Toshiba External Hard Drive won't power up

[gmoggo]

Hi I have a 1TB Toshiba external hard drive, it has served me well for many years but this morning, as I tried powering it up, the white light blinked once and nothing else happened, no humming, no vibrating,
I tried a different power source, with similar results,
Can someone please help? I figure if the light blinks, power gets to it no? So what else can it be?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there gmoggo,

Does this external require both USB + power cables? In case it does, it may be a good idea to use different ones. Also, you can attach it to another computer.

In case the issue persists, then either the enclosure or the HDD inside has failed. If it is under warranty, just RMA it.
Many users take the drive out of the enclosure, so they can attach the HDD internally. Keep in mind that this would void the warranty.

Let me know in case you have some more questions,
D_Know_WD

 

[gmoggo]

hi,

thanks for the reply, it does indeed require both USB and power cables,
here's what's different about this configuration:
new PC
same USB
same 2 power cables

but since the drive doesn't hum or vibrate and the white light only blinks once, I tend to think it's the power not the connection to the PC,

what are your thoughts?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Most probably yeah. Yet, if you can, you need to try all the options.

Also, you can go to the manual of your device and see what does this single white blink means. It could differ across brands and models.

D_Know_WD

 

[kaspforeva]

I have a 2GB Toshiba external harddrive that was not powering up. What solved the problem for me was, I had reduced the maximum processor state to very low - 30% on charge and 30% on battery. The reason I had lowered it was, my computer has had a long history of CPU spikes and out of desperation I drastically lowered the maximum power allotted to the processor. Totally amateurish, I'm sure. I changed back the 'maximum power to processor state' to 100% and now my ext. hard drive powers up.
Where these settings are located is, go to Control Panel > Power Options. Go to Change Your Plan Settings, click. Then click on advance settings. Then open up Processor Power Management. The settings I changed are in there. I hope this helps.