WD external hard drive not working

WD External and Portable SSD All Other External SSD
1

Hello,
Every time I plug in my external hard drive my pc can recognize but is unable to load it and it crashes the file explorer. and turns my background black. When the background is black I am unable to access anything until I unplug the external hard drive. None of the crazy stuff happens until I 1. turn off then turn back on my pc 2. is clicked on in file explorer. Please help.

Thanks,
Me

2

Hi @Gbea,

Please test the health of your drive using the Western Digital Drive utility:
https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13880

3

Whenever you connect an external drive to your mac, the storage drive may not show up on Desktop, Finder, or even on Disk Utility due to various reasons:

  1. USB connectivity problem
  2. macOS preference settings
  3. Partition map damage
  4. Device incompatibility
  5. Physical damage on a drive

However, to fix the issue, you can try the below methods:

  1. Check the USB connectivity
  2. Enable visibility of external hard drive
  3. Update macOS
  4. Repair external hard drive by using Disk Utility
  5. Repair external hard drive by using Terminal
  6. Erase the external hard drive
  7. If none of the above works, then the drive needs replacement

Further, you can also check the below link for steps to be followed in each method mentioned above:

Hope it helps!