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Frank Mitchell Posted on Jan 31, 2016
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I need to be able to access my external hard drive while using my laptop computer.

My WD external hard drive is located in the office of my home. It is plugged into USB my desktop computer. I would like to have access to this hard drive on my laptop computer that is in the living room of my house. How is the best way to get the information on the external hard drive available on my laptop. My laptop connects wirelessly via my router. Thank you

1 Answer

Bill Boyd

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  • Hard Master 53,816 Answers
  • Posted on Jan 31, 2016
Bill Boyd
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Go into the internet connect section ( control panel area)and set up a share service
identify each computer and you will get a share password from one of the computers
enter that into the other computer and eventually the two system will be connected
check share files , drives etc and the on the lap top you will have reference to the external hard drive on the pc which you click on and all those files will be available
If you do not have a manual on how to do it , get an IT geek to come in and set it up for you

  • Frank Mitchell
    Frank Mitchell Feb 01, 2016

    I set up the home group but still do not see the external hard drive on my laptop. I see files from my desktop which helps but is not all that I need. Any ideas?

    Thanks

  • Bill Boyd Feb 01, 2016

    now what you have to do is go to the pc with the external hard drive , click on the hard drive in the computer section and at the top of a tab you will a section share with , click on that and put in your laptop name that you created
    once it shows as shared , then it should show up in the computer section of the lap top
    If it is right , you click on that drive and then open any of the files on the drive

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How do I use my WD hard drive to store files so I can free up space on my laptop hard drive?

Hi:
That's an easy task:
1) Plug your Hd to your laptop and wait until the laptop recognize it as a new drive and assign a new letter to it. If you have a disc use it if your laptop ask for it.
2) Copy all files you want to transfer to the new HD and paste them on it.
That's it.
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Hi.

You have to install WD Smartware, which is located on another drive.

THen you will have access to it.

Otherwise the drive is damaged.

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Hello there,

Please try to plug it into another USB port. There is a chance that your port could be faulty. If its not with the port, try to assign the drive letter if you are using windows. You have to right click on the My Computer icon, select Manage. Once on Computer Management, select Disk Management. Locate your WD drive and right click again. Finally, click on the Assign Drive Letter and follow the wizard.

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Hello

Okay , so there are some steps to figure out what is wrong with your external.

Firstly , if your computer makes a sound when you plug in your external , go to Start-Control Panel-Administrative Tools-Computer Management-Disk Management , and see if your external drive is listed here with your local drives. If it is listed , right click on the drive and change the drive letter to make it appear in "my computer".

If your drive does not make a connection sound when connecting to your computer and also does not show up , please follow the next step.

Remove the hard drive from the casing if possible and install it in your computer case or another external case.If the drive works , the problem is with the casing and you can ignore the drive.

Now , if the problem is with the casing , there are still 3 possibilities.

  1. The USB cable between the drive and the computer may be damaged.
  2. The circuit board which connects your drive to the interface of the external may be blown.
  3. The power supply (if applicable) may have a blown transformer.
The latter is the easiest to diagnose , does your external light up at all when you plug in the power? If not , then this is probably your problem. On the bottom of the adapter is a label which you will be able to use to have a new adapter made at your local electronics shop and this will cost about $30 max. They will also be able to test the adapter with a clamp meter to see if this is really the problem and this should be free.

The second component you want to test is the USB cable. If you have a printer , swop out the cables and see if your printer functions normally. Most externals use the same connector so you should be able to test it in this manner. If the cable works go on to the last step. If the cable is defective , replace it with a new one which you can find for about $10 at most electronics and chain stores.

The last component to test is the circuit board. This is a bit of a grey zone as you probably won't be able to spot the blown component unless it failed really badly. With the casing already opened , locate the external's circuit board and check to see if you have any blackened components or fluids leaking from some components. If all the other components of the external worked perfectly , then this is the faulty part. It is not really economical to replace the circuit as most of the time it is out of production by the time you need to replace it and it still costs a lot even if it is available so if your drive is working perfectly when connected via sata or IDE on your computer , the best is to buy a new casing and place your old drive in the new casing.

A casing costs about $50 and you could get it at most tech shops and big chain stores like Best Buy.

I hope this solves your problem and please reply if you need more help.

Kind Regards
Andrea
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