My WD3200 just clicks and won't display in My Computer or Devices

[louvaldini]

My WD 3200 was working perfectly until 2 days ago. I ran Backup but it failed. I tried again and it failed. I ran CHKDSK and it did nothing. Now, when I plug it into my normal USB 2.0 port, the disk clicks for 10 seconds then powers down.

Can someone please tell me what's happening and suggest a solution.

Thanks.

 

[ArtPog]

This is a shot-in-the-dark but do you think there's any possibility the drive may be defective?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, @louvaldini!

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that @ArtPog is right! 🙁 You might be dealing with a failed HDD. However, I'd advise you to do some more troubleshooting beforehand. The clicking noises are never a good sign, because they indicate that most probably the HDD is dealing with an internal hardware failure and this is something that cannot be fixed or repaired. I'd advise you to try connecting this WD HDD to another computer or to the motherboard internally via SATA and to the PSU (via the molex cable) and see if it will get properly recognized by the system then. If you have important files on this particular drive that are not backed up to a different storage drive or system, then you might also want to consider contacting a professional data recovery company .
In case it does get detected, I'd suggest you run the WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows. The QUICK and EXTENDED tests should help you determine what is the health and SMART status. However, make sure you back up your files beforehand! (if you are able to)

Keep us posted.
SuperSoph_WD