I have 2TB WD external drive that I use with a Windows 7 Pro laptop. It stopped working after a light fall. I took it out of the enclosure and when I plugged in the power, I got a single LED flash, and then when I connected it to my laptop with the USB cable, the light flashed continuously and the drive spun with no clicks for about 2 minutes. But it didn’t show up on the Device Mgr or the Disk Mgr.
Hoping it’s just the SATA to USB adapter, I removed it and connected the disk with a portable adapter. Now the Device Mgr recognizes it as a “USB device” under Disk Drives. The Disk Mgr recognizes it as Disk 1 but says it needs to be initialized.
Three questions (at least): Is there a level of initialization that will not overwrite my data? Is it likely that the whole problem is with the enclosure and so replacing it would solve the problem? In any case, what is the safest way to proceed?
Thanks.
Hoping it’s just the SATA to USB adapter, I removed it and connected the disk with a portable adapter. Now the Device Mgr recognizes it as a “USB device” under Disk Drives. The Disk Mgr recognizes it as Disk 1 but says it needs to be initialized.
Three questions (at least): Is there a level of initialization that will not overwrite my data? Is it likely that the whole problem is with the enclosure and so replacing it would solve the problem? In any case, what is the safest way to proceed?
Thanks.