Question WD Blue 8TB internal hard disc stopped suddenly working and cannot be initiated anymore

[CityHunter1981]

Hello,

I have still warranty since the drive is only 2 months old, but I wonder if the drive is really defect or not. I use it mainly as an archive or for backups.
It all started 3 days ago, I was using the drive as usual, but suddenly explorer stopped working. It looked like it tried to access the drive (sometimes it takes a short while as usual with HDD), but this time nothing happened. I could enter task manager, but my attempts to restart explorer didn`t work. Sign out also didn`t work anymore, so I had no other choice to shut down the PC manually.

After rebooting, the HDD didn`t show up in explorer anymore. When entering disk management, the PC tells me the disc needs to be initialized. So I thought well nothing I can do about the data loss and tried to initialize it, but it returned an i/o error.
First thing I tried was to open the PC and I exchanged the 2 HDD cables to make sure its not a connection problem, that didn`t help.
When using tools like crystal disc info, the health status shows as "good". A tool from WD also shows a healthy status, however when I try to do the "smart scan", the program says the device can not longer be found and I can only see it again after restarting the WD tool.

Is there anything else I could try (unfortunately I don`t have another PC to test it).
Also in case I send it back for the warranty, does WD treat my information confidential, I am scared they might recover some confidential information, since I also have a backup of all my documents there.

 

[stonecarver]

Well you kind of have our hands tied helping you.

One you don't have another computer to test the drive in.

Two you tried to format the drive, not life threating to the drive but now helping you we can't be sure if 100% it was the drive pre format or if it was computer glitch.

It could need you to clear the Bios and reset. Or reinstall your motherboard drivers.

You could unplug the drive and boot your system a couple of times without the flaky drive , it kind of helps sometime with your issue. Than re-hook up and test.

You said you changed the data cable but did you also try to switch the sata power cable to a different one off your power supply.

It very well could be a lemon drive and it is what it is.

As far as protecting your data if you need to send it in for replacement that is a judgement call only you can make.

Me I would rather take the loss of the cost I paid for the drive if I had extremally personal saves on a drive.

 

[CityHunter1981]

Well you kind of have our hands tied helping you.

One you don't have another computer to test the drive in.

Two you tried to format the drive, not life threating to the drive but now helping you we can't be sure if 100% it was the drive pre format or if it was computer glitch.

It could need you to clear the Bios and reset. Or reinstall your motherboard drivers.

You could unplug the drive and boot your system a couple of times without the flaky drive , it kind of helps sometime with your issue. Than re-hook up and test.

You said you changed the data cable but did you also try to switch the sata power cable to a different one off your power supply.

It very well could be a lemon drive and it is what it is.

As far as protecting your data if you need to send it in for replacement that is a judgement call only you can make.

Me I would rather take the loss of the cost I paid for the drive if I had extremally personal saves on a drive.

Hi,

I tried to change the data and power cable, but it didn`t change anything, anyway it`s unlikely caused by a faulty power cable, since the drive is still recognized by the PC.

I would be interested in clearing the bios and reset, but could you explain how exactly to do that.