How to Recover Data from WD External Hard Disk Which Is Not Detecting

The key takeaways:

WD My Passport External Hard Drive Not Showing Up

In fact, the process of initializing disk will not delete any data but it will if you format the disk afterward. Besides, it will cause data overwriting, making it impossible to recover data. Below are 4 common symptoms of a non-detecting WD external hard disk:

If you find any of the above symptoms, it means your WD external hard drive is not detected. Continue to read this article to get the possible reasons and learn how to recover data from WD external hard drive below.

Why WD External Hard Drive Is Not Detecting?

If you are sure the WD external hard drive is not detected, it’s necessary to find out what is causing the situation. We collect some of the possible reasons below:

Steps to Recover Data from WD External Hard Disk Which Is Not Detecting

Sometimes, you may find the WD external hard disk is not showing up in File Explorer, but in Disk Management, the drive letter may be missing or showing as Unallocated or Unknown/Not Initialized.

In this case, you can employ reliable data recovery software like MyRecover to recover data from WD external hard drive which is not detecting in Windows 11, 10, 8,7, and Windows Servers. It’s easy to navigate and use, even for beginners.

MyRecover

Trustworthy Data Recovery Software for Windows

• Core technologies - Quick Scan &Deep Scan: It will scan your WD external hard disk automatically through its file system and find out all the recoverable data on it.
• 200+ recoverable data formats, including documents, images, audio, videos, emails, and more.So you can easily recover Word documents, Excel, PPT, PDF, MOV, MP4, MP3, SVG, TIF, etc.
• Search or filter files or folders, even specified data type, such as documents, preview and recover them while scanning, saving your precious time and effort. 
• Supports all series of WD external hard drive, such as such as My Passport, WD Elements, My Book, WD Black etc., formatted with FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS file systems.
• Recover data from non-detecting WD external hard drive for free, up to 500MB.

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Step 1. Select Your WD External Disk to Scan 

Connect your WD external hard disk, such as My Passport, and ensure it's properly connected to your PC. Then, launch the WD external hard drive data recovery software - MyRecover, hover the house to your WD disk, and click Scan.

Step 2. Scan Your WD External Disk 

The software will run two scanning methods automatically to find all the lost files on the WD external hard disk and display them in the following window. The Quick Scan searches for recently deleted files while Deep Scan searches for other missing files.

Step 3 (optional). Fast Search or Filter Deleted or Lost Files 

To locate your important data quickly, such as Word documents, click the Filter feature displayed as a funnel-shaped button. Then, select Type > Documents, and type a specific file extension, such as .docx in the search box to narrow it down. Double-click to preview them. 

Step 4. Recover Data from Not Detected WD External Hard Drive 

Select the desired data on the WD external hard disk and click the Recover button. It displays the number of selected files and the entire size. It allows you to recover data for free over 500MB when WD external hard drive not detected.

Step 5. Select a New Location

Select a new location to store the lost data on the WD external disk. Retrieving files to their original location may overwrite the space occupied by lost data, resulting in permanently deleted files.

7 Fixes to WD External Hard Drive Not Detected

Let's dive into 7effective fixes to get your WD external hard drive detected again. Here’s a mix of solutions you can try:

Fix 1: Check USB Connections and Ports

Often, the issue lies with the USB connection. You can try to unplug and plug WD external hard drive using the USB cable, or a different one. If it’s still not working, try a different USB port on the computer.

Fix 2: Try a Different Computer

If the WD external hard drive not showing up, try to connect it to another computer and check if it’s detected. If yes, your problem may be caused by a previous computer. If not, continue to read the next method.

Fix 3: Update Disk Drivers

Outdated or corrupted drivers can prevent the WD external hard drive from being detected. Try to update disk drivers as follows:

Step 1. Press Win + X and select Device Manager.

Step 2. Expand Disk drives, locate the WD external hard drive, right-click it, and select Update driver.

Step 3. In the following window, select Search automatically for drivers option.

Fix 4. Initialize Disk Showing Not initialized

Sometimes, you may find that WD external drive showing “Unknown, Not Initialized” in Disk Management. In this case, you need to initialize the disk with the following steps.

Step 1. Press Win + X and select Disk Management.

Step 2. Locate the WD external hard disk showing Not Initialized. Right-click it and select Initialize Disk.

Step 3. Check the WD external disk and select MBR or GPT as the partition style. Then, click OK.

Fix 5. Create a New Simple Volume

Your disk may be displayed as Unallocated in Disk Management and at this time the easiest method is to create a new simple volume with it. But this process including formatting will overwrite data and the space occupied by them unless you recover data from unallocated space first.

Step 1. Open Disk Management. Right-click the unallocated space and click New Simple Volume.

Step 2. In the New Simple Volume Wizard, click Next.

Step 3. Follow the on-screen instructions to specify volume size, drive letter, and file system. At last, decide whether to perform a quick format or not and click OK.

Fix 6. Assign a New Drive Letter

Sometimes, the cause of the WD external hard drive not showing up is missing a drive letter or there is a conflict between drive letters. You can try to assign a new drive letter or change it.

Step 1. Open Disk Management. Locate the WD external hard drive, right-click it, and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Step 2. In the following window, click Add and OK to assign a new drive letter to it.

Step 3. If the problem is a drive letter conflict, click Change. You can then select a new drive letter. 

Fix 7. Repair Disk Error usingCHKDSK

If there is a problem with the disk or it has file system errors, try the chkdsk command.

Step 1. Type cmd in the search box and select Run as administrator.

Step 2. Type chkdsk X: /f /r /x and press Enter to check your disk and fix any errors it found. Replace X with your drive letter.

Fix 8. Format the Disk

If your disk is formatted with an unsupported file system, it will cause WD external hard drive not detected. So you can choose to format the disk with a compatible file system, such as FAT32, NTFS, etc.

Step 1. Press Win + X and select Disk Management. Right-click the WD external Hard Drive and select Format.

Step 2. Specify a compatible file system, such as FAT32 or NTFS, and be sure you use the quick format method. Then, click OK. 

Conclusion

This article solves two important issues, one is how to recover data from WD external hard disk which is not detecting and the other is how to fix the WD external hard drive not showing up issues.

Since some methods are risky, such as the chkdsk command, or format disk, please remember to recover data from WD external hard disk first. And always, always backup files regularly to avoid these headaches in the future.

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