Question WD drive keeps connecting then restarting

[thekatlass]

I have a WD My Book for Mac x2, one is considerably older than the other and they both encounter the same issue when trying to use them.

When I plug them in the HDD boots up and connects to my Mac, you see the light, hear the whir and then it blinks and restarts. x infinity. for a brief moment the WD unlocker pops up and I can click on it, it will say something about using the via the CD. who has a CD player these days. lol. (in a Mac)

They both worked last year when I grabbed some data off them (which has mysteriously turned into empty folders... I think that's a cloud storage issue I'm not bothering with)

I have tried my
iMac 2019 model
My Mac air m1
super old Mac book pro

I have tried 2 different cords and two different power supplies being careful to ensure the voltage was correct.

The more recent HDD is the one of particular concern as like a fool I didn't have a second or third backup like I knew I should. ugh.

I thought it might have been a password program issues (bit incompatibility with newer Macs), but the more recent hdd doesn't have a password I'm pretty sure (been awhile) Then I thought I might try to update the software on it however.. it doesn't remain present on my drive long enough to do anything. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get a folder open but then it reboots.

I've seen on your other forum posts that some people have tried using EaseUs Lifeguard and Recuva. So I will look in to these in the meantime. However I was hoping that someone here might know this issue as it is slightly different to the other posts given that you can hear the mother whirring and it doesn't crash my computer.

would appreciate any feedback or help, thanks.

 

[Isaac in Duluth MN]

It sounds to me like the typical dead hard drive. I have had some tiny luck with finding a similar model hard drive, and changing out the little circuit board on it, but... you may be out of luck, IMHO. One thing that sometimes works, is putting the drive sideways, or vertical to the way it normally sits, or tossing in the freezer for a while, then trying. In case you get it working once, back up your files right away and don't stop for coffee.

 

[thekatlass]

Ok thanks for the tips Isaac, I'll definitely be trying them out. I was hoping that due to the whirring of the motor that I might be in the lucky few.