Retrieve Missing Files / Folders from WD External HDD

If you haven’t deleted the files and folders on your hard drive, you can restore your WD hard drive by modifying the settings on your computer. Here are some common ways to get the files back.

IMPORTANT: If you are concerned about your data safety, we advise you to recover the data before fixing your WD hard drive.

How to Recover Missing Files From WD external hard drive?

1. Unhide the Files and Folders

If you notice that the space on your WD hard drive is taken up but files are still not visible, they could be hidden. You can manually unhide them. Here's how it's done:

1. Open Windows File Explorer, and click on the View tab.



2. Click on Options and choose Change folder and Search options.
3. Open the View Tab select Show hidden files, folders, and drivers, and click on OK

Now try accessing the files from your WD external hard drive.

2. Attrib Command

To unhide files and folders on your WD external hard drive, use the attrib command in Command Prompt to modify file attributes.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Type: attrib -h -r -s /s /d E:*.* (Replace E with your drive’s letter) and press Enter.

Wait for the scan to complete and see if the missing files are visible.

3. Fix External Hard Drive Errors

WD hard drives with bad sectors and corrupt file systems will cause file disappearance. Try running the check disk (chkdsk) command to repair disk errors and recover missing files from the hard drive.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Type: chkdsk E: /f /r /x (Replace E with your drive’s letter) and press Enter.

Once the scan is completed try accessing the WD hard drive data.

If the previous solutions didn’t work, you’ll need a specialized tool to recover missing files from your WD external hard drive. The next section introduces an effective tool to retrieve your lost files.

WD External Hard Drive Recovery using Yodot Hard Drive Recovery

Lost files on your WD hard drive? Yodot Hard Drive Recovery makes data retrieval a breeze. With an easy-to-use interface, this powerful tool delivers surprising results, recovering missing files even from corrupted drives or those with bad sectors.

Why Yodot?

• Effortlessly recovers data from WD and other hard drives.
• Handles corrupted drives and bad sectors with ease.
• Simple steps, professional-grade performance.

Steps to recover disappeared files and folders from WD external hard drive:

• Connect WD external hard drive to Windows computer and wait till it gets displayed on Explorer
• Download Hard Drive recovery software to the computer on which you have connected WD external drive
• Run the software and follow instructions given on-screen
• When main screen comes up, choose “Lost File Recovery” to restore missing files and folders from WD external hard drive



• Select the WD external hard drive and click “Next”
• From next window select partition or entire hard disk from where you deleted data



• Once scanning process gets completed; list of recoverable files will appear on the screen
• View restored files and folders using two view types which are “Data View” and “File Type View”



• At last save recovered files in a desired location on Windows PC (not onto same WD external hard drive)

Conclusion

We hope the solutions listed in this article helped recover the missing files and folders from your WD external hard disk.

Additionally, to avoid issues like this in the future take periodical backups and run antivirus scans. This will help avoid files missing issues on your WD hard drive. If the files continue to disappear then consider reformatting the drive.