Western Digital External Hard Drive not Recognized by Windows XP: Does not show up in My Computer or Device Manager.

Anonymous
2010-05-13T01:16:46+00:00

My external hard drive does not run automatically when plugged into my USB port on my computer.  It is not recognized in my computer and it does not show up in Device Manager.  I have applied a hot fix for this problem and it was stated that problems are detected but after applying the hot fix the problem still exits!  HELP.  I went to Western Digital for this problem and they stated in their FAQ's that it is a Windows problem and that the drivers might be corrupted.  This is probably true as the device works perfectly on other computers.  Now what do I do?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2010-08-11T06:46:44+00:00

Here’s the actual steps needed to get your external USB drive assigned a letter in Windows XP if it does not show up in Windows Explorer:

1)     Right-click on “My Computer”

2)     Click “Manage”

3)     Double-click “Disk Management”

4)     You will probably see Disk 0 and Disk 1 for your primary hard drive. Go to lower right portion of box and scroll down until you see Disk 2. It is probably your USB drive without a letter.  It should show the size of the drive.

5)     Right-click in the left portion of that drive box (Disk 2)

6)     Click “Initialize” and “OK” in the next dialog box. This takes just a few seconds and it should now say “Online” in the “Disk 2” box.

7)     Right-click in the box to the right side of the “Disk 2” box (where it shows your disk drive size and says “Unallocated”.

8)     Click “New Partition” and a “New Partition Wizard” will open up.

9)     Click “Next”, then select “Primary Partition” and click “Next”.

10) Verify partition size (use entire disk size available unless you are creating multiple drives) and Click “Next”.

11) Assign drive letter (“F” is typical if CD-Rom is E) and click “Next”.

12) Format this partition with “NTFS”, “Default”, “New Volume” and click “Next”.

13) Then click “Finish” to exit the wizard and start formatting.

14) Be patient… this can take awhile (it took just over an hour for a 320GB drive).

15) When done, you should see an icon for your drive in Windows Explorer!

Hope this helps!!

Doc

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-01-16T07:42:32+00:00

    I have the same problem with a new 2.0 TB WD  My Book Essential I just purchased.  I took the first one back to BBuy thinking it was defective.  The new one acts the same way and I really need the large back up drive for my 2.8G P4 system with 3G ram and 850GB on 3 internal HD's, running XP SP3.  All 8 USB 2.0 ports work great on everything else.  My system is well maintained with Virus and Spyware protection and registry cleanup and startup program cleanup.  Event Viewer System Log has no errors or alerts.  Device Manager reports no problems.

    I have tried all the suggestions on this post, reinstalled all the drivers and used other utilities to scan the USB ports.  The WD My Book has it's own power supply, all my voltages are good.  The blue light on the WD drive turns on and it's little fan is running.  The drive does not appear on Disk Manager or anywhere.  The icon does not appear on the right end of the task bar like it does when plugging in other P and P devices and no audio sound if made when it is plugged into the USB port or powered up.  I believe this is a WD issue but they are of no help. 

    Does anyone have any other suggestions?  Does anyone else have this problem?

    Thanks.

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  2. LemP 74,990 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2011-01-16T15:25:33+00:00

    I have the same problem with a new 2.0 TB WD  My Book Essential I just purchased.  I took the first one back to BBuy thinking it was defective.  The new one acts the same way and I really need the large back up drive for my 2.8G P4 system with 3G ram and 850GB on 3 internal HD's, running XP SP3.  All 8 USB 2.0 ports work great on everything else.  My system is well maintained with Virus and Spyware protection and registry cleanup and startup program cleanup.  Event Viewer System Log has no errors or alerts.  Device Manager reports no problems.

    I have tried all the suggestions on this post, reinstalled all the drivers and used other utilities to scan the USB ports.  The WD My Book has it's own power supply, all my voltages are good.  The blue light on the WD drive turns on and it's little fan is running.  The drive does not appear on Disk Manager or anywhere.  The icon does not appear on the right end of the task bar like it does when plugging in other P and P devices and no audio sound if made when it is plugged into the USB port or powered up.  I believe this is a WD issue but they are of no help. 

    Does anyone have any other suggestions?  Does anyone else have this problem?

    Thanks.

    You should start your own thread.  This one is marked "Answered," and very few people will bother looking at your question.

    Assuming that you have XP service pack 3 and have kept things up to date by using Automatic Updates, see if this helps:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925196 Based on your statement that you use "registry cleanup," I suspect that you probably have damaged the registry, and the procedure in the article may well fix your problem.

    If you elect to run the Microsoft "FixIt" solution and it doesn't fix it, do try the steps under "Let me fix it myself" before giving up.  And if still no joy, read the material under "References" at the bottom of the page.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-01-17T18:48:10+00:00

    LemP,

    Thank you for your reply.  I will start a new thread.

    I had previously run Microsoft "FixIt" which came up with no problems.  Per your advise, I followed 925196.  I found no entry of "LowerFilters".  The entry in "UpperFilters" was "PartMgr".  I deleted this entry and the only change was my drive letters which I corrected using DiskManagement.  Still nothing showing for the WD ExHD in the USB port.

    Thanks.

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  4. LemP 74,990 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2011-01-17T19:42:59+00:00

    LemP,

    Thank you for your reply.  I will start a new thread.

    I had previously run Microsoft "FixIt" which came up with no problems.  Per your advise, I followed 925196.  I found no entry of "LowerFilters".  The entry in "UpperFilters" was "PartMgr".  I deleted this entry and the only change was my drive letters which I corrected using DiskManagement.  Still nothing showing for the WD ExHD in the USB port.

    Thanks.

     "PartMgr" is what should appear in UpperFilters for disk drives, so that wasn't the problem.

    Take a look at the articles linked in the "Reference" section of the KB article.

    When you make your new post, be sure to summarize what you have done and the results so that you don't get duplicative suggestions.

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