My HDD constantly spins and stops

[Kuzes]

I had a WD Red 1TB which was bought 3 years ago. I used it as an external storage, but 2 days ago it suddenly stops working. When i plug the SATA3 to USB3 power cable in, the disc does spin but only for 1 second and then stop, then it keeps starting and stopping like that.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, @Kuzes!

I'm sorry to hear about your issues with the WD Red. 🙁 It sounds like this could be caused by a faulty connectivity to the HDD, so I'd recommend you try changing the SATA-to-USB cable and see if the drive will stay properly connected to the system. If you have access to another PC/laptop, you could also try plugging there. As soon as you gain access to the contents on the drive, back them up somewhere else immediately to avoid any potential data loss during the troubleshooting. It might also be a good idea to check if the HDD will stay connected if it's plugged internally via SATA to the mobo.

Checking its health and SMART status by running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from the Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows is also advisable (after the backup).

Keep me posted. Hope this helps you!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Kuzes]

So it is the cable fault and the HDD is not dead right?

 

[DR_Luke]

So it is the cable fault and the HDD is not dead right?

Perhaps. Western Digital is known for having unstable controller boards, too. Just be aware that if the spin down is happening because of faulty electronics, it might not be sending the command to park the heads each time it fails, resulting in the heads touching down on the platter surface.

 

[Kuzes]

I think it is somethings else because i didn't hear any click sound. It just spin sound and stop sound. And I don't think the HDD head even work.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there again, @Kuzes!

In order to determine what could be the source of the issue, you need to do some more troubleshooting. It's possible that the cable has failed, it's possible that the power supply to the drive is poor. You could also try plugging the WD Red internally via SATA (connecting to the mobo and to the PSU via the molex cable). Running the DLG utility from there could also help you determine whether or not there's anything wrong with the drive itself.
Unfortunately, there's no way to conclude that a hardware issue is present, since there are no clicking noises coming from the HDD, without some basic troubleshooting first.

Let us know how the WD Red is behaving afterwards.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[DR_Luke]

I think it is somethings else because i didn't hear any click sound. It just spin sound and stop sound. And I don't think the HDD head even work.

You don't necessarily get a click sound with a faulty PCB. When a Western Digital spins up and then spins down, it is going into kernel mode because it is unable to load the critical information stored on the service tracks of your hard drive platters needed to give you access to your files. This only happens for the following reasons:

1. PCB issue
2. Head issue
3. Firmware issue
4. Platter issue

Sadly, my experience has been that we usually get Western Digital Red drives far too long after the initial failure, when the data is no longer recoverable, or, if you are lucky, only partially recoverable.

 

[pop2]

that is a way to fix this, is plug in the problem hardisk at the cd rom drive and scan at startup like win pe hardisk tool for failure hardsik checking. sometime your hardisk can recover normall with this method.