Cannot access my "WD My Passport 320GB External USB2.0 HDD"

I have WD My Passport 320GB External USB2.0 HDD. I cannot access the drive in my laptop.

The drive is not shown up in MY COMPUTER. The drive is also not shown up in “DISK MANAGEMENT”. When I connect it to my laptop it shows the revice is ready to use. The drive is shown up in “Device Manager”

WHAT TO DO??? to get access or get the data out of my passport HDD.

I have thought to go for firmware update but there it asks for password and it says it will erase all data. I can’t afford to loose the data.

Please provide necessary solution to access the drive or how can I atleast back up the data of this HDD?? 

Thank you

Hello,

You should try some basic troubleshooting:

1- Disconnect the drive from the computer and restart the computer.

2- If the computer is a desktop, connect it on the back USB port (directly to the PC, not through a hub). 

3-If possible try another USB cable and/or another computer

4- Make sure you hear the connection sound windows makes when recognizes a USB device.

5- Go to "Disk Management” to verify if the drive shows up there.

If the drive shows up in disk management but it is not seen on Computer, then it means the partition is corrupted and you will have to format it in order to use it again. Please note that formatting the drive will delete all data stored on it.

Dont format it if you want to recover your files. It may be possible to still extract the data utilizing data recovery software. There are several kinds of Data Recovery software available. If you do a  web search for  Data Recovery  it will yield plenty of data recovery software options.

I am having a similar problem with my 1tb passport, except that I don’t get the windows connection noise when I connect it.  When I connect it to my laptop (a Toshiba windows 8 machine), it barely spins and then stops spinning altogether, making me think perhaps it’s a problem with the power supply or the cable.  However, when I plug it into my girlfriend’s laptop (a Dell windows 7 machine), it spins fine.  However, neither laptop displays the hard drive in windows explorer or disk manager.  I really need the data off this drive! (yes, I know, I should have backed it up…the irony is that I bought a WD 2tb mybook to use as a backup drive, and that hard drive stopped working altogether (most likely a bad power supply.  I meant to send it back to WD to get a replacement, but never did because I was hoping to send it to a data recovery service first but didn’t have the money)… please help!  Is there any way to access this drive to recover the data without sending it to an expensive data recovery service?