fix wd external hard drive not working

It is not a rare occurrence that the users are bothered by the issues regarding the WD External hard drive not working.

There can be different factors behind the issue:

An Invalid USB port.

Problem with the file system.

The driver could be outdated.

There are some sure-shot methods to use in order to fix your WD external hard drive that is not working. We are about to look into the methods to fix the issue on a Windows 10 computer.

Method 1: Run Windows In Safe Mode

You can reboot or hard restart the PC in safe mode to fix your WD hard drive. The steps are as follows.

Click the Windows (Start) icon located at the bottom left corner of the desktop screen.
Move to the left section and click the Settings icon.
Select the Update & Recovery option from the Settings window.
Select Recovery followed by Advanced Setup and then finally select Restart now.

The Windows 10 computer will automatically start up.
Press the F4 button to reboot the computer in Safe Mode.
Now, check if you are able to WD external hard drive.

Method 2: Assign A Different Drive Letter

Open the Run command (Windows + R).
Type diskmgmt.msc and press the Enter button.
The Disk Management window will open.
Do a right-click on the WD external hard drive and select the option Change Drive Letter and Paths.

When a pop-up window opens, click the Change button to change the drive letter.
Close the Disk Management window and restart the computer.

Method 2: Assign A Different Drive Letter

Open the Run command (Windows + R).
Type diskmgmt.msc and press the Enter button.
The Disk Management window will open.
Do a right-click on the WD external hard drive and select the option Change Drive Letter and Paths.

When a pop-up window opens, click the Change button to change the drive letter.
Close the Disk Management window and restart the computer.

This method will help you fix the WD external hard drive not working problem.

Method 3: Update The Driver On Your Computer

Open the Run command (Windows + R).
Enter devmgmt.msc in the Run command field, press the Enter button.
The Device manager window will now open.

Scroll down the window and click the Universal Serial Bus Controllers option.
Do a right-click on each of the USB drives and then click Uninstall.

Performing the step will show if the USB drives are unrecognized or not.

If it still doesn't work, then you have to restart the computer to find if the WD hard drive shows up.

Restart the Windows 10 computer and all the uninstalled USB drives will be recognized again.