Problem with WD_My Book Essential 1tb on Win7 after XP

Hy there everyone!

I would like to ask for your help, I’m in deep panic here. 

TLDR version: after using my 1TB hard drive on a XP os old laptop, my (usually used) Win7 os notebook can’t see my files on it - It recognizes the hard drive, but it does not access the files. On the old laptop everything is fine. What happened? Drivers are up to date. 

Here’s what happened: 

  1. I have a My Book Essential 1TB, what I use for storage (Movies, Documents etc.). 

  2. Until now it worked perfectly.

  3. I use it almost always with my Asus K50IN notebook - it’s old, but works perfectly, and every software is up to date (especially the drivers). OS: Windows7

  4. I had a task, to extract data from an other notbook, a considerably older DELL Latitude D510. OS: WinXP. Due to the fact, that the amount of the data was significant (30GB) I used my WD_MyBook. 

  5. Data extracted, no problem, DELL XP recognizes and utilizes 1TB. 

  6. I connect the 1TB to Asus (Win7), and this happens:

           -It recognizes the device, autorun, and at MyComputer it is shown, I can accsess it, YET when I enter the “My                      Book” hard drive, it says that it is Empty! And it shows none of my files.

           -When I check properties: it says that it has as much data on it, as it should.

           -I reconnect the 1TB with the Old DELL laptop, and there I CAN access everything. 

  1. I immiadiatly assumed, that the driver went nuts (Win7->XP->Win7), so i try to update it. It does not work. Win7 says, that the driver for the MyBook is prefectly updated, and I have the latest version. 

Am I this incompetent, or something is really wrong? I would really appreciate any form of help… 

Thank you, 

Treveljan

Does it show the files or deny access? If it doesn’t show the files go into folder options and select show hidden files.

Joe

Dear Joe_S!

Thank you for your reply!

When I go to my computer, it shows, that yes, I have connected the device, and it has the same name, as always (H: My Book). 

When I enter, the folder is empty, there are no files to be seen, and it says in the middle of the “empty space” (as at any empty files): The Folder is empty. 

It does not deny anything, it “says” nothing. Everything on my pc says, that the device is working perfectly. 

I tried your solution (select show hidden files) - there isn’t such an option (either I’m blind, or something is wrong). 

However, I forgot to mention this: 

On the Old Dell, at the autorun, XP created some sort of “shortcut file” within the device. If I enter it in the XP, I end up at the “root” point of the hard drive (and it also created a “#Recycle bin”). 

On my Asus (win7) the system shows the “shortcut file”, but after entering, it shows that the “folder is empty”. 

And as I said, if I’m in My Computer, and right click on the H: My Book - it shows, that it has data on it (the amount it should have). 

Thank you again for your help, I know, that it must be something patheticly lame, but I just gave up after an hour… 

Treveljan