

If you want to access files on your drive you don't want to Format it. 
The USB Controller in the WD Enclosure may have failed. You can remove the HDD out of the enclosure and either attach it *Internally* to a Desktop computer, Via a USB Adapter or put it in another *USB Enclosure* with a power adapter. 
To recover your files, you can use the Totally Free TestDisk Or Easeus Data Recovery, I have had the best luck with GetDataBack NTFS. You will need another drive of the same size or larger to restore your files to.


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## tcookx5453 (Aug 27, 2012)

Thank you for your quick response, but are you sure that's the only means at my disposal? I went to computer, right clicked, then click manage, and in disk management it said that the disk was working properly, but for some reason I can't access the information. I don't think the tape head is broken because the disc doesn't click when it spins, and it seems to spin smoothly. I am just looking to get the important pics off for a job interview, which is in three days. So do I have any other alternatives?


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

> To recover your files, you can use the Totally Free  TestDisk Or  Easeus Data Recovery, I have had the best luck with  GetDataBack NTFS. You will need another drive of the same size or larger to restore your files to.


If you don't want to open the enclosure, try the recovery tools in the quote. After you have recovered your files, then download WD *DataLifeGuard for Windows *in my signature and run the Short and the Long tests on the drive. This may solve your problem, but if either test fails the drive will need to be replaced.


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## tcookx5453 (Aug 27, 2012)

Thanks for the advice. I'm currently using the recovery software that you have suggested. I've managed to get a very small amount of the pics I've downloaded on there back it's just taking a very long time to extract.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Recovery software takes a very long time, because it has to go through your drive sector by sector bit by bit. Be patient if you really want to recover your files. Recovery on a large drive that is corrupted could take 24 hours or more.


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