WD Elements 2TB Hard Drive Not Responding

[fatalportrait99]

My Western Digital Elements 2TB External Hard Drive had been working fine for about a year until several hours ago. Now, rather than showing up as "Elements (G: )" in This PC, it shows up as "Local Disk (G: )" and any attempt to access the files sends the computer into an unresponsive state of loading limbo. I went into Device Manager, which recommended updating the driver software, but when I attempted to do so it then said that the proper driver software was already installed. The physical drive itself still flashes the light and gives indication that it should be working.
Is there any way I can recover my data or fix the drive to make it accessible again? I'm running Windows 8.1 on a Samsung laptop.

 

[i7Baby]

I'd agree with the PC - the driver is not installed properly. But I have a feeling its the disk itself that's the problem. RMA it or replace it.

 

[alyoshka]

Before doing any of that, I'd suggest running virus scan on it.
Have to tried to access it from command prompt using elevated permissions??
if the lights flashing and the platters moving without a clicking sound, the disc maybe fine, as far as the "Elements G: " disappearing from My Computer and showing up as Local Disk G: ", is a sign of the Autorun file being overwritten, don't get fooled by it, there is a 99.9% chance that the drive is infected....

 

[fatalportrait99]

Before doing any of that, I'd suggest running virus scan on it.
Have to tried to access it from command prompt using elevated permissions??
if the lights flashing and the platters moving without a clicking sound, the disc maybe fine, as far as the "Elements G: " disappearing from My Computer and showing up as Local Disk G: ", is a sign of the Autorun file being overwritten, don't get fooled by it, there is a 99.9% chance that the drive is infected....

I've tried to run a virus scan on the drive, but so much as right-clicking on the drive causes Windows Explorer to freeze and stop responding, so I can't specifically target it.
I'm not familiar with using elevated permissions, but if there's a course of action to use those that you recommend I'm open to trying it.

 

[i7Baby]

Replace your drive and re-install windows.

 

[alyoshka]

by elevated permissions I meant, run command prompt using administrative privileges
then type
g:
enter
then dir/w
or just dir
if it shows the contents of your drive G:
that means the drive is fine....

And don't check for viruses when plugged into your rig, the rig in which the drive itself seems to have problems, hook the drive up in another rig, preferably a win7 rig, do not auto play or double click on the drive when it pops up in my computer or on the screen,
Explore it , right click on the drive and explore.....

 

[fzabkar]

To assess the physical state of the drive, I would examine the SMART report using a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.

Assuming that your drive is suffering from bad sectors, then I would clone it, sector by sector, using a tool (eg ddrescue) that understands how to work around bad media. Ddrescue keeps a log so that it can resume after an interruption.

If ddrescue proceeds slowly, then you could apply the "slow fix":

http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29187&start=20

http://www.alexsoft.org/viewtopic.php?t=998&p=4345#p4345

The fix would need to be applied via SATA, not USB, so you would need to remove the drive from its enclosure.

 

[alyoshka]

To assess the physical state of the drive, I would examine the SMART report using a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo.

http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

Look for reallocated, pending, or uncorrectable sectors.

Assuming that your drive is suffering from bad sectors, then I would clone it, sector by sector, using a tool (eg ddrescue) that understands how to work around bad media. Ddrescue keeps a log so that it can resume after an interruption.

If ddrescue proceeds slowly, then you could apply the "slow fix":

http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29187&start=20

http://www.alexsoft.org/viewtopic.php?t=998&p=4345#p4345

The fix would need to be applied via SATA, not USB, so you would need to remove the drive from its enclosure.

That will not work .....
Don't even think of opening the drive enclosure, it'll void the warranty, the HDD on the inside comes with a proprietary PCB with the USB3 Socket soldered onto it.... it's not the normal enclosure with a 2.5'' HDD in it....