# WD External Hard Drive Doesn't Come Up (Please Help!)



## barolu

I have Window XP but one day I decided to put my 80GB Western Digital External hard drive into a friend's Windows Vista laptop. It took a long time to load and then it said "not responding" so I decided to close it, I think I might've just plugged it out without safely removing it. 

Right after I tried putting it into a Windows XP, the only thing that came up was the easily remove hardware option. Options to how I'd like to open/view the files it usually does didn't come up. When I go to My Computer, the drive doesn't even show up, as if I never plugged it into the computer. The drive is connected and the light signifying it's on glows yet the files don't open.

I've been trying different ways continuously and I've contacted WD who isn't much help, they just sent me a Y cable thinking that would resolve the issue, but it didn't.

Please help ASAP!! 
Any tips? ideas on what's going on?


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## Deleted090308

Hi. 

Can you see the drive in Disk Management? (Right click "My computer" > choose "Manage" > Disk Management.)

If so - please read this: http://www.techsupportforum.com/f16...rtition-or-files-in-your-computer-194492.html


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## barolu

yes, ive tried that but it doesnt come up. really?? wow great, thanks! i wont lose anything and it'll find my files even though the drive doesnt show up anymore?


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## Deleted090308

Can you see the drive in Disk management and/or Device manager?

If not - try another USB cable, check the connections inside the HDD enclosure.

If you can see the drive in Disk management - follow the instructions above. Please keep us updated.


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## barolu

thank you so much for responding.
yes, ive tried it on disk management- it doesn't show up.
WD sent me a Y cable that's supposed to be stronger and it didn't work. Sorry to sound rather un "techy" but what is HDD?


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## Deleted090308

HDD = hard disk drive.

Does anything happen when you connect the HDD to the computer? A green icon should appear next to the clock.

Have a look in Device manager. Can you see the drive there? Any yellow/red "marks"?


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## barolu

whenever i plug the HDD into the computer the only thing that opens is the easily remove hardware option next to the clock

i did try looking in the disk manager but the HDD did not come up, only my C drive is shown.


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## Deleted090308

If you can't see the drive in disk management there's something wrong with the connection.

Try different USB plugs and another USB cable.


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## barolu

i did try a new plug, they sent me a "Y" plug because they thought there wasn't enough power.

im going to try to print screen what it looks like in disk management whenever i plug in the hard drive


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## jaggerwild

Make sure you have USB drivers loaded, also that the usb is turned on in the BIOS too.


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## barolu

i have updates.
i recently bought a new laptop with windows vista. i tried putting in the WD hard drive, it said it was installing the program needed for it and that i could easily remove hardware. however, nothing opened.

any ideas?
please help!


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## maz057

I am having a similar problem. I have a 120gb western digital HD. I have used Mac Leopard's disk utility to format it to FAT. It shows up fine on my mac desktop but when I boot in Windows XP it doesnt show up on the desktop or in the "my computer" page. I can see the device in my device manager but I dont see how it could be corrupt if leopard reads it just fine. I have not tried the above listed stepd because I dont think it is the problem but if a should try those steps please let me know. Anybody who can help would be much appriciated.:grin:


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## Deleted090308

@maz057: Please try the link in post #2 - and create a thread of your own.


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## Deleted090308

barolu said:


> i have updates.
> i recently bought a new laptop with windows vista. i tried putting in the WD hard drive, it said it was installing the program needed for it and that i could easily remove hardware. however, nothing opened.
> 
> any ideas?
> please help!


Please explain - nothing happened? 
When you wanted to read the files on the drive?


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## barolu

Sorry for taking too long to respond. Well, whenever I plug in the WD external drive the option to "safely remove hardware". When I said "nothing happened" I mean that it never reacted as in no option for it to open using windows explorer etc came up. It doesn't even come up on My Computer or any other visible way. The warranty for the hard drive ends on Jan 27th so I only have a few days to try to get my documents on my drive before returning it.
Thank you for your help.
If you have any better suggestions or idea, please email it to me at *****.


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## Deleted090308

Can you see the drive in Disk Management?

If so - follow these steps again: http://www.techsupportforum.com/f16...rtition-or-files-in-your-computer-194492.html


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## barolu

No, I don't believe so. This is what I see:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/Barolu/compmanagement-1.jpg


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## Deleted090308

What is disk 3 in the screenshot?

Can you see the drive in Device manager?


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## barolu

Here's another screenshot where I scrolled down so you could see disk 3.
No don't think so, those are are the drives I see.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/Barolu/screenshot2.jpg


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## Deleted090308

I can see an unallocated drive - that should be "fixable".
But - the screenshot is very blurry.


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## barolu

sorry here's the screenshot again, i made it larger:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/Barolu/screenshot2-1.jpg

i only have a few more days on my warranty. thanks for your help so far!


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## Deleted090308

I think you should return the drive.

Do you have a drive with about 18GB capacity (like the one in the screenshot)?


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## barolu

Yes, I'm going to return it. but I'd like to recover all my documents on it. No, it's an 80 GB


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## Deleted090308

You will have to mount the drive inside a desktop computer.
"Borrow" the ribbon cable from the CD drive.


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## barolu

wow, that's great! are you sure this will work?
and once it's in my computer, the files should be located even though the drive isn't working?


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## Deleted090308

No, I'm not 100% sure.

You will probably have to run TestDisk again (or a file recovery program).


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## barolu

I've tried running a data recovery program before, but the problem is when it's searching for the files it doesn't know where to search since the drive doesn't come up.


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## Deleted090308

Try mounting the drive inside a desktop PC first.


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## barolu

Sure I'll try. Do you have any suggestions on how I should do this?


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## Deleted090308

Take the HDD out of its enclosure (of course).

Open the case on the desktop after you've unplugged it from the wall.
Take the ribbon cable and the 4-pin power plug from CD drive and connect them to the HDD.


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## barolu

Thank you! I'll try this soon and keep you updated.


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## barolu

Hello,
I spoke to someone about mounting the drive but they believe it wouldn't fit and they're not sure how to. Any other suggestions?

Thank you


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## Deleted090308

If you can get the drive out of the enclosure it should fit inside a desktop PC.
Installation guide: http://www.helpwithpcs.com/upgrading/install-hard-drive.htm


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## FanFang

Hi,

I have the same problem. My external HD appears in disk management but won't show up in my computer. When I try to initialize the external HDD I get the error "Incorrect function". And I tried TestDisk. TestDisk could not find the external HD, it only shows my internal HD. I really don't know what to do. Please help me.

SS of disk management: Untitled.jpg picture by Hegdar - Photobucket
SS of testdisk: Untitled1.jpg picture by Hegdar - Photobucket

Thank you.


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