External Hard Drive Not Showing Up Properly

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scotish268

Commendable
Aug 8, 2016
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I have an external hard drive that when plugged in is immediately recognized by Win 10 and shows up under printers and devices along with device manager. The external hard drive then goes away a min or so later. The external hard drive can be found under the disk manager but it is labeled as a DVD ROM.

This device has been in storage for two years, I recall having to format the external hard drive and I was having a ton of issues with it after i connected it to a Mac Computer and was forced to reformat it. I remember having a plan and knowing what I needed to do to fix the drive..... however two years has passed and I have no idea what to do now.
 
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SuperSoph_WD
I'm afraid there isn't much else you can do about this external HDD, @scotish268! :(
If the data on it is not important to you, I'd strongly recommend you consider replacing it as it seems it might has failed completely. Otherwise, I'd advise you to consider using the assistance of a professional data recovery company.
Either way, if you are unable to detect it on multiple systems, then it's most probably damaged beyond repair.

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

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Jul 30, 2014
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Welcome to Tom's Hardware, @scotish268!

Can you please share a screenshot from Disk Management? It would be really helpful. I'd also suggest you connect the external HDD to another Windows computer to see how it will get recognized there as well. Do you have any important data on the drive that wasn't backed up and you need to retrieve?
I'd also suggest you use the HDD manufacturer's brand-specific diagnostic utility to check up on the health and SMART status of the hard drive.

Another thing you should try is plugging the external using a different USB cable and another port on your Windows 10 computer.

Give these a try and keep me posted with the details!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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scotish268

Commendable
Aug 8, 2016
4
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See below for the screen shots requested. I do have things I would like to get off that external hard drive but it is nothing I cannot live without. Just tried another laptop with the same result. I have tried every port on my computer. I also ran the diagnostic utility with no luck a screen shot provided as well.


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plRMh4opp

 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
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This is pretty unfortunate, @scotish268!

What about trying to connect the external with a different USB cable as well? Give this one a shot as well. Another thing you should try is uninstalling & reinstalling the external HDD as a device from Device Manager. Hopefully, that will make it properly recognized after a system reboot first.

If nothing works, better contact the HDD manufacturer's customer support for assistance. If the external is still within the warranty period, you should be able to RMA it and get a replacement from them.

Good luck! Keep me posted with the troubleshooting, though.
SuperSoph_WD
 
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scotish268

Commendable
Aug 8, 2016
4
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1,510
The drive is probably out of warranty. I have tried with 6 different 3.0 cables now an all with the same effect. I was able to uninstall the drive but there was no confirm device removal page mentioned in your link. The mass storage device was no longer listed so i restarted my computer but it showed up again upon turning it back on.
 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960

Hello again, @scotish268!

Since the external has been properly recognized after being uninstalled as a device from Device manager, have you tried running the manufacturer's diagnostic utility again? Another thing you might try is using their DOS version of the software. You will, however, need to create a bootable flash drive with the utility and test the drive without booting into Windows. You should be able to find this on their official website and there should a KB article explaining the step-by-steps when operating with this particular tool.

Find it and give it a try as well. Hope it helps us figure what might be wrong with the drive.
SuperSoph_WD
 
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scotish268

Commendable
Aug 8, 2016
4
0
1,510
I tried to use the HD's utility software with out any luck. I was unable to try the DOS as I dont have a thumb drive available.





 
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SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
I'm afraid there isn't much else you can do about this external HDD, @scotish268! :(
If the data on it is not important to you, I'd strongly recommend you consider replacing it as it seems it might has failed completely. Otherwise, I'd advise you to consider using the assistance of a professional data recovery company.
Either way, if you are unable to detect it on multiple systems, then it's most probably damaged beyond repair.

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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