USB Device not recognized

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

Just pulled my new “My Book” from its box, plugged in the power and USB cables and an error message come up (on my Windows 10 machine) that it’s not recognized. Can anyone help as to where I go from here, please?

2

@Smudgedata, There could be a few reasons why the drive is not showing up under Computer. The drive itself could have failed, the partition on the drive may be damaged, the data cable may no longer be good, or the drive may no longer be getting enough power to fully spin up.

Please follow the steps below in order to eliminate this issue:

  1. If the drive is not being recognized, disconnect the power adapter from the surge protector/UPS and plug directly into the wall. Sometimes, surge protectors diminish the power being supplied as more devices are added to them.
  2. If the drive is connected to a laptop docking station. The laptop docking station may not be supplying enough power to the drive. Try connecting the drive directly to the USB port on the laptop.
  3. Try connecting the drive to a different computer
  4. If the alternate computer can see and access the drive, the primary or other computers USB port may not provide enough power for the external drive
  5. Power from USB ports can vary. The use of a Power Booster cable may be needed to provide enough power to the USB drive. A Power Booster cable is a Y-shaped cable with an extra connector that allows for connecting a USB device to two USB ports on a computer
  6. For (My Book) connect the power adapter directly in to a wall socket if available
  7. If the drive is spinning but not recognized in My Computer, then change out the data cable with one that is a known good cable. Cables get old and the wires inside can break, or pull loose from the connectors.
  8. If that doesn’t work, connect the external drive to another USB port. The USB port could be malfunctioning.
  9. If the drive still isn’t being recognized, turn the PC off, disconnect the data cable, restart the computer, and once the operating system is fully up and running, reconnect the data cable. Give it a minute or two to recognize then access Disk Management to see if the drive shows up there.

Also, please refer to the following article for troubleshooting steps as the drive is not getting detected:

Link: Cannot Find My WD Drive on Windows or macOS

3

Yes, it’s really irritating when you’re trying to access data through a USB, and it’s always showing an error that “USB Device not recognized”. There could be many factors that can lead to this issue, such as:

  1. The corrupt or unstable USB driver
  2. Windows is missing important updates
  3. USB controllers may have become unstable or corrupt
  4. Corrupt USB drive or partition

You can try below options as a solution to fix your USB drive:

  1. Restart your system
  2. Try different PC/Laptop
  3. Re-install USB drivers in your system
  4. Unplug all connected USB drives
  5. Use data recovery software

Further, you can also check the below link “Why the computer is not recognizing the USB drive?”

Hope this will help.

4

Thanks for the reply. I’ll give these suggestions a go. Yes, it’s a real pain when a device isn’t recognized!

5

Thanks for your reply. I’ll give these a go and hopefully solve the problem.