WD MyBook powers on but drive is quiet, won't appear in Windows - HELP

[krs000a]

I was using my Western Digital MyBook external HDD, all of a sudden it disappeared in Windows. I tried unplugging and plugging it back in, but it didn't help. Tried restarting the PC, didn't help either. The light on the drive came on as normal. The drive is not visible in Disk Management.
I then realized the drive was totally silent. I tried with a different power adapter (I have a total of six of these WD Element external HDDs), same problem.
Also tried a different USB cord, even though obviously that wouldn't help but just so I could say I have tried that. I tried it on a different PC too.
Btw, I am plugging the harddrive directly into the PC without any USB extension cords, and while the AC adapter normally goes into a "power strip" thing with 8 outlets, I have now tried it directly to the wall socket to no avail.
It seems the power is fine, I think the drive itself is the problem. Could there be some kind of connection between the power supply and the drive that has somehow gotten "unhooked"?

I am very pissed off now because this is the second time this happens to one of these WD MyBook drives. I lost alot of data thanks to it. I do have many WD Passport type drives as well, which powers up with USB power and don't require AC power, and none of those drives have failed me so far. Makes me wonder if I should just copy the remaining WD Element drives' contents to passport drives and get rid of those awful MyBooks, because this makes me paranoid.

Please, if you have any suggestions what I could try, do share. My priority is to save the disk's contents, I could care less about the useless HDD itself.
Thank you so much for reading.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, krs000a!

I'm sorry to hear about your issues with the WD My Book external drive! 🙁 Unfortunately, it is possible that something in the connectivity has failed. However, I'd definitely NOT recommend you to tamper with the drive physically because it will void the warranty. Besides, these external HDD models incorporate a hardware encryption which would make the data inaccessible without the original enclosure. Have you checked if the HDD appears in Device Manager & DiskPart, though?

If it's not listed anywhere, I'd advise you to check the warranty on the WD My Book. If it's still covered, you should get in touch with our Customer Support and let them know about this issue. You should be able to RMA it.

I'd strongly advise you keep your data stored in multiple locations across your external & internal HDDs. This is the best way to prevent any potential data loss in the future.

Best of luck! Keep me posted with the troubleshooting.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[krs000a]

Hello!
Thank you for replying!
The warranty is already expired, I've had this drive for several years.
I was going to try connecting it using a SATA/IDE to USB adapter. So you're saying that will definitely not work once the drive is out of its enclosure? Is there any way around that? I did not apply any encryption etc while I was using the drive...

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hello again, krs000a!

Pretty unfortunate that your warranty has expired. 🙁 I'd strongly advise you to consider contacting a professional data recovery WD partner for assistance if you wish to retrieve your files from the WD My Book.
Unfortunately, The hardware-based full disk encryption is not a software-based encryption that you can set up yourself. It is incorporated into the hard disk controller/enclosure and there's no way to disable it, really. Your only alternative to read the data off the HDD would be to use an identical WD My Book enclosure. However, this could potentially work only if the failure you are experiencing is within the HDD enclosure itself. If the issues are coming from the HDD, I'm afraid that changing the enclosure wouldn't help you.

Keep me posted, though. Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD