External HDD detected and can be safely removed but not showing on explorer

[Arizky Triputro]

My external HDD detected on disk management, but not initialized & the volume become 0/0. It also can be safely removed, but not showing in explorer. anybody know how to fix it ?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Arizky Triputro,

How is the drive recognized by BIOS? In case it is recognized as 0, then it is possible that the HDD has failed. If this is the case, and the HDD is still under warranty, it may be a good idea to contact the manufacturer and eventually RMA the drive.

Apart from that, you can try some basic troubleshooting steps like attaching the drive with a different cable to another USB port. You can even try the drive on another system.
Some users attempt taking the drive out of the enclosure in similar cases. Though, keep in mind that this will void the warranty and you can't be sure whether it will work out or not. In case the HDD inside the enclosure has failed, this wont help. Also, this approach will not work in case the drive has some kind of proprietary connector or hardware encryption.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[freeskier93]

If it's not showing in Explorer then the drive isn't being mapped. The likeliest reason for this is due to the format. Assuming it doesn't have any data on it you want, delete all volumes in disk manager and reformat the drive to NTFS.

 

[Arizky Triputro]

Hi there Arizky Triputro,

How is the drive recognized by BIOS? In case it is recognized as 0, then it is possible that the HDD has failed. If this is the case, and the HDD is still under warranty, it may be a good idea to contact the manufacturer and eventually RMA the drive.

Apart from that, you can try some basic troubleshooting steps like attaching the drive with a different cable to another USB port. You can even try the drive on another system.
Some users attempt taking the drive out of the enclosure in similar cases. Though, keep in mind that this will void the warranty and you can't be sure whether it will work out or not. In case the HDD inside the enclosure has failed, this wont help. Also, this approach will not work in case the drive has some kind of proprietary connector or hardware encryption.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

just checked the BIOS and it says 0. so this means that the HDD has failed ?

 

[D_Know_WD]

It is highly probable.
Yet, it will not hurt to try the different cables/ports/different computer thing.
In case the issue persists:
- RMA the drive in case it is still under warranty. In this case you will not get the data.
- In case the data on the drive is crucial, you need to contact a data recovery company.
- Connect it internally. Just take into account all the things that I have written in the previous post.

D_Know_WD