Desperate for help - external HDD problem

[bluepoole]

Hi myBB,

One of my external hard drives (WD Elements 1Tb) was working fine the other day, but when I tried to access it on Thursday, all of a sudden it it inaccessible.

It shows up under My Computer, but is labelled "Local Disk" instead of the usual descriptive name, and the usage/capacity info is not present. Windows Explorer crashes when trying to access it.

I've tried the obvious (plugging into another USB port, plugging into another PC, trying a different USB cable) without success.

The HDD's light still come on and blinks, and the disk still spins. I've googled a bit and it sounds like it might be a corrupted partition table - I've tried three separate partition recovery software now and it is a bit of a "catch 22" - if the HDD is plugged in, any piece of software "hangs", the moment I unplugged it then the software responds again but obviously you can't use it because the drive is not plugged in. Windows also doesn't want to shut down when the drive is plugged in, but shuts off the moment you unplug it.

I'm desperate here - it contains about 700Gb's and literally years and years' worth of work and personal documents, photos etc - most of which I would never be able to get back.

As a last resort I suppose I will have to take it a person/company who can assist me, but hoping there are perhaps more solutions for me to try out first - also, does the diagnose of a corrupted partition table sound correct?

Thx in advance

 

[PsyWulf]

If its worth your life,send it to a recovery company like Southbit to do it right from the start
If you'd like it back,but loss won't be the end of the world,there's plenty of people that would try helping

 

[Grouter]

Have you got access to a Linux PC? Linux might see it.

 

[Rocket-Boy]

Hi myBB,

One of my external hard drives (WD Elements 1Tb) was working fine the other day, but when I tried to access it on Thursday, all of a sudden it it inaccessible.

It shows up under My Computer, but is labelled "Local Disk" instead of the usual descriptive name, and the usage/capacity info is not present. Windows Explorer crashes when trying to access it.

I've tried the obvious (plugging into another USB port, plugging into another PC, trying a different USB cable) without success.

The HDD's light still come on and blinks, and the disk still spins. I've googled a bit and it sounds like it might be a corrupted partition table - I've tried three separate partition recovery software now and it is a bit of a "catch 22" - if the HDD is plugged in, any piece of software "hangs", the moment I unplugged it then the software responds again but obviously you can't use it because the drive is not plugged in. Windows also doesn't want to shut down when the drive is plugged in, but shuts off the moment you unplug it.

I'm desperate here - it contains about 700Gb's and literally years and years' worth of work and personal documents, photos etc - most of which I would never be able to get back.

As a last resort I suppose I will have to take it a person/company who can assist me, but hoping there are perhaps more solutions for me to try out first - also, does the diagnose of a corrupted partition table sound correct?

Thx in advance

The housings often give issues, sometimes removing the drive and mounting in a PC will be enough to read the data off.
The drives themselves also give quite a few issues, Im not a fan of using external drives for long term storage.

 

[chrisc]

I had a similar problem

The solution was to remove it from the enclosure and plug it directly into a SATA port. This enabled me to read it. In this case it was the USB module that failed

 

[Gtx Gaming]

I had a similar problem

The solution was to remove it from the enclosure and plug it directly into a SATA port. This enabled me to read it. In this case it was the USB module that failed

Wd drives mostly have usb inside directly soldered into the PCB.
Still worth a try

 

[phly]

Just out of curiosity. How long have you heard the drive for and is this the first time that this problem is cropping up? Reason I ask is I was looking at purchasing a 4tb we elements and now I am worried. I have had a 2tb also we elements for eons and other than the fact that windows does not read it, it works fine. Hence the reason to looking at upgrading.

I also second the advice to remove the casing and getting a new standard one. You may find that the problem lies with the interface connector part that plugs into th drive itself that is not up to scratch.

 

[Grouter]

I had a similar problem

The solution was to remove it from the enclosure and plug it directly into a SATA port. This enabled me to read it. In this case it was the USB module that failed

That sounds very much like the OP's issue - good spot!

 

[bluepoole]

Just out of curiosity. How long have you heard the drive for and is this the first time that this problem is cropping up? Reason I ask is I was looking at purchasing a 4tb we elements and now I am worried. I have had a 2tb also we elements for eons and other than the fact that windows does not read it, it works fine. Hence the reason to looking at upgrading.

I also second the advice to remove the casing and getting a new standard one. You may find that the problem lies with the interface connector part that plugs into th drive itself that is not up to scratch.

The drive is only 10 months old, and yes this is the first time this has happened. I have an 11 year old WD Passport, as well as a Samsung and a Seagate external, and I've never had any issues with any of them.

 

[bluepoole]

Have you got access to a Linux PC? Linux might see it.

Unfortunately not. Recently moved from Gauteng where I could have had access, but I don't know anyone here (Cape Winelands)

 

[bluepoole]

If its worth your life,send it to a recovery company like Southbit to do it right from the start
If you'd like it back,but loss won't be the end of the world,there's plenty of people that would try helping

Thank you for this - I see they are not too far from me. Will keep it in mind if everything else fails

 

[bluepoole]

Thank you for all the replies and advice so far.

With regards to taking it out of the enclosure - I'm admittedly not very technically inclined and I have dumb fingers - is there any myBB member in the Cape Metropolitan area who would be so kind to help a fellow forumite out in assisting me with this procedure? I will of course come to you at a time and place convenient for you.

Using a professional service would be my last resort, as I have been unemployed since December and struggling financially, so I'm hoping it could perhaps be solved in an easier way, failing that I will of course save up until I can afford a professional service one day.

 

[palmandy]

In Windows look under Drive Management. If the drive shows under drive mangement but no partitions are seen then corrupted. If it is not seen at all then could be drive itself.

Also look in device management to see if it appears.

Have you tried another USB cable since that could be faulty.

 

[bluepoole]

In Windows look under Drive Management. If the drive shows under drive mangement but no partitions are seen then corrupted. If it is not seen at all then could be drive itself.

Also look in device management to see if it appears.

Have you tried another USB cable since that could be faulty.

Hi, yes I’ve tried a different USB cable already.

I’ve tried looking under Disk Management, but it just says “connecting to virtual disk services” while the drive is plugged in

 

[palmandy]

And Device Manager?

 

[chrisc]

Getting it out the case is a bit of a mission and needs a bit of brute force

My HDD was a Toshiba 3Tb. I repurposed it in another (third party) USB3 case and gave it to a friend who uses it to keep his movies and music on

 

[Rickster]

Unfortunately not. Recently moved from Gauteng where I could have had access, but I don't know anyone here (Cape Winelands)

You could download ubuntu and make it a bootable usb then once you in ubuntu you can try it there.

Have you tried Minitool Partition wizard?

A great CD to have is Hiren's BootCD 15.2 which has parted magic on it. Very useful.

 

[Nqindi]

In future back up your stuff to the cloud. Hard drives are known to fail without warning. If you can't afford 1TB of online storage Google/Microsoft have R29 for 100GB monthly plans that can take care of your most crucial documents. Just a thought.

 

[bluepoole]

And Device Manager?

I checked just now, under device manager it is listed, under its properties it says "device working properly" - I've tried the "uninstall" option but then nothing happens.

 

[bluepoole]

You could download ubuntu and make it a bootable usb then once you in ubuntu you can try it there.

Have you tried Minitool Partition wizard?

A great CD to have is Hiren's BootCD 15.2 which has parted magic on it. Very useful.

Thank you - I will give this a try