WD Elements on Mac: not readable anymore although worked fine for months

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

Hi,

I have an external WD Elements 500 GB that I use on my Macs since months without any issue.

Today, when I connected it to my iMac, I had the message:

“The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer”.

The LED next to the USB port is ON, and goes on blinking after a while.

With Disk Utility, the features “Verify disk” and “Repair disk” are grayed. The “Mount” function too.

I tried to shutdown / restart my computer, tried also to connect the disk to another Mac (Mac Book Air) the issue remained the same.

Since the last use and this issue, there was not software update on any of my Macs. The USB cable is the original one.

I downloaded “applejack” on my MacBook Air and run it (option 1. “repair disk”) but it just checked my internal disk; did not refer to my WD Elements.

Thanks in advance to the community if anyone could suggest anything, as I have some data I would like to recover :slight_smile:

Moti.

2

Hi, have you tried using another USB cable to connect the Elements? 

1 Like
3

Thanks Ichigo for your answer.

Unfortunately yes I tried with another cable and the result is the same … :frowning:

4

Hi again, in that case it would appear that the Elements is faulty and needs to be replaced. Check the link below for the steps to create the RMA replacement number. 

How to get an RMA, (Return Merchandise Authorization) or replace a defective product under warranty 

5

Hi Ichigo,

To be honest, my concern is now to retrieve my data, not to replace my disk :slight_smile:

I am waiting for a Disk Warrior 4.4 package I ordered and that I should receive soon. Hopefully this will help me retrieve some data…

Thanks for your support,

Moti.

6

Hi All,

To keep you updated: I bought DiskWarrior 4.4 and ran it on my Macs … but it does not even see the WD Elements (although Disk Utility sees it but cannot do anything).

Next step / try: I have another WD Elements 500 GB too (but seems to be of another generation, as the USB port is different). I will open the cases and try to put the physical disk that does work in the case of the one that works…

Best regards,

Moti.