WD External Drive-USB recognize, but no icon, can't access

what icon do you mean? im using also this kind of external storage.. try to resart your pc or reinstall the smartware.

Open My Computer.
Click with the SECOND (usually the RIGHT) mouse-button on the icon for the WD drive.
Click Properties.
Click Tools.
Click Check Disk for errors.
Choose the option to let Windows "fix" the errors.

have the files been deleted from the laptop? if not i would simply do a fresh format on the external and re migrate data. if they are then you can get software such as undelete or recover my files to restore your deleted data off of your laptop drive.

that is the problem due to the deleted file of autorun.inf, no problem right click the drive and then go to "tools" tab, In that "error checking " and click that and select the two options there and perform the checking. this will resolve your issue.

Here is the WD page, pick your Passport type, on the next page download the software you need:
Select the software to download:

• Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows
• WD Logo Icon
• External USB/FireWire Fat32 Formatting Utility
• WD Sync™ Passport Synchronization software

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=2&lang=en

If I could be of further assistance, let me know. If it answers your post, please be kind to rate it.

Joe


I’m happy to assist further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/joe_8b8c2cd6ce148309

Could be a hard drive logic board issue since the computer bios recognizes the drive but the computer operating system does not. Not good.

The problem is that your powerbook G4 does not provide enough power to your 160gb passport HD. This does not happens to the new Macs with intel inside.
There are several ways to fix it:
1) Go to West Digital Website and buy a "Power Buster Cable USB" (that connect your 2 USB ports to your passport HD in order to provide more power). I think that it costs 10$. This is the link: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/accessories.asp?ProdID=170
2) The other solution is easier. If you have an external USB hard drive with two USB ports, or a DVD/CD burner with two usb ports, you can pug your passport in one of the ports while the other HD or DVD/CD burner is connected to you PowerBook. You will be able to see and use your q60gb Passport HD.

I have the 80GB WD passport and it suddenly stopped working one day.  The unit lights up but nothing else.  Finally I cracked the case open and found, as I suspected, that the drive is simply a SATA laptop drive with a SATA-to-USB conversion card built in.  I suspected that the card was **** so I disconnected it and used a USB hard drive adapter (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=3770&name=USB_Hard_Drive_Adapter) and I can read/write to the drive just fine.  Best part is that the adapter I use has its own power supply so I'm not pulling juice through the USB cable for a SATA drive. 
Even though mine "works" again I don't recommend these drives to anyone.  They're just not sturdy enough or well designed.

hi,

go to start->search->all files and folder

search the file named INFCACHE.1
delete that file and reebot your pc.
The computer should now recognize the HD.

Riccardo

Does you drive make any sounds like these? If yes you have a mechanical problem and you should get a specialist to work on it.
If not - try to remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it directly to the computer to recover your files.