WD 3TB Elements Not Initialising Due to Media Protection

[Phill Adams]

I bought a 3TB WD Elements external hard drive some months ago to act as a backup storage device for my photographic files. From day one I have been unable to initialise and format the device in order to use it.

Having spent months fruitlessly searching forums for a solution I am almost at the point of returning it to WD but am wondering whether anybody in the community has found a solution to this issue before I do so.

Any advice would be most gratefully received!

Many thanks.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hello, Phill!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your issues with the WD Elements. 🙁
You shouldn't have waited so long to get in touch with our tech support though!
In such situation, you can simply contact them and send out a RMA request. Soon afterwards, you should be provided with a replacement drive.
If you have done your research and tried everything already, I don't think we can suggest you anything new. In your case, it is most probably a hardware problem. I would still suggest to test the drive using Data LifeGuard diagnostics: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=GCGN3G

Check if it can actually get tested.
Afterwards, contact our tech support: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=kpcaCD
Here's a link on how to RMA your product under warranty: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=3ICu00

Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD