how do I get my WD Passport external HDD to be recognized by BIOS in Inspiron 15 3531 ?

[Mrpentium]

External HDD not recognized by BIOS, or Acronis. Only Windows

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Mrpentium,

Sorry that you are facing some issues with your WD drive. 🙁
What do you mean by the drive is recognized by Windows? It is strange that the HDD is not recognized by Acronis but it is by Windows. Is it recognized by Disk Management and Device Manager and how? Does it operate properly? In case it does, it may be a good idea to back up the data stored on it until you sort this out.

Apart from all this, a driver related issue could cause similar behavior(HDD being recognized by My Computer but not BIOS). You can easily see whether this is the case by simply attaching the HDD to another system(laptop/desktop). If the drive works over there, then it may be a good idea reinstall your USB drivers.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[ajms1989]

Try changing the power cable/adapter and see if the drive started working. I strongly suspect that it is the case of failing hard drive and you should tweak cable, adapter or PC to get it working so you can copy all your important files.

Good luck!!