WD My Book 4 tb usb 3.0 suddenly becomes unallocated in disk management

[billagorn]

Hello,
I face a problem (which unfortunately seems to be quite common with WD external drives) : I have a WD MyBook 4 TB usb 3.0 external drive. Since yesterday, it does not appear to explorer but it appears in disk management as "unallocated", having the correct space (3.64 TB), and also it makes the normal reading noise and its light is constantly on (no blinking). I tried to use programs like testdisk or Minitool Partition Wizard to restore the damaged table/partition, but they could not do it. I have 3 tb of data in there, so my next try will be to open the case and use a USB-to-SATA converter (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CPGYNV4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to mount the drive on my laptop via SATA-usb (I do not have a desktop computer). I also read that WD used to hardware encrypt its disks, so in case the sata-usb adapter does not work, I may suspect that the PCB of the drive may have failed. So, I may order and replace the old PCB with an identical new one and I hope my drive will work again! What do you think of my plan ?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware, billagorn!

I'm very sorry to hear about your issues with the WD My Book 4TB! 🙁 They do incorporate a hardware encryption, which, unfortunately, will make the data inaccessible if you take the drive out of the enclosure. There's a chance that you can access it if you get the exact same model of WD My Book and put the drive in that enclosure, but I honestly can't say with 100% certainty that it will work.
Have you tested it with Data LifeGuard Diagnostics? What does the SMART data shows?
Here's a link to the utility: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=I0bSE0
If the WD My Book is still within warranty, you should contact our tech support and send out an RMA request. However, WD does not perform data recovery, so I'd recommend you to talk to one of our Data Recovery Partners first: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=3QpDKR
You could try with third-party data recovery utilities as well, but I personally wouldn't risk it with 3 TB of data. ( http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/291895-32-best-data-recovery-software )
I'd also advise you to try plugging the WD My Book in another computer, there's a chance that it might get detected properly there.

Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[billagorn]

Thank you. Concerning Data Life guard, my drive cannot pass the SMART test (it is interrupted and says too many bad sectors detected. But if the PCB has failed, isn't it normal for SMART test to fail? Also, does the non-blinking of the blue light have any significance?
I have also tried another computer and same thing happened. Concerning data recovery companies, I think the cost of retrieving so much data would be too high.
Might also be possible to open the disk and try to mount it on a docking station?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Thank you. Concerning Data Life guard, my drive cannot pass the SMART test (it is interrupted and says too many bad sectors detected. But if the PCB has failed, isn't it normal for SMART test to fail? Also, does the non-blinking of the blue light have any significance?
I have also tried another computer and same thing happened. Concerning data recovery companies, I think the cost of retrieving so much data would be too high.
Might also be possible to open the disk and try to mount it on a docking station?

Unfortunately, I think that the problem is not in the PCB at all. If it was ,then your WD My Book wouldn't get detected at all. My guess is that the issue is with the HDD itself, having too many bad damaged sectors on it. So even if you do change the My Book enclosure with an identical one, you still might not be able to access your data. 🙁
I recommend getting in touch with a Data Recovery company, and then contact our tech support and send out your RMA request for a replacement (if WD My Book is still within the warranty period).
WD Tech Support: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=yvWRmc
How to RMA: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=EV5rfg
The best way to prevent these annoying situations is to always have a backup of your data on at least 2 different locations.

Good luck! Let me know if there's anything else I can help with!
SuperSoph_WD