USB External HDD not loading

[dragonfire665]

Hi everyone. So I am having issues with my external Travelstar WD 1GB HDD. For some reason it just stop booting / showing in my windows (desktop). It also wont boot on neither my mac or my laptop. I have tried pretty much everything. It does not show within my management, or within my devices.

I am wondering if there is a way to obtain the stored files. i have many family photos that I need to grab and save somewhere else before I toss this HDD to the garbage and buy a new one. Is there a way to make it boot up?

I use 3 difference external cases and nothing, I also have an old power cable and usb connection that connects directly to the HDD when no case is on hand. The HDD spins, but again it does not boot. Thinking is dead.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cos70]

If it powers up and spins without making any strange noises then the drive's ROM board probably needs replaced. This will usually involve data recovery specialists to retrieve the data for you though, as it's usually not sufficient to just swap the board itself. If it does make any noises, the more you power it up, the less chance you have of retrieving anything from it. It will also increase the cost of recovery. GL

 

[dragonfire665]

No noise, just beautiful quite spinning.

 

[Cos70]

In many cases, that can be fixed by replacing the controller board on the hard drive (the green circuit board on it's underside). However, with most newer drives you need to swap a microchip as well which includes soldering. If you are interested, this site will guide you through how to get a replacement, and they even do chip swaps for you if you send them your bad controller board:

http://www.hddzone.com/conditions.html

The only other option would be a data recovery service which gets expensive very fast.

 

[dragonfire665]

Now, when connecting the hdd to the computer, I am getting the following. Disk #Unknown, Not Initialized, when i tried to do so and use MBR, I get the following error, The Device is not ready.

 

[Cos70]

As I mentioned, it's most likely the controller board, which moves the read/write heads over the disk. It cannot "initialize" or start itself up properly, which leads to a failure accessing it. Honestly, you are not helping yourself by powering it up. Each time you do you run the risk of damaging it more.

 

[dragonfire665]

Got it, the only concern is as I went to HDDzone, I kinda dont understand who to find what they need , like the numbers for WD hdd. I have never open a drive

 

[Cos70]

You do not need to open the drive. if you have the drive and turn it over, you should see a green circuit board screwed to the bottom. You need to find the right type of screwdriver for that, as it is not standard, and unscrew the board from the bottom of the drive. The numbers you need are located on the back side of that green board in the area shown in the pictures on that web site for your specific brand and model of drive.

 

[Perso004]

You do have tried the hard drive on another Windows PC or tested it with CHKDSK or other diagnostic software to take chances?
If it really could not be recognized by any computer, the local hard drive repairing shop may help you.

 

[Promomilia]

go to device manager -> under storage controllers selected the "USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device" which comes up when connect the drive -> right click and select update driver software ->browse my computer option -> pick ... option -> in the listed drivers iselected mass storage device and clicked OK.

 

[dragonfire665]

You do have tried the hard drive on another Windows PC or tested it with CHKDSK or other diagnostic software to take chances?
If it really could not be recognized by any computer, the local hard drive repairing shop may help you.

yes I have 2 other computers and they do not recognize the drive.The drive spins and all but it wont show under Explorer

 

[dragonfire665]

go to device manager -> under storage controllers selected the "USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device" which comes up when connect the drive -> right click and select update driver software ->browse my computer option -> pick ... option -> in the listed drivers iselected mass storage device and clicked OK.

When connected I do not see that option.

 

[dragonfire665]

You do not need to open the drive. if you have the drive and turn it over, you should see a green circuit board screwed to the bottom. You need to find the right type of screwdriver for that, as it is not standard, and unscrew the board from the bottom of the drive. The numbers you need are located on the back side of that green board in the area shown in the pictures on that web site for your specific brand and model of drive.

I was reading the FAQ under the website for hddzone and it states that replacing PCB will not fix the problem that I am having, meaning computers no showing the drive.

 

[dragonfire665]

I really think now this drive is just dead and sending it to a specialist will cost too much money. I connected it one last time and this time, I hear a faint clicking or scratching noise, cant really describe it. It only happens for about 5 seconds, then it stops, and all i hear is the drive spin quietly. All the valuable photos and other files are pretty much lost. Last option might be to buy the same drive and exchange the PCB that way. Hope it might solve the problem.