WD Elements 10B8 issue

[Mr Mehra]

I have a WD hard disk but due unknown reason my hard drive is not show up and that's why unable to get my important data back...
I can see hard drive in safely removal list, in Device management and also in Disk management but unable to do anything...
can anyone Help me... please

 

[ihog]

Is it possible that it's been damaged? If so, maybe try this: http://lifehacker.com/5515337/save-a-failed-hard-drive-in-your-freezer-redux

 

[Mr Mehra]

well, I think my hard drive is not
damage so can suggest something which I could define better

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, Mr Mehra!

I'm sorry to se you struggling with this issue with the WD Elements.
Can you tell me what is the status of the drive in Disk Management?

I'd suggest you to test the drive using WD's Diagnostics tool - Data LifeGuard: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=cuAwBK
Run the extended test and let me know how it goes.
Another thing you can try is uninstalling all the drivers under USB controllers in Device Manager one by one and then restart your computer.
After the automatic update of the drivers, plug the WD Elements again and see if that will make it show up in My Computer.

Keep me posted! Hope this helps!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Mr Mehra]

well,.. here as i open Disk management it shows a 'Initialize disk' dialogue box saying that "you must initialize a disk before logical Disk management access it."
in that box where two options kept..
1-MBR (Master Boot Record)
2-GPT GUID Partition Table)
After this.. i just canceled that box and noticed Disk is shown 'Unknown' and 'Not initialized'
Many times it don't even show in Disk Management .. but it always listed in "Safely remove"
So that's all status i can explain about..
can you please help me with it... ?

As your advice i tried WD diagnostic application and my hard drive didn't appeared in list of it.
i don't know why... :/

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hi again, Mr Mehra!

You shouldn't have canceled. Choosing the partition table is part of the initializing process of the drive.
MBR (Master Boot Record) and GPT (GUID Partition Table) are two different ways of storing the partitioning information on a drive. MBR works with disks up to 2 TB in size, but it can’t handle disks with more than 2 TB of space. When the drive is larger than 2 TB, that's when the GUID partition table comes in. It doesn't have the MBR's limits and the capacities of the drives with this partition table can be much larger. I believe the portable WD Elements is up to 2 TB, so you might as well select MBR and continue with the other steps of initializing your drive. I'd suggest to use these guides from our knowledge base on how to set up your WD Elements:
How to initialize your HDD: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=FHeTV7
How to partition and format it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=AZVGlY

It should get detected by the Data LifeGuard Diagnostics after you've completed the initialization and partitioning/fomatting of the drive.

Keep me posted! Hope this helps!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Mr Mehra]

hello again,
Sorry forgot to info that i already tired to initialize with option MBR and also with GPT but it showed "the request failed due to a fatal device hardware error."
that's why i cancelled it.
i even tried to get info about my WD external Hard disk status through CMD, but in this it just shown as Disk 2 (0 size) and as i command it to 'list partition'. then text came... "there are no partition on disk to show"
so i tried to create one primary partition but it was also unable to do so.
one more thing, whenever i used to connect my WD disk via USB cable... it make weird noise.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

This is rather unfortunate, Mr Mehra!
I think you are dealing with internal damage on the drive, which you cannot fix yourself.
I strongly recommend getting in touch with our tech support and let them know about the issue. If your WD Elements is still under warranty, you will be able to send through them an RMA request and get a replacement product.
Here are the tech support contacts: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=NXddHC
How to RMA your product: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Lel2ju

Hope I helped! Let me know if there's anything else!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Mr Mehra]

Hello again,
may be you're right that my WD hard drive internally damaged but if it is than can we get my important data back out somehow if possible ?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, Mr Mehra!

Yes, you can do that using third party software utilities but nobody can determine how much of your data you will be able to retrieve.
Here's a thread from the community that can give you ideas on the tools you could use: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/291895-32-best-data-recovery-software
However, if the data is very important to you, I recommend you to directly turn to a professional data recovery company for help. It may be costly, but they are your best chance at getting at least some of your data back. Here are the Data Recovery partners WD works with worldwide: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=mZnEB8

Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD