External USB disk not recognized in Windows after being plugged in into Mac

[Andrej8484]

Hello dear community,

I have a specific problem: my boss plugged her external USB disk (WD Elements Passport) into a Mac computer and I'm not sure what happened there, but when she brought the disk back, it won't show anymore the contenct under "Computer" or "Explorer" in Windows. But it seems that the disks still works fine, since it is recognized by Disk Management, but it won't assign any letter nor show the content. I guess the iOS reformatted the partition system?? Is there any way to repair that? Would it work if I connect the disk to another Mac computer, would the content be shown there? Since I don't have any Mac computer at our office...
I also tried to open the disk it Ubuntu, but it also won't show...

Thanks in advance a lot!!

 

[DelJo63]

I have a specific problem: my boss plugged her external USB disk (WD Elements Passport) into a Mac computer and I'm not sure what happened there, but when she brought the disk back, it won't show anymore the contenct under "Computer" or "Explorer" in Windows.

But it seems that the disks still works fine, since it is recognized by Disk Management, but it won't assign any letter nor show the content. I guess the iOS reformatted the partition system??

Unless the user did something stupid and did a manual format, that is NOT what happened

Is there any way to repair that? Would it work if I connect the disk to another Mac computer, would the content be shown there?
Since I don't have any Mac computer at our office...

That is worth a try. Normally ext USB are formatted Vfat32 which is compatible on all systems. For you to have problems now on all system is strange. I've see WIN/10 usb devices behave this way, meaning if moved to a non windows system, the partition gets tweaked. You need a good partition editing program to fix the existing partition (if you wish to retain the data on it). Otherwise, just reformat the USB. For compatibility (the ability to move between systems), format as Vfat32

I also tried to open the disk it Ubuntu, but it also won't show...

that suggests the partition is corrupt and needs repair per the above.