WD My Book Essential

A friend has a Western Digital My Book Essential 2 Terabite external hard drive, that when powered on does not show up as a drive or drive letter on his Windows 10 PC ? Any suggestions on resolving this issue ?

Thanks,

What is the exact model number?

Did you try different USB ports? Does the drive work on another computer?

Hi Midknyte, I tried different USB ports on my and my friends PC, no signal or drive letter. I asked my friend if it came with any software, he said no, the cable connecting the external drive to the PC was labeled USB 3.0 compatible with USB 2.0 - USB 3.0 on the drive. One thing I did notice, is that when it was powered on it was very quiet. I have a WD Element External drive,and when it's powered on and I put my hand on it, I can tell it's running ok. I could not feel any vibration with this model ?

Is this a desktop or laptop portable drive? "My Book" usually refers to a desktop drive with a separate AC adapter. That's why I asked for the model number.

Hi Midknyte, the P/N of this drive is: WDBACW0020HBK-01
This is a Desktop model with its own power cord.

So when you plug the drive in the USB port, does the HD LED turn on?

Does the device appear in Device Manager or Disk Management?

Was the drive working before and then suddenly stopped? Some background about the problem would help.

Hi Midknyte, thanks for replys but this does not appear in device manager, and does not respond when connecting USB to computer. I am told the last time this was used was a couple years ago. I think it's dead.

A couple years ago? Yikes. Does it even power on or not?

You might be able to remove the drive from the case and connect it to a SATA port, or put it in another external USB enclosure.
https://snapguide.com/guides/disasse...essential-hdd/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_2oMyoTBno

A friend had also such a drive. dropped it around. no wonder no more data-access. i warned to replace it. but didnt want to listen.
beside this: read WD instructions. maybe FW-updating
maybe cold soldering points in enclosure.
remove it, clean contacts with alcohol 90%, use a working docking-station.

I remember now-some years ago- i struggled using power-switch. there must be a thread about that.
it seems(dont know since i left it alone) one must resolder the switch -contacts. there is an instruction on WD-site how to open this thick plastic case.
since then i only use newer external hdds in easy-access-enclosures like dockingstation by orico or inateck(the same?).
I once lost a drive thanks to loose connection in a cheap NONAME enclosure. One can also lose drive or data when doing wrong steps during finishing harddrive-work.
Once had to recover data-with testdisk-when i interrupted connection during scandisk! Wrongest action ever! Also had overlapping partitions C and D with no access to D anymore.

Hi Midknyte, I removed the drive from the plastic case and connected to my PC via USB and it powers on, I can hear it, however it does not respond/show in my PC. I thought maybe it was my equipment I used, so I removed it tried one of my old HDD and it popped up on my monitor as drive F, I assume an internal issue with this drive.

Ya, it sounds like a dead drive. You could try connecting it to an internal SATA port, but it should have worked in a USB enclosure. If it didn't even show up in Device Manager or Disk Management, then there isn't much hope.

did you clean the contacts?
2. disk-recovery- companies are not cheap. 2000 chf

Thanks Midknyte for your suggestions. My friend must gave dropped it or something, he really doesn't know much about computers. It's too bad, it looked like a nice 2 terabyte drive. Oh well...

Expensive recovery needed if important data. always backup all data. if not once then better twice.