Fixed: WD Elements Hard Drive Not Showing Up Or Recognized on Windows
If you’re looking for a reliable storage solution, WD Elements is a solid pick. However, it’s not problem-free. There are situations in which your WD Elements hard drive does not appear in File Explorer or Disk Management. This can be stressful, especially if you fear losing your files. Fret not! Here, we’ll walk through a full guide on how to fix the ‘WD Elements external hard drive not showing up’ issue. Don’t stop scrolling!
Part 1: Why is WD Elements not showing up on my computer?
It’s the first question users often ask when their external hard drive doesn’t appear as expected. Unfortunately, there are many different reasons behind this problem, including:
- Loose or faulty cables
- Damaged USB ports
- Missing or outdated disk drivers
- Drive not initialized
- File system corruption
- Hard drive malfunction
- Insufficient power supply (for external drives with power adapters)
Part 2: Recover Data from WD Elements Hard Drive Not Showing Up
Before learning how to fix the ‘WD Elements not showing up’ issue, you can try Tenorshare 4DDiG Data Recovery. This is a reliable data recovery software that works with over 2,000 storage devices, including internal and external hard disks, USBs, SD cards, SSDs, and more. With just a few clicks, you can extract important files from your unreadable hard disk effetively.
- Can regains data from external hard drives of leading brands like Western Digital, Toshiba, SanDisk, Samsung, and more.
- Can retrieve files lost due to formatting errors, hardware failure, system crashes, and more.
- Efficient scanning capabilities allow for quick recovery, saving you valuable time.
- Enables Windows users to recover lost files for free.
- Boasts an impressive success rate in hard drive data recovery.
Following steps are how to recover data from an inaccessible hard drive with the aid of 4DDiG:
Step 1: First things first, download and install this recovery tool on your PC or laptop. Run it and choose the problematic drive from the home interface. Then, click on “Scan”.
Step 2: 4DDiG will thoroughly scan all files on the selected disk, including those that have been deleted or corrupted. In the left panel, you can easily locate different types of files—like images, documents, videos, or emails—by switching to the file view.
Step 3: 4DDiG allows you to preview recoverable files by double-clicking on them. Finally, choose the files you need and simply click on “Recover.” We recommend saving them to cloud storage instead of the original disk.
Fix 4: Update Your Disk Driver
Sometimes, your external hard disk may not work on one computer but is detected on another. In this situation, the problem is not with the drive itself. Here are steps on how to fix “WD Elements external hard drive not showing up” problem by updating the disk drivers:
Step 1: Write Device Manager into the search box, and then launch the app.
Step 2: Expand Disk drives, right-click on the device with the issue and select “Update driver.”
Step 3: Choose the first option. Windows will search online for the latest driver software and install it.
Fix 5: Initialize the Drive
When you attach a brand new WD Elements hard drive to your computer, it may not be partitioned or formatted yet. You’ll need to use Disk Management to initialize the drive, create a partition, and format it before you can start using it. Follow the given steps:
Step 1: Perform a right-click on the WD Elements drive in Disk Management. Click “Initialize Disk” to proceed.
Step 2: Select the drive to be initialized, choose MBR or GPT as the partition style, and then hit “OK”.
Step 3: After initializing, the disk should show as “Unallocated”. Right-click on it again and opt for “New Simple Volume.”
Step 4: Follow the wizard to specify volume size, assign a drive letter, and choose an appropriate file system.
Fix 6: Enable the Disk
If the WD Elements hard drive doesn’t appear in Windows Explorer, you may have disabled it by mistake. To fix this issue, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Follow the previous steps to access Device Manager. Right-click the problematic hard drive and select “Properties.”
Step 2: Switch to the “Driver” tab and tap “Enable Device.” Click “OK” to dismiss the window.
Fix 7: Boot into Safe Mode
In rare cases, software glitches are the root cause of WD Elements hard drive not showing up. You can narrow down potential causes by booting into safe mode.
Step 1: Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog. Input “msconfig” and hit Enter.
Step 2: Go to the Boot tab. Tick the box for Safe boot. If needed, select the type of Safe Mode you want.
Step 3: Click OK, then reboot your PC. Once it’s back on, check Disk Management to see if the drive is listed there.
Final Words
Fortunately, if your WD Elements hard drive is not showing up on Windows, there are several potential solutions you can try. These range from checking the hard drive connection to booting into safe mode. However, you should know that external hard drives don’t last forever. If your WD Elements hard drive gets physical damage, consider replacing it or sending it in for repair.
