My external hard drive doesn't show up on My Computer. HELP!Closed

Question

Hi guys. I have an external hard drive with all my of my data stored in it. I reformatted my computer because it was running very slowly. My old enclosure was not working so I purchased a new enclosure and it came in today. Once i plugged it in, it runs and installs the drivers but nothing shows up in My computer. When I check devices, my hard drive model is seen but it cannot be accessed. Does anyone know of any way to access my files because these are pretty important files I've had for years. It is a 160 GB, model: WD1600JB-00REA0. Thank you and I hope to hear from someone soon!

Zohaib R · Answer

Hi,

I have checked the specifications for the WD Caviar WD1600JB, this is an internal Hard Drive. You have mentioned you are using an enclosure, are you using an enclosure to use this hard drive as an external USB hard drive? If not, kindly, check again in Device Manager if the external hard drive is detected. Once confirmed the external hard drive is being detected by the computer, please update the firmware (if any) for the external hard drive and check if it is shown in my computer.

Please do write back to us.

asdfjaiilee · Answer

Yes, this hard drive used to be part of my old desktop computer that stopped working. I was able to salvage this hard drive and use it as an external for quite a few years now. It worked fine 2 nights ago when I was backing up all my files into it, but suddenly stopped working when I tried to retrieve the data. As for the firmware, is it the driver updates? Because when I check for updates, it says it is up-to-date.

Zohaib R · Answer

Hi,

Please check in the disk management if the hard drive appears as a storage location. If so, kindly try to assign a drive letter to it and check. To assign a drive letter to the hard drive in disk management:

1.	Click Start > Right click Computer (My Computer) > Manage.
2.	In the Computer Management section, go to Storage > Disk Management.
3.	Right-click the hard drive (160 GB) > Change Driver Letter and Paths...
4.	Follow the on screen instructions to complete the process.

If this doesn't work, try using "EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard" and check if this can recover data for you.

You can find instructions on how to recover the data and download "EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard" from the below mentioned link: 

http://www.easeus.com/resource/recover-hard-drive-data.htm

Follow the instructions in the above page and check if you can recover the data.

Note : A free edition can only recover 1GB files for free.

Do reply with results.

asdfjaiilee · Answer

I tried the above and it still didn't work. What I did was use ZAR to check all the files and they were thankfully still there. However, most of them were corrupted so I couldn't do much with it. What I intend to do is just figure out what I need essentially and grab those files. Thanks for your help though I figured most of the data was inaccessible.

Zohaib R · Answer

Hi,

I wish I could help you beyond this, as I am not aware of a method to repair the damaged files. I will look for a solution and if I find one, I will post here. If you find a fix please post the same, so that it helps other users.

My external hard drive doesn't show up on My Computer. HELP!

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