Hi
So I have a WD external hard drive, probably about 14 years old or so. It seems to have stopped connecting to any computer. It’s a 1TB drive, and probably has around 200GB of photos and video on there.
When I plug the drive in with its external power source the light at the back comes on to show it has power, but the drive doesn’t seem to be recognised when plugged into a computer.It sounds like it’s starting up but nothing happens. I’d like to try and retrieve the data on there if possible.
Hi @ELCarlos
Have you opened a Support Case? If not opened, for more information, please contact the WD Technical Support team for the best assistance and troubleshooting:
Your WD external hard drive powers on but isn’t recognized by the computer, likely due to a cable, port, or enclosure issue. Try a different cable, port, or another computer, or check the power adapter. If that doesn’t help, remove the drive and place it in a new enclosure. If detected, use data recovery software recover your files. If not, professional recovery may be required.
I’ve dealt with older external drives not being recognized before. Since the drive powers up, it could be a hardware or enclosure issue. First, try swapping the USB cable and connecting the drive to different computers or operating systems. If that doesn’t work, you can try removing the drive from its enclosure and connecting it via a SATA-to-USB adapter to see if the drive itself is recognized.
For data recovery, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a great tool. It can scan drives that are not showing up properly in the system and help recover files before attempting more advanced repairs.
