My Book Essential 1TB not accessible - NO errors

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for Windows
1

I have an older My Book Essential 1TB unit that has been accessible on my PC until recently. I don’t always keep the external drive connected to the PC, so it has been about two months since last used. When I connected it yesterday, I could see the MyBook on drive, E:\ in Windows 10 File Explorer, but I could not and still cannot access the Properties tab, the computer just spins and the My Book just hums. There are NO error codes or messages.
I can also see the MY Book under Device Manager, but not under Disk Management. If I try to access any Properties from there or try to restart or shutdown the computer, it freezes, likewise for the external drive if I try to shut it down using the power button. So the only way to accomplish this is to disconnect the USB cord first from the PC which completely frees up the computer and it continues to function properly and either shows the Properties tab or restarts/shuts down depending on what I selected to do. If the Properties tab opens, it shows me E:"drive is working properly", BUT the partition/file size/free space page is completely blank. It seems to me that the PC just cannot obtain information from the external drive, but that it may have nothing to do with granted accesses or locks since I have never set it that way. Could the latest Windows 10 updates be affecting the readability of the drive since it does not seem to have any errors? Is anyone else having the same issue or have a fix for this?

Thanks!

2

Hello,

Please refer to the following KBA article: Cannot Find My WD Drive on Windows or macOS

3

As there are no such error codes or messages, and a hard disk drive becomes unresponsive then there are chances that your drive may become RAW or inaccessible. There are various reasons for this issue such as BIOS settings, USB data line, USB interface voltage variability, drive hidden issue or compatibility issue, etc.

Whatever be the reason, the end result is data inaccessibility or data loss.

You can try the below options as a solution for this issue:

  1. Establish a connection between another system and USB Data Line to verify whether it is broken or not.
  2. Make sure the system and motherboard are compatible with each other.
  3. Verify whether the USB interface voltage is up to the mark or not.
  4. Use Disk Management to unhide the drive.
  5. Ensure USB is enabled in the Operating System as well as in BIOS.

Further, you can also check out the below link: How to Recover Data from Raw Drive? | Knowledge Base Articles & Resources

Hope it helps!