External Hard Drive keeps disconnecting

[Razor6X]

I recently purchased an WD External HD, I do not remember the model but I am hoping that it's not as important as I hope.

I had put a backup of files on my external HD and they seemed to load onto the External just fine. But then It stopped connecting. It keeps finding the External HD and then disconnecting. I needed those files off of the External before it crashed completely so I used a linux boot disk to load linux and I coppied all the files off manually. I tried to restore the files to their original state but to no avail they aren't even registering as backup files, I think because I don't have the original files that windows would recongnize.

I need to fix this external HD so that it can stay connected again so I can get all the files off. I'm desperate and will do anything.

[Alucardx23]

It seem that the computer is still able to recognize the hard drive but the information inside it might be corrupted. Try using recuva to recover the files. just to be sure you can also test the hard drive with DLG.

[Awopero]

Have you connect your drive in a different computer? Do you experience the same issue? How about a different Usb cable?

[cgriell]

I have a Macbook Air, and the drive was unusable. I went to WD support, and they told me this is a known issue with Macs (!!), and that I needed to purchase a 2.0 cable. I tested it, and same results. I went back to WD tech support, and they told me to update the software. I did so, i kept disconnecting. When I went back to them for the 3rd time they told me that Apple computers had an issue with 3.0, and they suggested to change my drive for a WD for Mac:

"Please note that the USB 3.0 feature of the drive does not work on a Mac computer causing the drive to disconnect. Please note that this is not an issue with the Passport Essential drive, Apple just don't support USB 3.0 on their computers so we recommend you to return the Passport Essential drive to the place of purchase, if possible, and get a Passport Studio or Passport for Mac." (WD tech support dixit)

It's amazing, they could heve started with this answer !!

Anyhow, I uninstalled WD software and now the drive works flawlessly. I cannot tell you if this is the solution, but for me it has been. And it is easy to test

[Calanthia]

My external HD (USB 3.0) works well on a MacBook without WD SmartWare.

It keeps disconnected from time to time when I installed the WD SmartWare; but works fine again when the software is uninstalled.

Hope this would also work for you!