I have the same problem with a WD elements... hard drive connects, light comes on but it does not show in my computer or explorer, on occasions it shows up in device manager, but it says it is not initialised, if I try and initialise it it errors and says incorrect function.
I have reinstalled the USB drivers, checked cables, tried in other computer (get exactly the same problem).
Have had problems with the hard drive for a little over a month, but it never completely died until now...When I connected in the past sometimes it would reconnect and disconnect itself continuosly and tell me it needed formatting... instead of formatting I turned it off, took out all of the cables and left the computer off for 30 mins before rebooting and plugging the hd back in, error fixed and it worked perfectly for the next three weeks until now...
I'd say I wasted my money on this hardrive....unless anyone has other solutions?