External hard drive no longer recognized on PC

[Syringer]

Last night I was playing a movie off my Western digital 2tb drive, when the movie suddenly froze up, causing my computer to freeze up until I disconnected it from my PC.

When I restarted/unplugged the hard drive and my computer, whenever I reconnect it again it doesn't show up anymore.

I can hear it spin up still when I plug it in, and the light still turns on..am I screwed or is there anything else I can do?

I've only had this drive for maybe 3 weeks as well.

 

[Soundmanred]

What does it say under disk management?
I had one develop a weird conflict and stay offline until I clicked "online" and it popped back up.
Weird.

 

[Syringer]

Whenever I try to go into Disk Management it freezes up until I unplug it.

 

[Syringer]

Here's the error message when it does show up

 

[Emulex]

rma time

 

[kschaffner]

The USB controller in the enclosure could be bad or the controller on the drive itself is bad. I don't think a bad partition would cause a system lockup, only errors or bad data coming back from a bad controller.

 

[Syringer]

Looks like it's done..I took it out of the case and connected it to both a desktop, again I could hear it spinning but nothing..and then I used an external SATA hookup to try to revive it but nothing there either. It began to detect it but stopped after that.

 

[ADPMemo]

Hello All,

Sorry if i have posted/replied in the wrong place, the reason being THIS scenario is very identical to the one i'm facing and having no clue will need all the help/advise for the same.

Hard Drive: WD Elements 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive.
Model: WDBAAU0020HBK-NETG

I have always used Seagate HDDs for internal storage and they've always stood the test. Got the 2TB WD Elements based on the fact the 1TB WD Elements i got last year has been steadfast. Drive comes preformatted with a single partition for NTFS but needed 2 partitions so used XP -> Computer Management -> Storage (similar method as "syringer" above) to partition and format for NTFS. Everything seemed fine so consolidated and "Moved" all the pictures (photography is serious hobby) from my other 3 drives onto this one.

Was working fine for a week until one day out of the blue it just popped a Disk Write error "Unable to write to disk in drive - Data or files may be lost". Got worried over that and checked with Windows explorer if everything was ok. Still seeing all the files there i saw no cause for worry until next, when i restarted the PC it wouldnt recognize /show the WD 2TB Elements Ext HDD. Now it shows neither in Windows nor in BIOS at startup time.

Cant Return/Exchange it as i have NO BACKUP Copies of my Pictures ... and i'll be royally screwed !!

PLEASE HELP !!

PS. Do i Need to Post This someplace else ??

 

[Russwinters]

If the data is valuable, I highly recommend having a DR company take a look at it.


You can PM me about that if interested.



If you want to go the DIY route, get a knoppix disc and run DDrescue on the drive, I recommend pulling the drive out of the enclosure, this will void the warranty though.

Copy all/as much as possible to a new drive.


If the copy is getting alot of errors and getting stuck a lot. You need professional tools. So stop the copy and wait until you can get some pro help.


Good luck!

 

[ADPMemo]

The USB controller in the enclosure could be bad or the controller on the drive itself is bad. I don't think a bad partition would cause a system lockup, only errors or bad data coming back from a bad controller.

Nice Analysis !!! and point noted, since My BIOS was not even recognizing the drive. Thanks Kschaffner !! ..... and also to a good "computer hardware" friend.

On opening the enclosure we first changed the USB controller with a similar one, restarted the machine after connecting the hard drive through USB and ... BINGO !! it showed up in BIOS, and in Windows(XP) with all the data intact !!!

Note: You risk voiding warranty if you open the enclosure. BUT For me, what was at risk was WAY MORE than the warranty/monetary value ... so the choice was QUITE clear !!

Thanks to all the members too who contribute to the forums ... At times all the help we need is right here, all we need to do is pay attention !!

I am ... Now, a little more enlightened








,

 

[Russwinters]

Good to hear success!

It really is quite common that the USB controllers fail, they are very cheap.


I agree with you that the data is often more important then getting a new drive on warranty, most of my customer have no issues voiding their warranty, most are not particularly in a hurry to have another HDD from that manufacturer, even though I consult with them and let them know that ANY manufacturer has a fairly equal chance to fail.


Except for seagate, seagates are always bad. hahahahaa.

 

[taltamir]

1. externals are extremely unreliable. They get jostled, not enough cooling, and their USB controllers tend to fail often.
2. externals are just an internal drive in a box. You can and SHOULD buy just the box itself and put an internal drive of your choice, that way you can just replace the box (enclosure) or send just the drive to repair when it inevitably fails, and there is no problem with taking it apart.
3. A lot of "external" drives are sealed in such a way that opening them destroys the box. While enclosures sold separately are designed to be easy to open and close without damage.
4. Opening it WILL void your warranty... not just might, but will. But if you need your data back...

 

[Soundmanred]

I've never had an external fail, should I say that they never do?
That's a ridiculous assumption to say that they are "extremely unreliable".
I've had over a dozen Western Digitals, from the Elements, MyBook, and 2.5" lines and none have ever failed on me.
Other than the 2.5" drive, the cases were easy to open without damaging them, and the cases were compatible with any drive I put in them.
I'm in the "data is more impotant than warranty" camp, so I'd rather void a warranty than lose data. Hard drives are cheap, so I don't worry about that.

 

[taltamir]

I've never had an external fail, should I say that they never do?
That's a ridiculous assumption to say that they are "extremely unreliable".

it is neither an assumption nor conjecture, just simple fact.
External drives have poor heat elimination, poor vibration protection, a sub par PSU, and are usually subjected to harsher conditions by the user.

I'm in the "data is more impotant than warranty" camp, so I'd rather void a warranty than lose data. Hard drives are cheap, so I don't worry about that.

And with a custom enclosure you don't need to chose and get BOTH...
Also, good thing you have a backup, eh? you do have a backup, right?

 

[Socratesx]

Except for seagate, seagates are always bad. hahahahaa.

I use Seagate's drives for over 10 years and none failed during all these years. Instead I encountered more dead WD drives with my customers. Of course there are more WD drives out there as they promote them more so you cannot end up to a clear conclusion. I understood though that HDDs have the same probability to fail regardless their manufacturer.

 

[Old Hippie]

I use Seagate's drives for over 10 years and none failed during all these years. Instead I encountered more dead WD drives with my customers. Of course there are more WD drives out there as they promote them more so you cannot end up to a clear conclusion. I understood though that HDDs have the same probability to fail regardless their manufacturer.

Did you happen to notice Russ was laughing?