Windows 10: Suddenly my passport drive that has my backup files does not show under file explorer....

It shows under Device Manager but not under File Explorer.Disk Management shows that It is not initialized. If I initialize, will it lose all my data in my passportThanks for your help

:)

 

WD My Passport Ultra External Drive (Files Gone)

Hi there.

I am new to this forum and I am glad to have found it.

I was trying to move a file from my desktop to my WD My Passport Ultra and had to use my Internet security to shred a file once or twice from the external drive. To my surprise, the external drive suddenly stopped showing my files and now when I try to access the files, the drive either doesn't appear on my computer or it begins as normal, but the files just don't load (see image below).

I have about 530GB of data on it and really want to get it back. I do have about 99.5% of my files backed up in the cloud, but the download process would be very cumbersome. Is there any way I can get my files back on my external drive without spending a fortune?

Thanks for any help and advice.

Best,

Paul.

Image didn't upload. Here it is again.

 

file deletion on USB Passport drive

I have not been able to delete a file on a USB Passport drive. The file is an Acronis .tib file and is 1.6TB in size. When I delete it is appears to be gone and I get no errors but when I change to another drive and back to the Passport drive the file
is still there. I have tried to delete it in Explorer and also in a command prompt window I have tried using Del and Erase to get rid of the file but I get no errors there either but when I delete it and then do a Dir on the drive the file is still there.
Any suggestions?

 

I need File Explorer to show "My Passport", the original name of my 2T external drive.

07/04/19 10:40 PM

Hello James Young9,

Thanks, for the prompt reply. I am going to try your suggestions, and will return with the outcome.

BTW1: I forgot to stress a couple of strange facts:
The name changed from “My Passport” to “EMTEC,” seems to be evident only in “File Explorer.”
It is not ignored on “Device Properties”, “Devices and Printers “ etc .

BTW2: Since File Explorer has kept the icons showing the design
of the "EMTEC" usb, I decided to delete them from the list of files transferred to "My Passport.
As I had anticipated, after the deletion, that drive became irresponsive. Not one file visible!.

In panic, I tried the Troubleshooting option a couple of times!
It did recognize the device as “My Passport”, and found nothing wrong with the PC
Apparently the File Folder is not “affiliated” with this Window”

When I proceeded to restore the EMTEC iconic items in order to access and transfer back my files from “My Passport” to the PC , to my other external back-up drive, and to some of the USBs, I realized
that the “Recycle Bin” was empty, despite the fact that I had set it up months ago last year to not empty automatically. Evem more strange, the next time when I tried to find it, the Bin was invisible.
I eventually got it back with the help of some web posts.

Thanks again, for the reply. Now I am going to try your suggestions!

Be blessed!