WD 3TB problem

[Neal7062]

My WD 3TB hard drive is recognized as the I drive in Windows 7 but I keep getting prompted to reformat the disc and it's not showing any data on the disk. The LED light blinks and it does make some noise. Also, using Computer Management, it shows as being healthy.

 

[RetiredChief]

I've recently had Two 3tb Hard drives (different brands) go south on me. First indication was simular to what your experencing. Found This:
Quote"In a followup study to the insightful reports on the most reliable hard drive brands and consumer versus enterprise hard drives, Backblaze found some interesting data that could help you choose your next drive. One piece of advice: stay away from 3 TB drives. End Quote
https://lifehacker.com/why-you-should-buy-4-tb-hard-drives-and-skip-the-3-tb-o-1680887763

 

[DR_Luke]

Which model of drive is it? With the WD external drives, almost all of them encrypt the data between the USB bridge and the platters, making it much more complicated for DIY recovery attempts. That said, assuming that you are referring to a MyBook, you can try the following, with the understanding that if the issue is with the drive, itself, every time you power it on, it could be causing more damage.

1. Try different power and USB cable
2. Remove the drive from the computer (if it detects the drive, it will likely not see the file system because of the encryption)
3. Connect the drive to a new USB bridge with the same part number
4. Try accessing the drive with a data recovery program, such as R-Studio, and see if you can find your files with it (Again, if the drive is failing, running any data recovery software will likely cause more damage to the drive)

The odds are, you will likely need the assistance of a data recovery professional. So, assuming that your data is worth a few hundred bucks, you may want to contact a few labs to find out what kind of price you can expect. A few labs I recommend are as follows:

Recovery Force
Data Medics
Data Savers
PC Image
Data Busters

This list is far from complete. It is just a few labs that I know who are really good at what they do and because they don't have huge sales and marketing teams, they have considerably better pricing than most labs.

Good luck

 

[Neal7062]

Thanks for your input! I may be wrong as I have little experience but I'll power it up, it's recognized, shows no data but also, when I physically move it, it disconnects as if you unplugged it and I move it again and it reconnects and is recognized again. I'm wondering if it's the controller board that needs replacing.

 

[DR_Luke]

It is likely an issue where the USB bridge is identifying to Windows, but the physical hard drive is not. It is very unlikely to be the PCB.

 

[Neal7062]

I've recently had Two 3tb Hard drives (different brands) go south on me. First indication was simular to what your experencing. Found This:
Quote"In a followup study to the insightful reports on the most reliable hard drive brands and consumer versus enterprise hard drives, Backblaze found some interesting data that could help you choose your next drive. One piece of advice: stay away from 3 TB drives. End Quote
https://lifehacker.com/why-you-should-buy-4-tb-hard-drives-and-skip-the-3-tb-o-1680887763

Which model of drive is it? With the WD external drives, almost all of them encrypt the data between the USB bridge and the platters, making it much more complicated for DIY recovery attempts. That said, assuming that you are referring to a MyBook, you can try the following, with the understanding that if the issue is with the drive, itself, every time you power it on, it could be causing more damage.

1. Try different power and USB cable
2. Remove the drive from the computer (if it detects the drive, it will likely not see the file system because of the encryption)
3. Connect the drive to a new USB bridge with the same part number
4. Try accessing the drive with a data recovery program, such as R-Studio, and see if you can find your files with it (Again, if the drive is failing, running any data recovery software will likely cause more damage to the drive)

The odds are, you will likely need the assistance of a data recovery professional. So, assuming that your data is worth a few hundred bucks, you may want to contact a few labs to find out what kind of price you can expect. A few labs I recommend are as follows:

Recovery Force
Data Medics
Data Savers
PC Image
Data Busters

This list is far from complete. It is just a few labs that I know who are really good at what they do and because they don't have huge sales and marketing teams, they have considerably better pricing than most labs.

Good luck

Thanks again, the power cord work perfectly with other compatible drives I have and when I use a 2.0 cable, it acts exactly the same with the supplied 3.0 cable (I can feel it spinning and the LED light blinks). Also the model is wdbfjk0030hbk-04 and I'm wondering what the difference is between this and the wdbfjk0030hbk-NESN or the wdbfjk0030hbk-01, if any.

 

[Neal7062]

I've recently had Two 3tb Hard drives (different brands) go south on me. First indication was simular to what your experencing. Found This:
Quote"In a followup study to the insightful reports on the most reliable hard drive brands and consumer versus enterprise hard drives, Backblaze found some interesting data that could help you choose your next drive. One piece of advice: stay away from 3 TB drives. End Quote
https://lifehacker.com/why-you-should-buy-4-tb-hard-drives-and-skip-the-3-tb-o-1680887763

Also, I just discovered hard drive docking stations. I'm assuming I could try using one of these to try to access the hard drive?