I can't get into the external hard drive

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for Windows
1

Hello everybody!
I’m writing you because I have a WD My Book - Home Edition model. It is an external hard disk.

I connected it to a notebook with Windows 10.
Now if I go to This PC I no longer see the HD icon. The LED light of the HD turns on and the HD emits a metallic sound similar to a jingle.
I have tried to change the USB port and also the USB cable without success.
Is there any other attempt I can do to not lose my data?

Thank you very much.
A nice day
Andrew

2

Hi,
The first step is that
Fix 1: Change USB Port

It is the first port of call. The reason being, there are equal chances of USB Port damage. Thus, plug in your hard drive into another Port to identify the exact cause and confirm whether a problem exists with the drive or not.
Fix 2: Turn on the USB Root Hub
Another easy remedy for the problem. You only need to turn on the USB Root Hub in this case.
Execution Steps include:

Select Start and enter devmgmt.msc
Hit Enter.
Toggle Device Manager.
expand controllers for Universal Serial Bus
Next, select Properties from the shortcut menu for USB Root Hub, then select Power Management Disable. To save electricity, let the computer turn this gadget off.
To use the USB Root Hub, follow these steps.
PC restart

Fix 3: Clean-up Virus

There are equal chances of virus infection. To resolve it the best solution is to use virus cleaning software. It has a potential to remove the virus from the drive as well as PC and make your drive accessible.

Situation 2: External Drive Not Working but Blinking

Solution 1: Unhide all Hidden Devices

  1. Go to Start
  2. Type: devmgmt.msc
  3. Hit Enter
  4. Under Device Manager, choose View followed by Show hidden devices
  5. Click on + sign to expand all notes
  6. Right-click on greyed entries and choose uninstall
  7. Lastly, reboot the PC and try again

Solution 2: Uninstall Driver

  1. Go to Start
  2. Key in devmgmt.msc and press Enter
  3. Expand Universal Serial Universal Serial Bus controllers
  4. Right-click on each USB device and click Uninstall
  5. Verify whether there is an unrecognized device or not.
  6. If there is any, click on Drivers tab and uninstall the drivers
  7. Again, check My Computer/My PC for external drive
  8. If does not show, restart your PC. ( in case if it shows initially but disappear later, then repeat the above step and click on Disk Management → Change Drive Letter → Reconnect it)

Solution 3: Change Registry

Modifying the registry is another great approach to fix the issue. Steps to modify Registry are:

  1. Go to Start
  2. Type: regedt32 and Hit OK
  3. Backup Registry
  4. Click Export
  5. In left side, click OK, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
  6. Delete upper filter or lower filter
  7. Retry External Drive

Now, open your drive to access your data.

There are many third-party recovery tools available like Stellar Data Recovery, Recuva etc is available to help you. You just have to download, install, register, launch it.