Western Digital My Passport doesn’t show up on My Computer

Question

As the title suggests, my WD external hard disk doesn’t show up on My Computer in Windows 7. Yesterday it worked perfectly but today it doesn’t. I plugged in the hard disk and the light is blinking but the computer doesn't detect the hard disk.

EDIT: Problem found. I think so my laptop provides low voltage to power up the hard drive. It works perfectly on the USB port on other side.

Solution

It could be that the SATA to USB adapter built into the unit malfunctioned. This has happened to me twice and I no longer buy external USB drives because of it.

To check whether the hard drive still works but the adapter is broken, you will need to take the enclosure apart and install the hard drive inside into your PC or hook it up to a SATA to USB adapter that you know works.

If you haven't already, try plugging your unit in to another PC first to verify it is the unit and not the PC.

Comments

[Keltari]

do you have another computer to plug it into?

[Admin]

Have you tried restarting?

[user273371]

@Keltari It works on my friends computer. Yes. Tried restarting but nothing changes.

[Jayesh]

same problem... how you solved this?

[user273371]

The WD doesn't appear on Disk Management.

[Jayesh]

even it doesnt appear for me as well...