Wondershare Recoverit

Hard Drive Recovery

  • Recovers deleted or lost files from hard drive effectively, safely and completely.
  • Supports data recovery from 500+ data loss scenarios, including computer crash, partition loss, accidental human error, etc.
  • Supports 1000+ file formats recovery with a high success rate and without any quality loss.
Free Download Free Download Free Download Learn More >
hard drive recovery

How to Solve My WD Hard Drive Not Recognized in Windows

Wondershare Recoverit Authors

Jan 27, 2024 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions

I got a WD external hard drive and connect it to my computer, but I found that the WD hard drive was not recognized on the computer. Why is my external hard drive not showing up? How does fix my WD external hard drive not recognized problems and recover my all data back?

The WD external hard drive not showing up on the computer means you cannot access the drive to manage your data on the device. The solution to recovering our data from WD hard drive, you should fix the WD hard disk recognized and detected on the computer. On this page, we will offer quick fixes to help you solve WD hard drives not recognized in Windows computers and then recover data from Western Digital hard drives with Recoverit Data Recovery software.

Part 1: How to Solve My WD Hard Drive Not Recognized in Windows

Follow the next quick fixes to help you solve WD external hard drives not recognized in Windows and make your hard disk work on the computer.

Method 1. Reboot the PC into Safe Mode

To verify if the WD External Hard Drive is recognized, follow these steps to reboot the PC into Safe Mode:

  1. Click the Windows icon and choose Settings.
  2. Navigate to Update & Security, then select Recovery, Advanced Startup, and click Restart Now.
  3. Wait for the computer to boot into the Startup Settings screen.
  4. Press F4 to enable Safe Mode, and the PC will reboot accordingly.

Once in Safe Mode, check if the WD external hard drive is recognized.

boot into safe mode

Method 2. Check WD Hard Drive with Disk Management

You can try checking the Disk Management utility to see if the hard drive is showing up there or not. With Disk Management you can initialize WD hard drive or assign a drive letter to WD hard drive partition.

  1. Press Windows + R to start the Run command.
  2. Type diskmgmt.msc and press enter to start the Disk management.

type diskmgmtmsc

  1. Locate the WD hard drive and right-click on it, select "Initialize Disk" and choose the partition system between MBR and GPT.
  2. Then, right-click on the disk and select Create New Simple Volume.
  3. Also, right-click on your WD external hard drive and select Change Drive letter and path.

select change drive letter and path

  1. Then, assign a new drive letter to your WD external hard and click OK to save the changes.

assign a new drive letter to WD hard drive

Method 3. Turn on USB Root Hub to make WD external hard drive recognizable

To troubleshoot the problem of WD hard drive not recognized on Windows computer, you can turn on USB Root Hub to make it recognizable.

  1. Select Start, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter.
  2. Open the Device Manager and expand the USB controllers.

open Device Manager

  1. Now, right-click on the USB Root Hub, select Properties, and then head to Power Management.

Properties

  1. Uncheck the box saying "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save the power".

turn off the device

Use this process repeatedly to turn on all the USB Root hubs displayed on the list. After that, restart your computer and the WD external hard drive should appear on your PC.

Method 4. Update WD Hard Disk Device Driver

You can try to update drivers using Device Manager to fix WD external hard disk not working on a Windows computer.

  1. Right-click on the Windows icon, and click Device Manager.
  2. Expand the Universal Serial Bus Controllers section.
  3. Right-click on the WD external hard drive, and select Update Driver.
  4. After that, click the Search automatically for drivers option to update the drive.

Windows update drivers

After these steps, restart your computer, and connect the WD external hard disk to the computer to check if the disk can recognize on the Windows computer.

As above we offer quick fixes to solve the WD my passport not showing up problem on Windows, if all fails to solve the error, the hard drive may get a physical failure, you should take it to the hard drive repair store or you need to replace a new one.

Part 2: Tips to Protect Your Western Digital External Hard Drive

While using an external hard drive, users may go through issues like the hard disk not being recognized. A variety of reasons can result in a Western Digital external hard drive not being recognized. Some of the common troubleshooting are discussed below.

1. Do not add new data

Do not add any new files to the WD hard disk after data loss from the Western Digital external hard drive. This can overwrite the files that can be recovered from the WD hard disk and make all the data lost permanently. Hence, before you find out and recover all the lost data on your Western Digital hard disk, stop adding new content to it. This will improve your chances of WD data recovery.

2. Use anti-virus software

Regularly scan your WD hard drive with authorized antivirus software to help remove possible viruses from your WD external hard drive. By scanning and removing viruses from your computer hard drive regularly, your computer will be healthy and free from any file corruption that could lead to data loss.

3. Eject WD hard drive by using the "safe remove" option

Never unplug or disconnect your WD hard drive abruptly as sudden removal may not give it enough time to save the status and lead to a file system corruption. Always eject the WD external hard drive using the "Safe Remove" option to prevent data loss from sudden ejection.

No doubt Western Digital produces the best quality hard drives, but even they are as susceptible to data losses as other hard drives on the market. You may get troubled when you lose your precious data due to any data loss reason. In this case, you can use the Recoverit Data Recovery tool to recover data from an external hard drive easily.

Part 3: How to Recover Lost Data from Western Digital Hard Drive

Accidentally deleted and lost files from WD hard drive, or the hard disk damaged errors caused the data loss. Recoverit Data Recovery software can help you retrieve all lost data back. Download and install Recoverit External Hard Drive Recovery software on your computer, and connect the drive to the PC. Follow the next 3 steps to get your lost data back:

Video Tutorial on How to Recover Data from WD External Hard Drive?

Recent Videos from Recoverit

View More >
5481435 people have downloaded it

Step 1. With Recoverit Data Recovery, select WD hard disk to get started.

select WD external hard disk

Step 2. The hard drive data recovery will start scanning the device, it will take minutes to complete the scan.

scanning the hard drive device

Step 3. At last, you can check all the recovered files. Then, select your files and click the "Recover" button to save all recovered files on a safe device.

preview recovered files and restore

Recoverit author

Amy Dennis

staff Editor

Home > Resources > Answer Hard Drive Problems > How to Solve My WD Hard Drive Not Recognized in Windows