Question External Hardrive Problem

[NewUser2021]

I have a western digital 1tb external hardrive and for some reason it isn't showing up on my laptop. I;ve tried another laptp and same thing is happening.

The light on the hardrive pops up and it spins, it just isn't popping up.

I've tried everything and i hope it will be fixable as i have a ton of data and sentimental data on it.

this is why i <Mod Edit> hate electronics. They break and you have no idea when it will happen as oppsed to old fashioned photos where they never perish and you dont have to worry about them.

Not forgetting to mention the hours and hours of headaches transferring photos nd videos from phones and then the wrong type of file being transfered so they dont show up on your laptop and other untold hassles!!!

Please help!

 

[Ralston18]

Which WD model 1 TB external drive?

Do you have another USB cable to connect external hard drive to laptop(s)?

Are you certain that the power supply for the external drive is fully plugged in?

Consider using WD's diagnostic software to test the drive.

However: do remember that anything you do could cause further damage and/or data loss.

 

[NewUser2021]

Ive replied below:

Which WD model 1 TB external drive?

Do you have another USB cable to connect external hard drive to laptop(s)? No.

Are you certain that the power supply for the external drive is fully plugged in? yes. the light is on the external hardrive a si mentioned in my first post.

Consider using WD's diagnostic software to test the drive. Thanks! i did and it said the following:

Test Option:	QUICK TEST
Model Number:	TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100
Unit Serial Number:	97HKWHFJT
Firmware Number:	AX1R4C
Capacity:	1000.20 GB
SMART Status:	PASS
Test Result:	PASS
Test Time:	20:00:27, January 06, 2021

However: do remember that anything you do could cause further damage and/or data loss. Duly noted and i am aware of this beforehand and trying to be carefull as possible.

That's the last thing i want to do as it has alot of my sentimental photos and what have you on there!

It's a western digital my passport 1tb.

here's a screen shot of the software. Do you think it is the same harddrive which is popping up?

It's showing as a toshiba MQ01ABD 100 (ATA)


I look forward to your reply.

 

[Ralston18]

The light on the external drive only means that power (to some degree or another) is available. There may not be enough power to actually get the drive to spin and run.

My recommendation is to hold for now:

Wait until you can obtain another known working USB cable. In my mind that is probably the safest way to eventually determine if the drive is still functional in some manner.

And also wait for some additional ideas and suggestions. There are a number of Storage/drive experts in this category who have directly dealt with similar situations.

 

[NewUser2021]

The light on the external drive only means that power (to some degree or another) is available. There may not be enough power to actually get the drive to spin and run.

My recommendation is to hold for now:

Wait until you can obtain another known working USB cable. In my mind that is probably the safest way to eventually determine if the drive is still functional in some manner.

And also wait for some additional ideas and suggestions. There are a number of Storage/drive experts in this category who have directly dealt with similar situations.

Thanks for the reply. I thought that myself earlier today about the cable but was too lazy to go around my house searching for one. It's a pretty unusual cable so i may have to buy a replacement to check about the power which obviosuly i don't want to do.

About the spinnig, it sounds like it is spinning or atleast trying to spin so hopefully it's the cable.

I really hop i can resolve this as a tonne of data will be lost and this was my fear for years. I was going to buy a brand new hardrive to transfer the data before this happened but how would i know my current drive was breaking!

FUnny enough i had a tiny feeling but i didn't do anything about it since the drive was fine at the time and the last thing i wanner do is buy another then again it's been years so it's about time. See what happens when you ignore your hunches...

DOes putting weight ontop make any difference in terms of it breaking? Just curious?

 

[Ralston18]

Weight on top.....

Not being flippant but how much weight?

Break ( meaning catastrophic) is not the word but if there is enough weight to even slightly deform the case, perhaps increasingly over time, then there will be stresses that could lead to damage.

Especially when products are made as thinly and cheaply as possible to cut costs. E.g., the sag that occurs in some GPUs.

And depending on the nature of the "weight" it could also interfere with cooling/air flows. Heat is not good for electronics either.

 

[NewUser2021]

Weight on top.....

Not being flippant but how much weight?

Break ( meaning catastrophic) is not the word but if there is enough weight to even slightly deform the case, perhaps increasingly over time, then there will be stresses that could lead to damage.

Especially when products are made as thinly and cheaply as possible to cut costs. E.g., the sag that occurs in some GPUs.

And depending on the nature of the "weight" it could also interfere with cooling/air flows. Heat is not good for electronics either.

Honestly i don't think it's the weight or moving the portable storage evice around after all these years. I've taken pretty good care of it.

As for heat, i did just get a ps5 which is inside the cabernet where the hardrive is also stored..

It does get hot and i will see whether it gets hot enough to damage the hardrive but i dont think thats it either.

Im buying a new cable i think it's 3.0 for dirt cheap on ebay now. Hopefully that will fix the issue.

BTW, i tried a usb 2.0 which had a single connection as opposed to the 3.0 (current one im using) which has two connections and the light came on but it didn;t spin.

I think this may have done more harm than good seeing as when i re tried the usb 3,0 with two connections wire it didn;t even spin lik eit used to if you follow?

 

[USAFRet]

a tonne of data will be lost

This should never be the result of a "dead drive".
Data that exists on only one device may be said to not exist at all.

Try a new cable first. Then we explore other options.

 

[NewUser2021]

This should never be the result of a "dead drive".
Data that exists on only one device may be said to not exist at all.

Try a new cable first. Then we explore other options.

I agree with what you say. Indeed as i said i planned on transferring all the data before this happens but how can anyone know when your drive is failing...

BTW, above the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows shows it passed. I also took the case off and it looks ok to me. I don't see anything wrong with the cable either which has me worried...

Will keep you updated.

The device doesn't even seem to be spinning now as i mentioned in a previous post after trying a different but wrong usb cable?

Thanks for your quick messages !

 

[USAFRet]

I agree with what you say. Indeed as i said i planned on transferring all the data before this happens but how can anyone know when your drive is failing...

This is why a backup routine needs to happen ALL the time.
Not just "Oh, my drive is going to die tomorrow".

Backups are like car insurance. You must have it before you need it.
You can't call State Farm 5 minutes after the crash.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[NewUser2021]

This is why a backup routine needs to happen ALL the time.
Not just "Oh, my drive is going to die tomorrow".

Backups are like car insurance. You must have it before you need it.
You can't call State Farm 5 minutes after the crash.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

Your speaking to me as if i didn;t know this before hand! I explained the situaiton so i am not going to repeat myself.

Also now, after taking the cover off and outting back on the power light is barely visible... Also, a iece of clear plastic fell out and it's not clear how important this was...

It's not looking good atm. All i can do atm or will do is wait for the new cable and go from there. I'm done with it for tonight.

p.if I can’t get it to work I’ll have to take it to a pc shop for them to repair it.

also, taking the cover off the hat drive seems to make it run a bit better but it still spins on startup for a short while then stops so I’ll try a new cable.

Is it ok if I leave the wd my passport plastic cover off so the internals are exposed for about a week or so until the new cable arrives?
Also I’m going to store it well away from my ps5 as that piece of crap may be the reason due to the excessive heat it puts out!