Need Windows XP driver for Western Digital external hard drive

Question

I recently reformatted my hard drive (XP), and no longer can recognize my external hard drive (Western Digital, My Book Essential Edition 2.0 - WD6400h1U-00). Been looking everywhere for drivers, and WD doesn't provide them. They supposedly run on standard drivers built into the OS. When I first used the HD to back-up my files it worked fine, but since the reformat it's a no-go. If these drivers are in fact native to the Windows OS, why can I not find them anywhere? Am I barking up the wrong tree here?

Any help would be appreciated, as the HD has a lot of pictures and files I would hate to lose.

Thanks.

Answer 1

So you reformated / reinstalled winxp but omitted to install drivers provided by your PC maker or various hardware makers if a generic PC, eg chipset drivers, but relied on default winxp drivers

Answer 2

Sorry, I should have given you more information.

Yes, I did reinstall/reformat Win XP. I installed the drivers provided me by the PC maker (Dell).

When I plug in the HD, the computer tells me a new USB element has been detected. I cannot however see it under My Computer. Using Device Manager, I used the New Hardware Wizard to find and install a driver (Initio Default Controller). I still cannot see the HD anywhere. I tried to find it in the Disk Management Section, but no luck.

On the Western Digital website, it states: "Most WD drives do not include drivers because they use a standard driver built into the operating system. If your driver is built into your operating system or is already installed, and your OS continues to look for a driver, your drive has most likely failed or been damaged and needs to be replaced."

I'm pretty sure that the internal hard drive is not damaged, so I'm tending to believe that it is a driver issue.

Sorry to sound so obtuse, but with my last job of 7 years I was strictly on a Mac, so I'm not as PC savvy as I once was.

Again, any help that you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 3

"Most WD drives do not include drivers because they use a standard driver built into the operating system. If your driver is built into your operating system or is already installed, and your OS continues to look for a driver,your drive has most likely failed or been damaged and needs to be replaced."

I think this is a pretty fair statement by Western Digital.  You normally should not need additional drivers to recognize removable storage devices that connect via USB Port.  The Windows XP Drivers should be sufficient.

Please try your Western Digital USB Hard Drive on another PC to make sure this is not a hardware or OS configuration issue.

Also, you might want to see if your Western Digital USB External Hard Drive has a slot for a DC power adapter that plugs into the wall.  One of the more common situations of advanced external USB device failure is lack of power.  While it is true that many USB devices can be powered directly off of a PC's USB bus or a USB Hub, this is often not the case with high power devices such as Audio Cards, Hard Drives or CD ROM Drives.  If you have an external USB Hard Drive, you will most likely have to give it more power (via a DC Adapter) than your bus or hub provides alone.

One last question, how are your other USB Devices doing on the same PC?  Have you checked on the Microsoft Update site to see if you can get more recent Chipset drivers for your Motherboard?  You mentioned previously that you had installed drivers provided by your PC maker (Dell), but sometimes it is possible to install only part of the drivers provided by a PC maker (such as printer and sourd) and overlook some of the more critical ones like the Motherboard Chipset Drivers.

Answer 4

I have a very simular problem.  On a desktop, I am using the same operating system as always, XP Pro with Svc. Pak #3. Today, I attempted to connect my  Western Digital My Passport WDBAAA3299ABK  and the system will not recognize it either in Explore or Disk Management. I was also advised by Western Digital to obtain the usb drivers from Microsoft. I search the support site at microsoft .com but could not locate any drivers to download. I tried  a second and older My Passport drive with the same results. I tried three different USB ports, one on the front and two on the back of the Desktop. Both the My Passport dirves install and show in my Win 7 64 bit laptop so I am sure the drives and cords are OK.

Answer 5

MSUpdate is the last place you want to scource drivers from, particularly if a Laptop or large brand name PC