Why isn't my WD My Book external hard drive being recognized?

Why isn't my WD My Book external hard drive being recognized?

Unlike some other people with this problem, my hard drive isn't showing up on my PC (Windows 7) or my husband's Macbook Air, and although it has a flashing blue light when plugged in, it isn't making that spinning sound, which has me worried it might be a gonner. It's about 10 years old and has ALL my kids' photos stored on it. I just went to back up my PC and it isn't working. Feeling worried. I tried several of the solutions that involve checking for bad drivers and trying to see about renaming it or moving it to another place, but I just don't see it in there, so I don't know what to do. I can try to order another power cable, but if the light is flashing blue, is it even possible that's the problem?

Asked by: Guest | Views: 211

Total answers/comments: 2

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Guest [Entry]

"Hi,

It could be the USB cable that is faulty. It has 4 wires, 2 for power- which is obviously working (assuming it hasn't got its' own separate power. If it has its' own power the other two wires are the ones of initial interest ). The other two wires are for 'data'. These are the two that are used by the PC to 'talk' to the drive. So try another USB cable between the PC and the drive first."

Guest [Entry]

its basically a sign that says your hard drive is about to take a dump. your going to have to fix the usb connection by soldering it and then extracting the files if you can off the hard drive onto you comp or laptop. once you have backed up your files from the external hardrive then you will have to repair and reformat the disk drive and hopefully that will fix it and then reload or back up your files onto the external hard drive. you will notice that on your computer you will get a notification saying that your computer could not be backed up. if so then redo the process.