WD Elements Works on TV But Not Laptop

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Ilse__

Ilse__

Commendable
Jun 6, 2016
2
0
1,510
Hello all

I am absolutely desperate to get the information I have stored on my WD Elements external off of it -my father passed away ten years ago and some of the only photographs and musical recordings I have of him are on it. It works on a television set but doesn't register at all on laptops. Can anyone help?

Thanking you in advance,
Ilse
 
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
Hey there again, Ilse__!

I'd still find a different USB cable to connect the external drive with it and see how it will get recognized by the laptops. Have you tried playing any of the contents on the TV, since you can see them there? The TV streams the data, whereas the computer is reading from and writing to the hard drive. It's not unusual for a computer to freeze/lag whenever a damaged drive or a corrupted connection to it is established. This is due to the fact that the computer is TRYING to read the contents on the drive as soon as it powers up.

You could also try the USB hub controller driver updates, indeed. However, I'd strongly recommend you use the laptop manufacturer's website and reinstall them manually from there...
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Welcome to the community, Ilse!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your access issues with the WD Elements! :( I'd strongly recommend you to go to Disk Management and Device Manager and check if the external HDD will be recognized there. Share some screenshot from there as well, it would be really helpful. If you can see the drive in Disk Management, check if you could right-click on it and change the drive letter.
I'd also advise you to check if it will appear on another computer and also make sure you have your USB hub controller drivers installed manually from the laptop manufacturer's website. Another thing you should try is using a different USB cable with the external and see if that will help.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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Ilse__

Ilse__

Commendable
Jun 6, 2016
2
0
1,510
Thanks so much for your quick response. I've tried your Disk Management/Device Manager option and the whole thing just freezes (without showing the external -I don't know how to attach a screenshot to these messages?). I've not tried different USB cables -I don't have one, and the external works fine on a television with that cable so I don't know if it would suddenly be problematic simply because it's on a laptop? I am checking the computer for updates too, but since the external doesn't work on any laptop I plug it into I don't think that's the problem either :(







 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Hey there again, Ilse__!

I'd still find a different USB cable to connect the external drive with it and see how it will get recognized by the laptops. Have you tried playing any of the contents on the TV, since you can see them there? The TV streams the data, whereas the computer is reading from and writing to the hard drive. It's not unusual for a computer to freeze/lag whenever a damaged drive or a corrupted connection to it is established. This is due to the fact that the computer is TRYING to read the contents on the drive as soon as it powers up.

You could also try the USB hub controller driver updates, indeed. However, I'd strongly recommend you use the laptop manufacturer's website and reinstall them manually from there. Windows updates have the tendency to install more generic and a bit outdated drivers.

If you manage to connect the WD Elements to a computer that doesn't freeze, make sure you run the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows. The utility will help us determine the health and SMART status of your WD external HDD.

Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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