WD Elements 2 TB not recognized in Windows 10

[rvipinkumar]

Hello guys,

I am at my wits end, searching and finding a solution to this never ending problem.

I have a WD 2 TB Elements drive, which worked perfectly some 3 weeks ago. I used it as a Backup device for some important files for me.

I plugged it 2 days back to my Windows 10 x64 machine, and do whatever I may, it didn't show up in the 'My PC'. I am getting an error message: "USB device not recognized: The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned". The light in front the unit remains on, and I can feel the whirring of the hard disk when touched.

I have checked if it is appearing in the Disk management MMC, but it didn't show up there either... 🙁🙁

I have tried many interesting advises from the people who use WD drives, and so far I have done these steps without success:
1.) Changed the USB cable to shorter/longer/thick - No go...
2.) Deleted the Unknown Device in Device Manager and restarted the system - No go.
3.) Changed the hidden Power settings - fastboot and the other one to disable - still no go.
4.) Somewhere it is mentioned to update the AMD chipset of the laptop - No go.
5.) Installed the older WD SES driver and restarted the system - No go.
5.) I have checked the drive in Windows 7 in another laptop of a friend, but it showed up the same message there too. 🙁

Did I ran out of luck and Is it a faulty drive? The drive was never dropped and was always stored in a safe dry place...

Any help in this regard is much appreciated...

Thanks,
Vipin

 

[popatim]

To me it sounds like the usb to sata interface board in the Elements drive has failed.
All you may need to do is to move the drive to a new enclosure.

By the way, a backup is a second copy of a file stored on a separate device/media and not the only copy. Please make sure you have a true backup for all your important files even if that 2nd copy is on a dvd.

 

[rvipinkumar]

To me it sounds like the usb to sata interface board in the Elements drive has failed.
All you may need to do is to move the drive to a new enclosure.

I am sorry, how do I do that? The drive is under warranty, and if I do something to it, it may void the warranty!!! And besides, some videos I searched shows that the USB port is attached to the inner part of the drive (soldered, that is). So it may not be able to get inside a SATA enclosure!

 

[popatim]

If you googled your exact model# of the external drive and its a usb drive inside the enclosure then you are out of luck with an enclosure swap.

If you need the warranty then you are also left with no choice but to send it in but sometimes if you call WD, they can issue a exception and allow you to send the drive out for data recovery if needed. Please be awarwe that sending it out for recovery is usually a very expensive option.