I believe the external hard drive as failed. It whirs but is not recognized as a valid drive. We have many photos that we do not want to lose. What options are there for retrieving this data…located in Calgary Alberta.
Welcome to the WD Community.
As a recommendation, test the drive on a different computer and using a different USB cable. If stills the same, try using a data recovery software.
See if the following link helps.
Data recovery, warranty policy, and what happens to data on drives sent in for replacement (RMA)