Fix WD External Hard Drive Not Showing Up/Recognized Error [2022 Tutorial]

How Do I Fix My WD External Hard Drive Not Showing Up on My Computer

Though it's no longer a new problem that external hard drive fails to work or suddenly fail to show up in PC. But it's still a tough issue for ordinary users when their external hard drive, USB or SD card etc devices suddenly become unrecognized, not working or responding in PC. Here below, you'll find 1 quick fix and 4 methods to fix WD external hard drive not working issue. If your external hard drive or storage devices are having this issue, relax and just follow to get your problem fixed right here now.

Solutions here support to fix:

• WD elements not showing up
• WD hard disk not detected
• WD easystore not showing up
• WD discovery not finding drive
• WD my boot not showing up
• etc., more issues

Quick Fix WD External Hard Drive Not Showing Up/Detected/Recognized Error 

Here is a quick guide that you may follow to fix the WD external hard drive not detected, recognized, nor showing up error on your own:

1. Change the USB port/Cable to detect WD external hard drive.

If this doesn't work, continue with the following guidelines.

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

After this, reboot the 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 the below-offered methods to repair not working WD external hard drive or devices now.

You May Also Be Interested In: If you have essential data saved on the WD external hard drive, it's important that you turn to reliable data recovery software for help as recommended here in the below page.

Fix WD External Hard Drive Not Showing Up/Detected Error [2 Efficient Solutions]

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 Check if WD External Hard Drive Shows Up

• 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 shows up. If not, 

Method 2. Change Drive Letter to Make Urecognized WD External Hard Drive Showing Up

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 on 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.

Make WD External Hard Drive Showing Up

If the WD drive still doesn't work properly after making it show up on PC, contine with fixes in the next video for help. Here are more details:

• 00:41 - Update USB Driver
• 01:22 - Reinstall USB Driver 
• 01:56 - Create New Partitions
• 02:41 - Assign New Drive Letter
• 03:43 - Fix File System Errors

With the above-listed solutions, you can also apply them to fix similar or the same issues on other types of devices, including:

Bonus Tip: Fix WD External Hard Drive Not Working/Responding issue

When WD external hard drive, USB or other brands of storage devices are not working or not responding to any operations in your PC, don't worry. You can follow below-offered methods to get problems fixed right now:

Method 1. Update WD External Hard Drive Driver to Make It Work

1. Click on Start > Type: devmgmt.msc in Search to open Device Manager by hitting Enter.
2. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers >  Right-click every USB device found there and select Uninstall.
3. Then check out whether any devices show up as unrecognized or not:

• If WD external hard drive shows unrecognized, go to drivers tab and delete/uninstall the driver. Then check out whether the external hard drive shows up in My Computer/My PC or not.

• If it doesn't show up, reboot or restart PC; 
• If it shows up but disappears later, repeat above steps and go to Disk Management, change the drive letter of your WD external hard drive and reconnect it to PC to let PC detect it again.

Method 2. Repair Corrupted System Files/Bad Sectors on Not Working WD External Hard Drive

Corrupted system files or bad sectors on WD external hard drive or other storage devices would block your device from working or responding in Windows PC.

Professional partition manager software from Qiling will repair bad sectors and fix corrupted system files to make your WD external hard drive work again. Free download, install it and follow below guide steps to fix bad sectors and corrupted system files on your drive now:

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Extra Tip: WD External Hard Drive Recovery Solution

After fixing not working external hard drive on your Windows PC, you may continue using it for storing fancy data again.
But if you lost files or valuable data on the drive, don't worry. Professional WD external hard drive recovery solution offered by Qiling hard drive recovery software is what you exactly need. It will simply restore lost files from WD external hard drive within 3 simple steps on Windows 10/8/7 etc PC. 
If you lost files after fixing WD external hard drive not working issue or cannot access saved data in your storage devices, just free download Qiling hard drive recovery software and let it help now.

FAQs About WD External Hard Drive Not Showing Up

If you have further questions about WD exteranl hard drive, follow and find answers here.

1. Why can't I see my WD Passport?

The reasons of why WD Passport external hard drive not showing up could be various, including: drive letter conflict, outdated drive driver, corrupted file system error, etc. 

2. What should I do when the WD 2TB external hard drive is not showing up on my PC or in Disk Management?

• First, change usb port or usb cable.
• Reboot PC into safe mode, check if WD shows up.
• Change drive letter.
• Check file system error, fix existing bad sectors.
• Create new partition on WD.

3. Can WD hard drive be repaired?

When WD external hard drive contains several bad sectors, it's essential that you take WD hard dive repair tool like Qiling Partition Master for help. But if WD exteranl hard drive contains too many  bad sectors, it's essential that you take WD HDD repair tool to upgrade data to another healthy disk with ease. 

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