Greetings WD Community-
My first post. I am a Digital-Music Producer and Mix/Mastering Engineer using DAW Software to create and record music destined to be correctly uploaded to Music Streaming Platforms such as Spotify, Apple, etc. I achieve this on a newly customized Gaming Desktop PC Optimized for Win11-Home as a dedicated platform.
Back in 2013-14, I purchased a silver colored Table Top WD My Book Essential 500 GB Drive for backing up all my .WAV Music Project, Photos, Video and Documents Files etc. At that time this HDD was formatted for Both WinXP and Win7 when they first came out via KVM switching on 2-separate LCD Monitors so that I could run both Platforms independently from each other (with an MS Virtual Browser). Everything worked 100% as I recall.
Long story short, I had to move locations during that period and there was an unfortunate on-site storage mishap that wiped me out, losing much gear and other valuables. I thought this WD Backup Drive was one of the lost casualties. But, after 10 years, I found it in an old box the other day that was always stored stationary at room temperature. I couldn’t find the Power Adapter or Micro USB for it. So, I contacted WD yesterday and they email sent me exact Specs for it and I was able to pick up the correct Power Adapter earlier today at local Electrical/Battery Shop. Later, it powered up successfully back here in my Studio.
One of my Camcorders has a short Micro USB Male that fit snugly into this Drive. However, neither my Win11 Desktop or my Win10 Laptop can read this WD Drive at all. No new Drive letters appear at all on either machine. Google searches were not helpful and I doubt seeking a Data Recovery Company will be cost effective for me as I recall paying only $80.00 Dollars/US for this WD 500 Gig Drive 10-years ago.
In closing, I suspect that new Drivers for Win11 are in order. But, I’m Leary about Downloading anything from unfamiliar sites that offer this. Along with hearing many rumors about Win11 not being compatible with WD Drivers for this particular/obsolete unit mentioned. I’m certainly not going to mess with MS Disk Management and re-format anything. I’ll lose this precious data to me for sure!
I read this link in Community Forums (and put in a Case) but am not sure if I’ll reformat erase this Data or not IF I follow these instructions:
Any advice and proven suggestions about this stated issue by you guys would be Greatly appreciated by me.
With much thanks and warm regards,
/MH~
