WD MyBook External 1.0TB HDD - No longer detected at all

Hi All,

I thought it might be a good idea to start a new thread entirely since my previous thread are considered as solved.

Previous thread:  http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-PC/WD-MyBook-External-1-0TB-HDD-WD10EADX-No-longer-spinning-after/td-p/767215

However, this current problem is also related to the same HDD which is not being detected in my laptop.

The laptop powered up as per normal, (no clicking or weird sounds as per normal) and I can hear the normal disks spinning sounds as always.

The thing is there is nothing showing up on my laptop, nothing in My Computer, disk management, device manager and whatsoever. It’s like I have not plug in anything.

I’ve tried on another laptop which is not being detected as well.

I’ve also tried this  http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/165554-usb-driver-general-fix-problems.html but its not helping.

fzabkar has advised me to try to connect the HDD bridge board on its own (without attaching to the HDD) to my laptop and it DID get detected.

However, when I re-attached it back to my HDD, then nothing got detected.

Anyone have similar issue / experience to share will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi All,

I’ve called the support line for WD with little hope that they will be able to help but as expected, they can’t offer much assistance although the support guy is being courteus and supportive.

Anyway, I’m getting desperate with little dim light of hope now.

Therefore I’m asking for some kind souls to answer my last attempt / questions as listed below,

  1. Could it be the power adapter itself faulty which does not have sufficient voltage to power it properly? I read somewhere that suggested that there could be times where the power adapter is faulty which does not provide enough voltage for it to be detected eventhough it does have enough power the spin the disc.

  2. Could this be a firmware / driver issue?

How do I upgrade the firmware / driver in the HDD?

  1. Could this be the HDD circuit board issue? (the bridge circuit board that is attached to the HDD is working fine since it is able to powered up and detected when connect separately to the laptop).

If this is indeed the HDD circuit board issue, is there anything that I can do like removing any part of the faulty components like a diode or something?

  1. My last resort is to connect the HDD (without the bridge board) to the laptop since it is able to detect this way but I will need to initialize it in order to access it.

Understand that this action might cause the data within the be wiped out but at least I can access the drive and perform a recovery using some data recovery software.

Do you think this action is wise?

Please advice further. Thanks very much!

Upon digging further in forums / blogs, some actually mentioned that changing different USB cables do solve the issue.

Now this got me curious cause I’m not using the original USB cable provided with the HDD, I’m using another USB cable that comes with my other 2.5" external HDD.

Is there a different between 2.5" and 3.5" HDD USB cable?

And is there a different between 2.0 and 3.0 USB cable as well??

Updates:I did a test by connecting my HDD to my MOBO via SATA port and it doesn’t get detected no matter what sequence I went through (power on then connect or vice versa). Nothing in the Device Manager or whatsoever.

Then I do the same test on another working HDD and nothing was detected as well.

Not sure if this shows my HDD PCB is the faulty one. One thing which I suspect could be the cause is the white light remained ON without any blinking activities. Is this normal? Or this is something which I can lookout for possible solution and cause?

Attached is my PCB front and back view.

I’ve recorded the sounds of my HDD starting up.

Anyone care to share how I can attach the file here?

You cannot attach this type of file, try uploading the file to a hosting page (Mega, Dropbox, etc) and then post the link over here.

Thanks jubei04! It’s okay. I dont need to do that anymore now.

1 Like

I brought my HDD to data recovery center and they have diagnosed and confirmed the issue to be of head problem.

So, the only option is to do data recovery, which is very costly and I don’t intend to pay that kind of money.

Therefore, my issue is officially closed now.

But before I close off, I would like to provide some knowledge which I’ve learnt during the painful weeks of troubleshooting it with the hope that it will help someone who have the same / similar problem as mine.

Of course, what I will listing below is not the complete solution as I’m still a novice, but at least it should be able to shed some light to the issue.

================================

  1. Looks for signs / symptoms.

If yes, is the disc spinning?
If yes, are there any clicking sounds?
If yes, most probably it is head problem. Seek professional help to recover data.

  • Does it have light on?
    If yes, is the light blinking?

  • Is it detected in My Computer?
    Most of the time, it is a no but if it is detected in My Computer but the files are gone or not accessible, then it could be some other issues which are not within the scope of this troubleshooting.

  • Is it detected in Disk Management?
    If detected, try to assign drive letter.

  • Is it detected in Device Manager?
    If detected, try to update firmware.

  1. Basic troubleshooting.
  • Try different USB cable?
    If it is on USB 3.0, try cable with USB 2.0.

  • Try different USB port?
    If using desktop, connect to the USB port at the rear instead of the front.
    May try to troubleshoot USB port issue: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/165554-usb-driver-general-fix-problems.html

  • Try different power adapter? (make sure it has the same voltage as original power adapter)

  • Try connect the power adapter direct to the wall power socket instead of power extension / hub.

  • Try different laptop / desktop?

  • Try different OS?

  1. Advanced troubleshooting. (Attention: Requires removing the HDD from the casing which will void the warranty!)
  • Connect the HDD (without the bridge board attached) to computer by via USB-to-SATA cable.
    If detected in Device Manager, check if it display the correct HDD model.
    Sometimes it detected the bridge board in the USB-to-SATA cable instead of the HDD.
    If not detected, it could be PCB or internal HDD issue.

  • Connect the HDD (without the bridge board attached) to motherboard by via SATA port.
    If detected, the HDD is fine. Otherwise, it could be PCB or internal HDD issue.
    To fix the PCB, you will have to find the exact model number and do a swap.
    In addition, need to do a ROM transfer as well (requires soldering).
    There are many sources (and youtube video) which discuss about PCB replacement.
    Besides replacing the PCB, there have been cases whereby PCB issues are caused by oxidisation.
    Refer to http://malthus.zapto.org/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=649&p=3971&hilit=oxidisation#p3971 (thanks to fzabkar for sharing)

  • Connect the bridge board (without the HDD) to laptop by using the original cables.
    If detected, the bridge board is fine. Otherwise, it is faulty.
    I’m not sure how to fix the bridge board though.

Remember to:
Attach clear photo of the PCB board.
Attach clear photo of the bridge board (control board).
Attach clear recording of the HDD sounds when powering up.

================================

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the update… well it appears that this kind of problem was beyond normal user repair…

Good luck

DavidSucesso wrote:
Thanks for the update… well it appears that this kind of problem was beyond normal user repair…

Good luck

Yes David, unfortunately, it seems to be beyond my capability to repair it.