"No writable WD smartware partition found"

WD Software WD Software
1

I have now purchased two WD external Hard drives and after a few months of using each of them I get the message " No writable WD smartware partition found"

I have numerous times unplugged them from my home computer and hooked them up to my lap top to access my pictures and movies on the go. I have hooked the drives back up to my home computer and still had access to my data.

My question is: Can the external hard drive reformat itself?

OR

could it have reformatted at part of an update the software required?

If YES, how do I reformat it back without loosing my data on it?

2

What OSs are you using on PC and laptop?

Joe

3

okay so not too computer savy just a tiny bit.

What is an OS and how do i find out what OS i am using?

thanks Joe for helping/replying!

4

I mean like Windows XP, Vista,Windows 7 or Mac and version. We need to know to better help.

Joe

1 Like
5

windows xp

6

is tere a way to get my partition back with all my data such as rolling back to prevoius partition or something similar?

7

There could be several reasons why you have no writable partitions found.  You need to look in Disk Management and see if the drives show up there.  Does the drive partition show a blue bar or a black bar?  Also, have you been Safely Removing the drive when you disconnect it from your computer?  If you are just yanking the cable out, you could have corrupted the file system on the drive.

8

I have the same problem on 2 different WD drives. This is extremely serious for me since I backed up thousands of photos and film  for a project, plus at least a dozen imporant trips all over the world ,erased them from my laptop thinking that I bought two reliable drives. It will cost me thousands, if not over a hundred thousand if I cannot recover. Get the same message, “no writable WD partition found”.  And I did remove them safely. So is this a defective product??? Appears to be since now I’ve heard from several people with the same issue.

I need someone from WD get me an answer

9

Did you ever check to see if the drives show up in Disk Management?

[edit]

The WD Community was created for Users, such as yourself, to help one another, and to share your experiences and ideas with one another.  However, if you are looking for technical support from WD, you will need to contact them directly.

To Contact WD for Technical Support
http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?lang=en

10

I have WD Essential 1.5 T drive.  I hadn’t had the drive plugged in for a while. Once connected and unlocked I get the “no writable WD smartware partition found .”   The drive does show up in disk management .  

I am using Windows 7 64 bit.  I ran the 2 quick diagnostics for the drive via the  WD smartware, they came back okay.  The tabs on the WD  smartware are blue, when I  click backup, the top left corner reads " ready to perform category backup" but nothing happens.  What can I do to get the drive to work? 

DanielleÂ