WD external hard drive device driver not installing on computer

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Jstrong. - Jul 16, 2016 at 04:34 PM
KY_WD Posts 2053 Registration date Thursday October 23, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 28, 2017   - Jul 27, 2016 at 10:27 AM
Hello,

Please I have a problem with my WD 500GB HDD. When connected to my windows 7 computer, it says device driver could not be installed, and after that the device fails to show up in computer. Please I need help.

1 response

KY_WD Posts 2053 Registration date Thursday October 23, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 28, 2017   122
Jul 26, 2016 at 10:01 AM
Hello Jstrong,

Can you tell me what is the exact type of model of the external WD drive that you have? Have you tried plugging it to another port of the computer or to another PC at all? Does it give you the same error or not?
My suggestion is to try connecting it with another USB cable also. Please, go to the Device manager to see if the disk is being installed correctly. If you connect it to another PC and it gets recognized there, my advice is to make a backup of all of your data stored on your external drive.
After that, you could scan the WD drive with our specific tool Data LifeGuard Diagnostics which can be downloaded from here http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Jnhllu and come back to the topic to tell me what happened with the extended test.

Hope I gave you some ideas. Cheers.
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Thanks KY_WD.
I have done all you suggested but its not working. It doesn't show up in device manager when connected to the computer. I have connected it to other ports on the same computer and it didn't work. I have connected it to other computers and it shows the same error message. I have used other original cables but it still didn't work. I have very important files and applications stored on the drive and I cant afford to lose them. Please, what else can I do?
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KY_WD Posts 2053 Registration date Thursday October 23, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 28, 2017   122 > Jstrong
Jul 27, 2016 at 10:27 AM
Hi again,

There are some data recovery programs that could do the job. You could search for them over the Internet. 
If they don't help you, then you could try to access the data using Linux Live USB / CD. Within the Ubuntu forum you can see the steps how to make a bootable flash. Once you have downloaded the .iso file, change the boot priority on the computer where the USB is placed. It is done through the BIOS and you must change the boot priority to be from USB ports and not the HDD. When it boots from the PC, you have to click on try and and not on install the OS.
If that does not help, probably the best solution is to bring your external WD drive a data recovery company.

Hope this helps.
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