Exasperated with WD External Drives Not Mounting

Over the past number of years, I spent a small fortune on more than a few WD external HD’s of various sizes and models to backup my work and home PC’s. A couple of years ago, I reconnected one of these drives to retrieve some archived files but it wouldn’t mount on either my laptop or desktop.

At that time I researched WD’s website and tried every recommended remedy, to no avail. I figured this drive was defective, so I disposed of it. Sometime later, I had the same experience with a second and third WD drive where I had redundant backups. Based on the huge volume of similar complaints on the WD website, I decIided to wait awhile, figuring a solution would eventually be posted by WD.

These WD drives show up in the Device Manager and Disc Manager, but remain inaccessible and do not mount on the desktop even after trying numerous suggestions on the WD web pages.

I can’t believe that WD hasn’t come up with a definitive, straightforward patch or other solution to this problem, and I regret that I entrusted my file backups to WD.

Needless to say, I will never purchase another WD product, and I will advise others to steer clear of WD, unless they need an expensive brick for a doorstop.

Hi @WDwillnotmountWin10

I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a poor experience with your WD products. How long are we talking about? Magnetic storage devices generally only last a small number of years - it’s just in the nature of the technology. If you do some research on Google, you can get a pretty good idea about how long drives (by any manufacturer) last in general.

Our recommendation is always to keep a backup of your data - that means a second copy. For critical files, I personally always keep a third copy somewhere off-site (in my case in a safety deposit box at the bank) just in case something tragic happens like a house fire.

Thank you for your response. Some of these WD USB drives are a few years old, but were not when I first experienced the problem. The WD Essentials disc passes the Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tests and other tests I’ve run, but it still won’t mount on the desktop. Seems like it should, when it passes these tests, and shows up in Device Manager and Disc Manager.

Also should mention that I had redundant, backups on other WD externals, (i.e., third copy of home files kept at work and third copy of work files kept at home), but these are the other WD external hard drives that won’t mount.

By the way, I’ve used a version of your username myself, as I have a very Scottish surname.

Yet another WD MyBook won’t mount. That makes three, maybe four, (I’ve lost track), WD’s that have failed on me over the past few years. I’ve never had failures with any of my other hard drives, internal or external, even ones that I used regularly for years. None of these failed WD’s was in constant use, as I used them to backup my PC’s internal hard drives. Ironic, isn’t it, that the recommended second and third backup drives have all failed along with the first WD backup, while the original hard drive in my PC “keeps on tickin” like the proverbial, cheap Timex watch? As in the other WD failures, I can hear the drive spin up and the clicking of the heads accessing the files they do when starting up, but none of these drives would mount. Hundreds of dollars down the toilet, along with the data I was counting on WD to safeguard for me. There is something seriously wrong with these MyBooks, and I will never buy another, and whenever I see someone looking at them in Staples or elsewhere, I tell them of my experience and let them decide if they want to spend the money and risk the loss of their irreplacable data files. The only thing WD MyBooks are good for is doorstops and boat anchors.