[SOLVED] can't access WD external hdd

[Vosso]

I have an external hdd from WD, which I connected to a laptop to transfer some file. The transfer was successful and then have safely ejected the hdd. Then directly connected the hdd to another laptop, however I wasn't able to access the hdd. The other laptop recognized the hdd but couldn't open the drive. So I ejected the hdd and upon doing so the screen turned black, then the laptop went into sleep mode. I connected the hdd on the first laptop again, it recognized it but it couldn't access the drive anymore. Moreoever, it had asked to format the drive. So I formatted it and this time I was able to access the drive. After a couple of days not using it, I decided to connect it once again, unfortunately it asks to format the drive again.

Does this indicate a physical damage to the hard drive? And why did the second laptop screen turn black and went into sleep mode upon ejecting the hdd?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

It might very well be a faulty/failing external HDD if you're asked to format the drive each time you connect it to a new system. Since this is a WD drive, you could use WD's tools to see if the drive is indeed at the end of it's useful lifecycle.

The second laptop might've had an issue with chipset drivers or the OS was corrupt(per se).