My MYBOOK ESSENTIAL (WDBAAF0020HBK) is not recognized by my PC (WIN8) as a hard drive. I have downloaded the updated drivers, plugged it directly into a wall outlet, changed the USB cable all to no avail. WIN 8 Explorer does not see the drive. Device manager indicates it is present and working. WD …

Success! Fortunately I have 2 MB Essentials, one is a 2 terabyte, the other a 1 terabyte (WDBAAF0020HBK and WDBAAF0010HBK, respectively). I was only trying to use the larger one (2T). I decided to give the 1T drive a try to see if it might work. It did. With the 1T connected to the laptop I reset …

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MB Essential works under win 7, win 8 fails to see data

WD External Drives External Drives for PC

Trancer January 22, 2015, 6:56pm 3

Welcome to the Community and thank you very much for sharing the outcome. Hopefully it’ll help someone else in need.