Wd external drive doesn't open

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

Hi!
My WD external drive stopped working, it’s also slow down the computer when it’s connected and do weird noises… I can see the name of the drive but can’t open any item because it’s just get stuck… is there any chance to extract those files?
I also have wd backup but couldn’t restore any data from there so maybe it didn’t really did any backup

2

Hi @Adi1,

Please refer to the article How To Tell If The Noise or Sound An Internal Drive Makes is Normal:
https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16309

Please test the health of your drive using the Western Digital Drive utility:
https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13880

3

There could be various reasons for a drive to become unresponsive or undetected. It can be a hardware issue or some software issue. The external drive may be detected by the system if you connect it to another PC, but it doesn’t respond.

Below are a few possible reasons for this issue:

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

However, you can still fix the issue and extract the files from the USB drive by attempting the below methods:

  1. Reboot your system - Shut down your system, remove the power cord wait for some time & then connect the power cord & boot your system.
  2. Try different PC or Laptop
  3. Re-install USB drivers
  4. Unplug all connected USB devices
  5. Fix USB root hub

You can also check out the below blog to know the solution for the issue:

Hope this will help.

4

Quick fix WD external hard drive not showing up/unrecognized/responding error

  1. Click Start > Type: devmgmt.msc in the Search box and hit Enter.
  2. Open Device Manager > Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
  3. Right-click on the USB Root Hub > Select Properties.
  4. Go to Power Management and uncheck Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

After this, reboot PC and reconnect WD external hard drive to your PC, then you’ll be able to use the drive again.
If this quick fix doesn’t work, relax and just follow below-offered methods

Here you have two methods to follow and fix WD external hard drive not recognized or undetectable error in Windows 10/8/7:

Method 1. Reboot PC into Safe Mode to make WD external hard drive recognizable

  • Go to Setting > Update & security.
  • Tab on Recovery > Advanced Startup > Restart now.
  • PC will automatically boot into another Startup Settings screen.
  • Press F4 to initiate PC reboot into Safe Mode.
  • Then check whether the WD external hard disk can be detected or not.

Method 2. Change drive letter to make unrecognized WD external hard drive detectable

The other way is to change the drive letter with Disk Management tool so to make unrecognized or undetectable WD external hard drive to show up in PC:

  • Right-click on This PC/My Computer > Select Manage.
  • Go Disk Management > Find your external hard drive and right click it by choosing Change Drive Letter and Path…
  • Assign the drive with a new letter that doesn’t exist in your PC and mark the Partition as Active.
  • Click OK.
  • Restart PC and your External hard drive will show up and work again.
    Hope this helps .
5

From what you said, these are all obvious symptoms of physical damage to the hard drive. :thinking:

If anyone’s disk suffers physical damage, please stop using it immediately and contact a professional. In many cases, DIY repairs can do more harm than good. Let’s hope our data is still somewhere on the hard drive.