WD external hard drive not recognised after restart

[kjp00]

Hi,
Hoping for a bit of guidance.

My WD 2tb hard drive was working just fine. I was in the process of transferring a bunch of files on to it.

Then I accidentally hit the reset button on my PC. After reboot it would't detect it all. There's a white, flashing light on the drive. No noise. I tried it on another PC - no detection.

There hasn't been any physical trauma to the drive. The cables were absolutely fine just a few seconds before, so I can't imagine it's anything to do with them (and I tried another, definitely working, power cable).. It seems quite clear that this is a response to the reboot (while data was transferring).

Is there anything I can do? Many thanks in advance.

 

[kjp00]

Am not seeing it in device management, am afraid.

I'd really like to be able to salvage the data if possible. But if worst comes to worst and I could have, say, an empty working drive I could live with that.

I'm hoping, because it was working just fine before that restart, that it isn't irrevocably damaged...

 

[kjp00]

One other thing I should have mentioned: It's not spinning up. There is no sign it's on other than the blinking white light. Is it possible the restart triggered some kind of standby mode?

 

[kjp00]

I've tried with different USB ports, different machines, different wires - no response!

 

[kjp00]

Unfortunately neither disc management nor device manager detect it. I presume I could only use WD's data lifeguard if it gets detected, or is there a way round that?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, kjp00!

I'm very sorry to hear about your external WD drive. 🙁
I strongly recommend testing the drive using Data LifeGuard and running the extended test, to check up on the health and SMART status of the drive. Here's a link to the utility: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=iZkDIx
Have you tried assigning a drive letter again? What is the model of the drive?
Check this tutorial how to perform this and see if it will help: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=k822ZU

Keep me posted with the results!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[kjp00]

Hi SuperSoph_WD,

Thanks a lot for your suggestion. To answer your question the model number is P/N wdbaau0010hbk-01 and S/N wmaza4624385

The problem is that the Data LifeGuard won't detect it at all 🙁 It sees my SSD and my HDD, but no sign whatsover of the external hard drive. So I don't know how I could assign a drive letter to it.

It doesn't even seem to be spinning up - the only sign of life I I get is the white flashing light.

Do you think there's anything else I can try?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hi again, kjp00!

Well, you've already tried almost anything - different cables, different computers and nothing detects it.
What I would recommend you to do is check your warranty here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=zyuDWV
If it's still within the warrant period, I strongly recommend contacting our tech support and RMA it. You should be able to get a replacement.
If it's not and you have nothing to lose, you can take it out of the enclosure and plug it internally via SATA cable.
You don't have to worry about accessing it, because WD Elements external drives do not incorporate a hardware encryption.
It is possible that the USB cannot supply the HDD with enough power, where using a SATA cable to power it up might help.

If none of these things work, your drive is most probably dead. 🙁

Keep me posted though! Hope this helps!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[fzabkar]

@kjp00, if you put your ear against the drive, can you hear any sound, however faint? If so, then your drive could have a stiction fault, ie heads stuck to platters.

 

[kjp00]

@fzabkar - yes, it turns out I can. When I plug it in and attach to PC there is a very faint sound for 5-10 seconds,which subsequently stops. Is there anything I can do about a stiction fault, if that's what it is?

 

[fzabkar]

Stiction faults require internal work. If you have no intention of engaging professional data recovery services, then a little "percussive maintenance" may dislodge the stuck heads. However, there are serious risks.

Another problem with these drives is that the headstack is sometimes mangled in the load/unload ramp, in which case spinning the drive will scratch the platters, rendering your data unrecoverable.

Here is a demonstration by a Salvation Data trainer:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/cvo59tzl5lvvaeu/seagate%20stuck%20head.zip

Note that he would normally be wearing gloves, and he would be performing the procedure in a cleanroom. Other professionals would use a "head comb" to lift the heads while they are being retracted. Note also that the motor must be rotated in the direction that the headstack is pointing, otherwise the heads will be ripped off.