WD external HD transfer rate below 100 kb/s

[Ankit Lohia]

i have a 1 TB WD hard disk (USB 3.0).. Recently while transferring data it stopped working. i disconnected the device nd tried to connect it again but the performance of the pc itself is hampered to a great extent once the hd is plugged in.

Also i have noticed that a lot of data from the hd is already deleted and as for the remaining data the transfer rate is below 100 kb/s. I have about 400-500 gb data in the hd that i absolutely need. What can i do?? Plz help!!!!!!

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Ankit Lohia,

What is the model of the drive?
It is always a good idea to start the troubleshooting process with changing the USB cable as well as the USB port you connect it to.
If the issue persists, you can test the drive with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool. The results will eventually show you what is wrong with it. The reduced transfer speed could be a result of many bad sectors.
Apart from that, as some of the data is really important, I would advise you transfer it even though the speed is low.(at least the most crucial one)
You can try accessing the drive with some data recovery tool as well. Check this out: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html

Is the device still under warranty? If it is, you can contact WD's Support and eventually RMA it.(after you have transferred your data of course)

WD's DLG tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Kmek7O
WD's Support: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Z7AkJd

Hope this will help,
D_Know_WD

 

[Ankit Lohia]

hi, thanks for d info.. have started on the backing up nd will go ahead with d diagnostics after...
The drive was a WD Elements 1 TB drive.
I have one more query. Which is the best external hard drive available in the market? Something which doesn't have these kind of issues. I mean its hardly been a year since i purchased the above mentioned drive nd am already having to put in loads of time nd effort to recover data from it. So basically what i am looking for is something that is more reliable.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. Pretty much all HDDs have similar chances of failure, and it's luck of the draw how long yours lasts.

If it's fairly new, you can likely get a warranty replacement.

This is why you have backups.

 

[D_Know_WD]

I can't really tell you which is the best external drive, even if I have to choose only among the WD drives.
Some could fail in less than a year, some could last for 3 - 5 years or more. This is what warranties are for. As yours is fairly new one, after you back all your data up, you can just RMA it.
Generally, external drives tend to be less reliable than the internals due to some connections/enclosure issues. In most cases, the HDDs inside the enclosures are fine.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD