WD 3TB EXT HDD won't show up on "My Computer" but is in the device manager

[Tripper511]

A couple days ago I was converting several .mkv files that were on my Western Digital My Book Essential 3TB EXT HDD to .avi files, also to be saved in a different folder on the EXT HDD. It took about 7 hours. I was using a program called Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate. After I checked, the computer said there was some read/write failure.

Since then my EXT HDD will not show up in my computer. When I access the device manager, under disk drives, it shows "WD My Book 1140 USB Device". The light is blinking on the device and I can hear the drive spin up when I turn on the power. The device manager also says it's working properly.

I've also tried removing and unplugging the device. Restarting my PC then reconnecting. It didn't help. It still shows up on 2 different computers under "device management" and says it's working but still won't appear under my computer.

I'm at a loss of how to access my HDD again. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Look in Disk Management, it may just need a drive letter assigning to it (Windows may have "lost" it):
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-add-remove-drive-letter#1TC=windows-7

If it's not possible to do that, test the drive with WD Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows:
http://support.wd.com/product/download.asp?groupid=307&sid=3&lang=en

Note: ignore the drive pictured on the page. You can test any WD hard drive model with the LifeGuard Diagnostics software.

 

[Tripper511]

The drive doesn't appear in Disk Management at all. I tried the LifeGuard program and my External Hard Drive wasn't on the list. In Device Manager it still appears under Disk Drives and the safely remove hardware icon appears in the lower right of my screen whenever I connect the EXT HDD. I'm tempted to remove the Hard Drive from it's casing and try to connect it directly to my computer's motherboard.

UPDATE:
I closed and reopened the LifeGuard Program a few times and this time my EXT HDD showed up on the list as a USB. The Serial Number, Capacity and SMART Status were all unavailable. When I started a quick test it would start with "Running Cable Test" then an error would come up that reads "Cable Test::Read diagnostics sector error!".

 

[mpc3110]

Any follow-up Tripper511? Did you figure out a solution? I'm having a similar issue...

 

[Lonnie Jones PMP]

Here are some ways what I tried to fix mine:

1. Physically clean the interior.
2. Update drivers. Had to update Intel usb 3.0 drivers before it would work on another computer. On a different computer using the same my book I had to actually update the my book drivers for it to work properly.
3. Use system restore just in case there is a conflict from an update.
4. Give it a love tap (sometimes the actual head arm can get stuck) read this article: http://www.cnet.com/news/mybook-not-working-smack-it/
5. Uninstall the driver, unplug the usb, reboot the device, then plug in usb. This worked for me. Not sure why it stopped working but it was fixed.
6. Restart your computer and the device
7. If the device is verified but isn't mounting then you need to run diskmgmt.msc to see it. Use right click to assign it to a drive letter.

 

[Tripper511]

I ultimately tried all the suggestions here in this thread and from various other sources. None of them work. What caused the initial problem was 2 large files (around 90GB), one was being downloaded as another was being uploaded. It must of overwhelmed the drive and broke it. Even after a full format and reinstalled drivers it stopped working. I even went as far as to wipe the drive then directly connect it to my motherboard via a sata cable and it still wouldn't run. Luckly I had another drive that had about 80% of the data on it as a back up. But I had to spend several months to get back all the other music/pics/vids I lost.

Sorry, I kniw it's not the solution people will hope to hear if their in the situation I was but as a Computer Science major I tried everything and just had to admit that the drive was toast.

 

[Atmeister720]

The drive doesn't appear in Disk Management at all. I tried the LifeGuard program and my External Hard Drive wasn't on the list. In Device Manager it still appears under Disk Drives and the safely remove hardware icon appears in the lower right of my screen whenever I connect the EXT HDD. I'm tempted to remove the Hard Drive from it's casing and try to connect it directly to my computer's motherboard.

UPDATE:
I closed and reopened the LifeGuard Program a few times and this time my EXT HDD showed up on the list as a USB. The Serial Number, Capacity and SMART Status were all unavailable. When I started a quick test it would start with "Running Cable Test" then an error would come up that reads "Cable Test::Read diagnostics sector error!".

Did you try the "extended test? when i too tried the quick test, i got an error. however the extended test worked(did take some time though). it found some bad sectors and was able to repair it. once that was done i removed then replugged my drive, tried the disk management and there it was. drive letter was already set so just opened up command prompt and checked the drive for errors. [chkdsk /f I: ( "I" being my drive letter) ]
when it was done had my drive working fine again with all my stuff intact

 

[lundew01]

A couple days ago I was converting several .mkv files that were on my Western Digital My Book Essential 3TB EXT HDD to .avi files, also to be saved in a different folder on the EXT HDD. It took about 7 hours. I was using a program called Xilisoft Video Converter Ultimate. After I checked, the computer said there was some read/write failure.

Since then my EXT HDD will not show up in my computer. When I access the device manager, under disk drives, it shows "WD My Book 1140 USB Device". The light is blinking on the device and I can hear the drive spin up when I turn on the power. The device manager also says it's working properly.

I've also tried removing and unplugging the device. Restarting my PC then reconnecting. It didn't help. It still shows up on 2 different computers under "device management" and says it's working but still won't appear under my computer.

I'm at a loss of how to access my HDD again. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[lundew01]

I am also having similar major issues:

I have been running Windows 10 for two months with no access issues with my two WD MyBook 6TB external USB 3.0 drives. 48 hours ago one of the 2 drives was not displaying in File Explorer. 24 hours ago both drives stopped displaying in File Explorer.
They show up under Disk Management as "Online" and "Unallocated".
When I try to update the driver, Windows says I have the latest WD SES Driver.
(P.S. my two WD MyPassport drives continue to work properly).

I cannot understand BOTH drives failing within 24 hours of each other. Is there a way to get them "re-allocated" without loosing any of the data I have on them? (I do not have another PC with USB 3.0 ports to test the drives on)

Any ideas as to why this is happening and how to fix? Thank you.

 

[Zelexis]

Much like the others I was having an issue where the drive would show in devices (Windows 10) but I could not see or browse files for the device in Windows Explorer. I tried all the different USB ports on my computer and docking station. I also tried the WD Diagnostics tool and it showed my drive as unavailable.

I could hear the drive trying to start up like a whirring up then down .. over and over. As a last effort I changed where I had it plugged in from the surge protector to the wall outlet directly. As soon as I changed power sources the device started up as expected and I was once again able to see and browse files on the drive like previous.