WD External Hard Drive Problem

[Jobber]

My 160GB Passport WD External Hard drive will not open. My PC recognises that there is a devise in use USB, but it is not recognised in MY COMPUTER
The blue power light is illuminated.

I have changed to another computer, used another USB port, changed cables, nothing.

Help, it contains all my old photos. Thanks for any replies.

[Shooty*]

Hmmmm... unfortunately, I think you might be stuffed.

There IS a story that, if it's due to, for example, stuck heads, if you put it IN A SEALED BAG (important part, that) in the freezer for a few hours, you might get a little bit more life out of it.

Someone else will have to verify that for you, though.

In the meantime: Can you feel it vibrating?
Can you hear the disk spinning up?
Does it make any grinding noises?
If it is an "elite" drive, does the "knight rider" style light scroll from side to side?
When you say you have tried other cables, I assume they're all double USB (I'm sure they are, as presumably you've got the drive to work previously)?
Have you dropped it recently?
What else.... if the worst comes to the worst, you could open the enclosure and try plugging the drive straight into your mobo, but that would wreck the case.

[Jobber]

Thanks Shooty.

Yes they are double USB cables and yes it has been operating for the last year and a half with no problems, hasn't been dropped, subject to any kind of shock, temperature or otherwise.

It's a complete enigma, but thanks anyway for your response.

Jobber

[CWH]

Hi,

Can you hear any noise from the drive when power is applied?
If the worst comes to the worst, you could always remove the drive from it's enclosure and try a direct connection in case it's just the internal circuitry thats duff.

Colin

[Shooty*]

Is there an echo in here?

[dirky]

Last ditch attempt might be worth booting a linux cd, windows is very picky on reading or not reading hdd. if you can boot into linux and then plug in the device, you might be able to mount it and grab the data from it. dmesg will show you a ton of messages no doube but atleast its worth a try

Edit: does it click? (echo)

[watercooled]

Try taking the drive out of the caddy it nothing works, there's a chance it's just the USB interface that's broken. It will be a laptop SATA drive so you can install it like any other drive in your PC provided you have a spare SATA cable.

[Jobber]

Hi,

Can you hear any noise from the drive when power is applied?
If the worst comes to the worst, you could always remove the drive from it's enclosure and try a direct connection in case it's just the internal circuitry thats duff.

Colin

I can feel the vibration from the disk spinning and only when I take the cable ot of the drive will My Computer pick up the drive letter (M), but then it disappears.

How can you remove the case enclosure without having to break it. I cannot locate any screws on the passport drive.

What do I need and where do I plug it into if I do get the casing open?

[Jobber]

Last ditch attempt might be worth booting a linux cd, windows is very picky on reading or not reading hdd. if you can boot into linux and then plug in the device, you might be able to mount it and grab the data from it. dmesg will show you a ton of messages no doube but atleast its worth a try

Edit: does it click? (echo)

Thanks for your comments.

What is a Linux CD. Sorry I'm not very techy minded.

[Jobber]

Thanks for your comments.

What is a Linux CD. Sorry I'm not very techy minded.

The drive would appear to be spinning. My old SATA drive clicked and I was informed that it was a gonner, this one just whirs as it always did.

[Chainsaws]

Pop the model of WD drive in google and something like "removing case". They're pretty hard to get off and if you don't know where the screws are hidden you'll break the case getting the drive out. You'll probably break the case any way but if you know where to start you're less likely to damage the drive.

I had one of these units drop dead a couple of months back and I tried everything to access it, no joy. I finally resorted to the freezer trick that's already been mentioned and I wouldn't recommend it. Despite keeping the ice off the drive it rapidly got soaking wet when I plugged it in due to the condensation from a warm room and it made no difference to whether I could see the drive or not. I was a little reluctant to even turn it back off with all that moisture around the caddy!

I wouldn't have been so upset if I'd had ANY warning it was going to happen and the rickety old Maxtor drive I've had about two years longer and has been hammered is still going strong.

[watercooled]

WD enclosures aren't held together using screws so taking them apart can be a pain. I've took a MyBook apart without damaging it but there is a risk obviously. Here's a video I found on Youtube, might not be the best but it shows you what to do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITObQxytdH4