External Hard Drive Flashing but Not Running

[xDovah]

After looking around for forums to post in about my problem, I thought to post here, so I guess this is my first post, and I hope I can get some help. Sorry if the post is kind of long -- details are essential.

About roughly two years ago, I got a 1TB Western Digital MyBook external HDD to use mostly for my computer. As my computer was slowly on the brink of death, I instead have it used for my Xbox One. It's been working flawlessly ever since until just recently when I flew back home from vacation. The HDD was with me the entire time, so it's not like it had any sort of shock damage.

At first, the external HDD just flashed once every half second -- wasn't recognized by neither laptop nor Xbox One. After, give or take, an hour, the external is now flashing rapidly, as if it's reading/writing, however it's neither spinning nor detected by neither laptop nor Xbox One still.

When I had it plugged in to my laptop, I checked to see if it was being picked up by disk management, and it was; however, it wasn't showing any partitions, said the disk was not initialized, nor was it showing a drive letter, and I easily have ~150+GB worth of games and game data. The external, as it is somewhat old, is not compatible with any Windows OS above Windows 7, so I wasn't really worried if it would show up due to driver problems. Also, I'm not entirely sure what it means by a Recovery Partition, in the sense that this HDD is used for a game console, rather a computer.


So, I guess the TL;DR version is this:

External HDD isn't spinning or running, however the flashing changed from once a half second, to reading/writing-esque flashing. Turning it off/on does not change performance. It is using the correct 12V power supply and its USB 3.0 cable. Wanting to get it to work without having to either buy a new one, or repartition (if possible).


*Update before posting
I have the external HDD plugged into the laptop, and now the LED light is flashing as if it's on standby, however I still cannot access it, nor is it spinning/running.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, xDovah!

I'm really sorry to hear about your connectivity issues with the WD My Book drive! 🙁 Mechanical hard drives are pretty sensitive, so it's not impossible for the external to damaged during the flight. I'd strongly recommend you run the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows and check up on the health and SMART status of your WD My Book.
If it appears as 'Not Initialized' it means that there's no file system on it, so I'm afraid that you might not be able to recover the data by yourself. I'd suggest you attempt connect the external HDD using a different compatible USB cable and see if that will help you access the contents from either computer and your Xbox console.

In case the data is really important to you, I'd suggest you check some of our Data Recovery Partners worldwide for assistance.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[xDovah]

Welcome to the community, xDovah!

I'm really sorry to hear about your connectivity issues with the WD My Book drive! 🙁 Mechanical hard drives are pretty sensitive, so it's not impossible for the external to damaged during the flight. I'd strongly recommend you run the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows and check up on the health and SMART status of your WD My Book.
If it appears as 'Not Initialized' it means that there's no file system on it, so I'm afraid that you might not be able to recover the data by yourself. I'd suggest you attempt connect the external HDD using a different compatible USB cable and see if that will help you access the contents from either computer and your Xbox console.

In case the data is really important to you, I'd suggest you check some of our Data Recovery Partners worldwide for assistance.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting.
SuperSoph_WD

I've went ahead and done some tests of my own in the past few hours, and here's what I've come up with:

When connected via USB to my laptop or my Xbox console, it gets recognized on the laptop, but not shown on either platform of testing. However, when installed into my desktop via SATA connections, when powered on, the HDD starts to spin, as if it is reading/writing. This leads me to believe that it is either the 12v power supply, or my USB 3.0 cable that has an issue, however I'm leaning more on the USB having a malfunction, as the power supply works just fine with other devices needing a 12v power supply. The HDD in question is not of major importance at the current moment.

Also, thank you for posting some links, I'll be sure to check them out when I get the chance.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

I've went ahead and done some tests of my own in the past few hours, and here's what I've come up with:

When connected via USB to my laptop or my Xbox console, it gets recognized on the laptop, but not shown on either platform of testing. However, when installed into my desktop via SATA connections, when powered on, the HDD starts to spin, as if it is reading/writing. This leads me to believe that it is either the 12v power supply, or my USB 3.0 cable that has an issue, however I'm leaning more on the USB having a malfunction, as the power supply works just fine with other devices needing a 12v power supply. The HDD in question is not of major importance at the current moment.

Also, thank you for posting some links, I'll be sure to check them out when I get the chance.

Indeed, xDovah! It does sound like the issue is coming from the USB 3.0 cable. You should be able to test this by attempting to plug the external WD My Book with a different 3.0 cable as initially suggested. Hopefully, this will get the HDD properly recognized from the computers and the Xbox console.
Either way, make sure you backup your files and have at least one more copy of them stored elsewhere. This is the surest way to prevent any potential data loss.

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[xDovah]

I've went ahead and done some tests of my own in the past few hours, and here's what I've come up with:

When connected via USB to my laptop or my Xbox console, it gets recognized on the laptop, but not shown on either platform of testing. However, when installed into my desktop via SATA connections, when powered on, the HDD starts to spin, as if it is reading/writing. This leads me to believe that it is either the 12v power supply, or my USB 3.0 cable that has an issue, however I'm leaning more on the USB having a malfunction, as the power supply works just fine with other devices needing a 12v power supply. The HDD in question is not of major importance at the current moment.

Also, thank you for posting some links, I'll be sure to check them out when I get the chance.

Indeed, xDovah! It does sound like the issue is coming from the USB 3.0 cable. You should be able to test this by attempting to plug the external WD My Book with a different 3.0 cable as initially suggested. Hopefully, this will get the HDD properly recognized from the computers and the Xbox console.
Either way, make sure you backup your files and have at least one more copy of them stored elsewhere. This is the surest way to prevent any potential data loss.

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

It seems like now I have a much larger problem than just a cord malfunction. I just went ahead and did some diagnostics on the external HDD via WD Lifeguard Diagnostics, and down below are the details of the tests:

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WD My Book 1140
Unit Serial Number: WMC0S0158620
Firmware Number: 1012
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 15:58:45, May 12, 2016

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: WD My Book 1140
Unit Serial Number: WMC0S0158620
Firmware Number: 1012
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 15:58:52, May 12, 2016

Both tests started and ended in 0 seconds, and the Health Status of the external HDD is set to "Warning". It seems I just might have to replace the HDD, but I'll still see if or when I can get some sort of quote as to getting any data back, but from the Health Status being at "Warning", it probably won't do much good.

**Update
Actually, now we're back in the topic of the cord malfunction. I have now tried the diagnostics with my desktop's HDD, which has a Windows Vista OS installed onto it, and it is giving me the same specs as the external HDD.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

It seems like now I have a much larger problem than just a cord malfunction. I just went ahead and did some diagnostics on the external HDD via WD Lifeguard Diagnostics, and down below are the details of the tests:
Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WD My Book 1140
Unit Serial Number: WMC0S0158620
Firmware Number: 1012
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 15:58:45, May 12, 2016

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: WD My Book 1140
Unit Serial Number: WMC0S0158620
Firmware Number: 1012
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 15:58:52, May 12, 2016

Both tests started and ended in 0 seconds, and the Health Status of the external HDD is set to "Warning". It seems I just might have to replace the HDD, but I'll still see if or when I can get some sort of quote as to getting any data back, but from the Health Status being at "Warning", it probably won't do much good.
**Update
Actually, now we're back in the topic of the cord malfunction. I have now tried the diagnostics with my desktop's HDD, which has a Windows Vista OS installed onto it, and it is giving me the same specs as the external HDD.

This seems odd, the DLG utility should be able to recognize properly your internal HDD. I'd suggest you try using some of the third-party testing tools in this thread and perform the diagnostic tests again.

Either way, if the WD My Book is really failing, you should definitely conside contacting a professional company for help. Doing the data recovery attempts by yourself are always risky and could potentially do more harm than good for your files.

Keep me posted with the S.M.A.R.T. data results for your drives!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[urchin69]

NickWhite May 31, 2011 2:25:40 PM
I fixed it! Just as I'd given up and decided to ask you guys, the internet coughed up a solution.

for those interested, I got this from Microsoft Answers...
Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive.
Right mouse click on My Computer.
Left click on Manage.
Left click on Device Manager.
Expand the USB list.
Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive.
Right mouse click – Uninstall.
Turn off the external USB hard drive.
Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/window-7-is-not-recognizing-external-hard-drive/466a7dd9-8232-465c-b954-2838b9e18d9a