Hey everyone,

I got myself a 2TB external HDD from Western Digital.

Plugged it in, transfered files onto it and played them back. No issue.

Haven't installed the SmartWare and thus have also not created a password for the drive.

Today, I accidentally unplugged the USB Cable out of my Laptop but immediately put it back in.

However, the drive won't show up in the My Computer window anymore. (The virtual CD drive with the WD SmartWare setup files still appears whenever I turn the HDD on)

It goes as follows:

1. Tried to install the WD SmartWare, just in case if it could fix the situation. The program refused, stating that the Drive was not readable, possibly due to being locked. (Image #1)

2. I tried manual unlock, but the Unlock program stated that the drive isn't locked in the first place. (Image #2)

3. The external HDD is listed in the Device Manager as a connected Disk Drive. (Image #3)

4. However, the drive is not listed in Disk Management. (Image #4)


I have a ton of VERY important files on the HDD. I will appreciate any and all opinions on this matter!



Regards





Remixer

Hey,

Western Digital support just got the issue fixed for me.

Apparently the fix was to uninstall the HDD driver, restart the Laptop, plug the HDD back in and have it install the driver again.


Cheers




Remixer

An advice : if you really have a TON of important data on THAT drive, DON'T RELY ON IT neither on external drives. Backup, backup, backup on other media.