20 Most Recent Western Digital My Book Home Edition 500 GB USB Hard Drive Questions & Answers

you will need to let the computer that the musice has been copyed to get online and update the media player this will bring up all the song/album isuess hope this helps

Maybe your files are'hidden' ??! Enable to view hidden files by:

1. Right-click the "Start" button, then select "Control Panel".
2. Go to "Appearance and Personalization", then select "File Explorer Options".
3. Click the "View" tab.
4. Scroll down a bit and change the "Hidden files and folders" setting to "Show hidden files, folders, and drives".

you might need to create folders eg folder name a_to_f_files and copy the files the start their names from a to f and do the same for g to l with a folder named G_to_L There is a limit on the number of files you can have in the root directory in Windows so by creating a folder you split it up and windows sees less files in one folder or in the root directory

I can only assume the hardrive is defective.

hello , please follow these steps --> After the reset , the router will restart and the factory settings are reloaded & the computer will lose connection with the router for around 30 seconds. After this the router can be accessed through its default IP Address. (192.168.50.1).
Method-1 :- To reset the router , press the reset switch , press and hold the button or reset switch while you switchon the router again. After switching on the router press and hold the button another 10 seconds , then the router will restart.
Method-2 :- Left in the column, click "System Tools" and then "Factory Settings". click "Restore" to start the reset. A message appears , click "OK" to continue.
This solves your problem... plz do rate me..

This is something you search for. It doesn't get fixed Try Wikipedia or Google Search or Amazon Books. Most of us here are from the 1900's

hey im the same person who just posted above. i went to WD's website, and it said unplug the hard drive from the computer, and unplug it from the power source. then plug it into the power outlet, wait for it to spin up, then plug it in via USB/Firewire, whatever. it worked for me, so hopefully it will work for you.

One or more of the hints below will probably sort out most USB problems with most USB portable / external hard drives and OTHER devices (though not always)

A few things to check but assumes USB and Windows for other interfaces / operating systems (mac/ Linux) similar steps may be adapted to suit.

1. Ensure it is connected directly to the computer to a USB 2.0 port not a USB 1.0 port as this can have effects on performance and reliability

2. Use only the cables that came with it NOT one that fits that may have been lying around or is longer. Not all USB cables are equal even though they should be)

3. Do not connect through an external USB HUB unless that hub is USB 2.0 AND has its own power supply.

4. Use ONLY the power supply that came with it if it has an external power supply Don’t use any other unless you know it has both the same voltage and current rating e.g. 12V 500mA anything rated below that would not work properly.

5. Always use the same port for connecting your devices. Some devices do not like being switched about. If switched they may want to install software / drivers again. This can be especially true if you move a HUB to another port

6. For FLASH DRIVES you should ensure that the device is set for "quick removal" using the drive control panel properties or use the USB "Safely Remove Hardware" option. If you don’t do this there is a very strong chance that any files you transfer may not be there when you plug into another computer.

7. It is possible to remove drives from the enclosures in most cases and connect directly inside a PC to fully check it.
You should also do this to check the drives connections are not bad inside the enclosure.

8. If none of the above steps help look at updating the drivers from the manufacturers web site in the support section.

9. If you checked and fixed anything there and still have issues then check your hardware from CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / HARDWARE.
Any exclamation marks by hardware need fixing before you investigate any further

10. Ensure that you have set removable drives for "quick removal" or that you use the "Safely Remove Hardware" option often shown on the lower toolbar. It is possible that files my not be fully written to external devices before they are removed. This corrupts the file itself and even on occasion the drive.
SPECIAL NOTES
USB flash drives can fail for no apparent reason.
Sandisk Cruzers are especially bad for this.

USB hard drives should be treated with extreme care.
This is a real hard drive ! And knocks and bumps can quite literally kill them.

Note that if you hear a drive clicking or pinging this could be the worst thing you would hear.
Known as "The Click of Death"

On rare occasions it is possible that the PSU for the drive can also fail.

This is quite rare on the better quality drives but is still a possibility.

if this does happen it may be possible that the PSU supplies enough power to light the LED on the drive but not enough for the drive itself to operate..

In those instances any commonly available replacement with BOTH the same voltage and current rating will work
eg. 5V 700mA as may be written on a drive or the instruction / specification sheet that came with it.
NEVER use less than the req voltage and never use less than the req current although you can use a larger rated current. eg. 5V 1000mA would be fine and last longer than the original PSU.

If the drive does not show up in your hardware lists then using software of any description to try recover files is a total waste of time.

If the drive is still under warranty or you don't mind opening it up it is not uncommon for the connection between the interface board and drive to have worked loose esp. if the drive has been moved a lot.
In those circumstances opening the drive enclosure and removing the connection and then re-connection can also fix quite a few issues.

Hope this gives you the information you need

you have to be the administrator to change values on any drive on a computer also you might not have permissions to change or alter delete them
If you are running a Windows XP OS then you might be able to:
click start right click on my computer select open
Right click the icon of your western digital Drive (It should be F:/ or something)
Click Properties in the menu that comes up
Click the Sharing tab
Click permissions
And finally, click Allow next to Full Control.
hope this helps you

if there is firewire available, try that.

Open Applications
Open Utilites
Open Disk Utility

On left side - see if there is a Western Digital hard drive, there will be two icons for the drive it is there. The drive and its host. the drive may be grayed out. If so then click the mount button and you should be fine.

if the drive doesn't show up there - then try using a pc. also as weird as it may sound. try (if it lets you) flipping the ac adapter in the wall 180 degrees. may be the case if it is not the ac adapter that came with the unit

This happens to me already. If you're HD can't also be detected in other Computer. Better bring it to the computer station or stores where you bought it and let them fix it.

I can't use mine anymore. Probably the hardware inside the HD broke.

Hope this Helps.Thank you for using Fixya.

Some operating systems "poll" a drive to see if it's still plugged in and accessible and it's this activity that could be causing the drive to wake up.

Do you remember the last thing that happened before your problem started?

I had the same problem and I solved it. Slip off the black case and replace the part thats broken. its cheap. $10 here is the link: http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=9501
I HOPE THIS HELPS!!!!

An external storage-device has four major components:

* the USB cable

* the power-adapter

* the disk-drive inside the enclosure

* the USB-to-disk-drive adapter inside the enclosure.

One of these components has failed.

Try a different USB cable.

Try connecting to a different USB port on your computer.

Try connecting to a USB port on a different computer.

Take a "multi-meter" and measure both the voltage and amperage output from the AC adapter, and compare with the specifications on the label on the adapter.

Open the enclosure, and remove the disk-drive, and then connect it as a "slave" disk-drive in a desktop computer, to see if it works at all.

Purchase a new, compatible, disk-drive, and install it in the enclosure, to "revive" your external storage device.

Get the part-number and serial-number from the label on your disk-drive, and access the manufacturer's web-site, and use "check warranty status", to see if they will replace the device, at minimal cost to you.

Note that W.D. has a "Customer Loyalty" program -- you can buy a new W.D. device, through the W.D. web-site, at a significant discount.