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[Help] External storage not recognized

HerySean
By HerySean
in Storage Devices
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Hi, first of all, I'm new here, so hello everyone 

 

second, I really need help from everyone, I have an external drive named WD element 1048 and I've been having it for about a year now, I had no problem with it until yesterday, i tried to plugged it into my laptop and it didn't show up in my PC, it still there in Device Manager and safely remove hardware, But I couldn't see it in my PC explore, I did my research everywhere on the web but no one answered my problem. Please help me, I am very desperate right now.

 

Thank you

 

Edit: I tried un-install the driver and plugged it back it and it worked but after that time, I unplugged and plugged it in again and it didn't work again. :(

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https://linustechtips.com/topic/545645-help-external-storage-not-recognized/
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15 hours ago, davo1111 said:

Follow these instructions and assign a drive letter.

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/change-add-remove-drive-letter#1TC=windows-7

 

Is it visible in computer management?

No it does not. I added another photo to my first post to show you what what problem was.

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15 hours ago, davo1111 said:

Does it work in other machines? 

 

- if yes, it could be a power issue with your laptop.

 

- if not, replace the cord/cable and see if that makes a difference.

 

 

I will try on my friend's laptop and I did try to change the cable and it didn't work either.

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15 hours ago, davo1111 said:

it sounds like you'll end up going down the recovery option. i.e. extracting the drive and getting it into a new dock if possible

 

You should also try it on a desktop with proper power.

I would love to but I don't have a desktop, well, i used to have it but my dad sold it for scrap, I was really upset back then when he did that, so now I end up with the laptop.

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3 hours ago, HerySean said:

~snip~

 

Hey there HerySean :) Welcome to the community!

 

I'm sorry for the situation you are in to. 

 

If you scroll down in Disk Management can you see the drive there? 


I would try the drive with another USB cable, on another USB port and possibly on another system and see if the results are different. 


I would also download and run WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool and see if the tool detects the drive. Here's a link: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Lj8fwC

 

Have you used the "Safe Eject" function of the OS? This function verifies that all processes and transfers from and to the drive and complete before disconnecting the drive from the system and makes sure nothing gets corrupted or lost in the process. After it verifies everything it writes a small amount of data on the drive that is checked after the drive is replugged next time. If the OS doesn't find this data it assumes that the drive is corrupted and asks to be reformatted. This may be the case. 


If you can't recognize the drive under your or any other computer I would suggest trying to do so with Linux Live CD. Here's a bit more info on that: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

 

Post back with some progress! 

 

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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On 2/11/2016 at 10:21 PM, Captain_WD said:

 

Hey there HerySean :) Welcome to the community!

 

I'm sorry for the situation you are in to. 

 

If you scroll down in Disk Management can you see the drive there? 


I would try the drive with another USB cable, on another USB port and possibly on another system and see if the results are different. 


I would also download and run WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool and see if the tool detects the drive. Here's a link: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Lj8fwC

 

Have you used the "Safe Eject" function of the OS? This function verifies that all processes and transfers from and to the drive and complete before disconnecting the drive from the system and makes sure nothing gets corrupted or lost in the process. After it verifies everything it writes a small amount of data on the drive that is checked after the drive is replugged next time. If the OS doesn't find this data it assumes that the drive is corrupted and asks to be reformatted. This may be the case. 


If you can't recognize the drive under your or any other computer I would suggest trying to do so with Linux Live CD. Here's a bit more info on that: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

 

Post back with some progress! 

 

Captain_WD.

Yeah this morning I tried to plugged it back in and it showed up again. I didn't really know what happened, but i think i'll leave it that way, I'm not gonna unplug the thing out ever again. 

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5 hours ago, HerySean said:

~snip~

 

I would still monitor it as this may be a sign of problems. Make sure you have backups of that data! If the problem occurs again do post back so we can figure out what's wrong with it. :)

 

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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On 2/12/2016 at 9:23 PM, Captain_WD said:

 

I would still monitor it as this may be a sign of problems. Make sure you have backups of that data! If the problem occurs again do post back so we can figure out what's wrong with it. :)

 

Captain_WD.

I can't back up, the data is too large, almost 1 TB of data, how i'm I supposed to back it up or where will I back it up even.

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On 12.02.2016 г. at 6:56 PM, HerySean said:

~snip~

 

Having a backup of your data is something you shouldn't take on lightly. In case something happens with your main copy you would need to get it back from somewhere and if you don't have a backup you would encounter huge problems if you value your data. 


People usually use external drives, NAS devices or online clouds to make copies of their important data and make sure they refresh it often with backup tools or manually. :) I personally find using a NAS (such as the WD My Cloud: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=vzLl9X ) very useful for such type of usage. 

 

Feel free to ask if you need some advice on this!

 

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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14 hours ago, Captain_WD said:

 

Having a backup of your data is something you shouldn't take on lightly. In case something happens with your main copy you would need to get it back from somewhere and if you don't have a backup you would encounter huge problems if you value your data. 


People usually use external drives, NAS devices or online clouds to make copies of their important data and make sure they refresh it often with backup tools or manually. :) I personally find using a NAS (such as the WD My Cloud: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=vzLl9X ) very useful for such type of usage. 

 

Feel free to ask if you need some advice on this!

 

Captain_WD.

Yeah I don't have that kind of money, and plus the drive is dead silent now, i can't access to it anymore, 900GB of my life's data just disappeared....

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5 hours ago, HerySean said:

Yeah I don't have that kind of money, and plus the drive is dead silent now, i can't access to it anymore, 900GB of my life's data just disappeared....

Yeah, I was about to say, these symptoms are a sign that the drive is about to die (My WD passport died in the same manner...controller board worked, but the drive itself was dead). I don't take a chance with the portable external drives anymore...I tell everyone I know to never use them as a primary storage media, only as a backup or transfer device. Always have a backup of them since they die fairly quickly / are prone to death due to excessive shock and being knocked off the table (How mine died). As mentioned above, you shouldn't take backups lightly.

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6 hours ago, HerySean said:

Yeah I don't have that kind of money, and plus the drive is dead silent now, i can't access to it anymore, 900GB of my life's data just disappeared....

 

Can you access the drive at all? I'd ask a friend or try to find a place where you can transfer your data as you are really putting it in danger. Consider some online cloud spaces or getting a 1TB internal drive to put the data on it (it should be quite budget-friendly). 

 

48 minutes ago, scottyseng said:

Yeah, I was about to say, these symptoms are a sign that the drive is about to die (My WD passport died in the same manner...controller board worked, but the drive itself was dead). I don't take a chance with the portable external drives anymore...I tell everyone I know to never use them as a primary storage media, only as a backup or transfer device. Always have a backup of them since they die fairly quickly / are prone to death due to excessive shock and being knocked off the table (How mine died). As mentioned above, you shouldn't take backups lightly.

 

External drives are good for main storage as long as you take care of them, but having backups is indeed important if you value your data and can't afford to lose it. :)

 

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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On 2/16/2016 at 5:16 PM, Captain_WD said:

 

Can you access the drive at all? I'd ask a friend or try to find a place where you can transfer your data as you are really putting it in danger. Consider some online cloud spaces or getting a 1TB internal drive to put the data on it (it should be quite budget-friendly). 

 

 

External drives are good for main storage as long as you take care of them, but having backups is indeed important if you value your data and can't afford to lose it. :)

 

Captain_WD.

Yeah i'm trying to, it came back up again yesterday, now i'm trying to back up this, which cloud storage website should i use? Dropbox or Google Drive?

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4 minutes ago, HerySean said:

Yeah i'm trying to, it came back up again yesterday, now i'm trying to back up this, which cloud storage website should i use? Dropbox or Google Drive?

As a WD representative I can't really recommend either of them. I'd look into the pros and cons of both of them and see which one would suit you better. :) 

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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13 hours ago, Captain_WD said:

As a WD representative I can't really recommend either of them. I'd look into the pros and cons of both of them and see which one would suit you better. :) 

Thanks. I still really confused what's going on with my drive but i think it'll be fine if i leave it connected to my laptop :/

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8 hours ago, HerySean said:

~snip~

 

Well, did you check the drive's S.M.A.R.T. status and see if there's something wrong with it? The RAW values should give you some good insights on its health. The drive may have actual problems and could fail any time so I'd try to be prepared for such occasions.

 

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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On 2/18/2016 at 7:27 PM, Captain_WD said:

 

Well, did you check the drive's S.M.A.R.T. status and see if there's something wrong with it? The RAW values should give you some good insights on its health. The drive may have actual problems and could fail any time so I'd try to be prepared for such occasions.

 

Captain_WD.

Yeah the Dude is dead now, i tried to cloud it the other day while it was still salvageable  but I was too late.... the drive is dead the day after that, i went to tech store  and ask them if they can do something with to recover my drive but they said "they drive is dead, kid, there's nothing we can do"

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3 hours ago, HerySean said:

~snip~

 

I'm sorry to hear about the drive. A reputable data recovery company may be able to recover your data but it would be quite costly and may not be worth it. 

Anyway, if you need anything else - feel free to ask :)

Captain_WD.

If this helped you, like and choose it as best answer - you might help someone else with the same issue. ^_^
WDC Representative, http://www.wdc.com/ 

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