Windows 8 won't recognize previously recognized external hard drive

charles_i · Oct 6, 2014

I'm using Windows 8 on an Asus Republic of Games laptop. For a year (at least) I have had no problem plugging in the USB for a My Passport external drive. However, lately it takes several attempts of unplugging and retrying before it will finally recognize the drive. There is no problem with the drive, it works perfectly on other computers (there are never any error messages when plugging it in). In the past it came up every time I plugged it in.

I have tried removing the check beside, "Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power," in the Device Manager, once recognized, but it hasn't helped.

One question, which could be related to this problem. Why does Windows run Device Setup every time the drive is discovered, when it has already setup this device?

It does seem to work if I plug it in before I boot up the computer., but that's not always convenient for me.

Thanks
Charles

Boogieman_WD · Oct 7, 2014

Hey charles_i. Have you tried updating/reinstalling the drivers for the USB or the external drive? If not, this might help. You could also try this:
1. open CMD
2. type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 (Note that nothing seems to happen, but that's OK. This will set an environment variable which is going to help you to see hidden devices.)
3. type devmgmt.msc (this will start the Windows Device Manager Console.)
4. in the Device Manager, from the View menu, select Show Hidden Devices.
5. expand the Universal Serial Bus controllers by clicking the "+"
4. uninstall all of the greyed out devices there
5. restart your computer
6. connect your external HDD

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD

charles_i · Oct 9, 2014

I tried this but it didn't work. It's only this one particular drive that this happens with. Something has changed, it used to be recognized every time.

Boogieman_WD · Oct 10, 2014

Have you tried the drive with a different cable? Do you remember installing some sort of software when this started to occur? Also you should scan for malware/viruses just to be on the safe side. And try it on another computer as well to see if the same thing happens. You can update the drive's firmware as well, you can download it from here: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=218

charles_i · Oct 15, 2014

I tried reinstalling the driver - it worked for one day. There is nothing wrong with this drive, or its cable - I use it between home and work and it works perfectly at home every time.

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Windows 8 won't recognize previously recognized external hard drive

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