Can't access MBL after a fall from 2 ft hight

WD Legacy Products My Book Live
1

Hi,

I am stuck with big trouble here. I have been using MyBook Live (2TB) from last two years with no trouble. Couple of days ago, my son was moving some stuff and accidently he dropped the drive on floor from about 2 ft. Drive was ON at that time. Drive went off the network. I tried to reset (from back button - 4 sec) and restart the computer etc… basically I tried all the options that I could find out in forums, but nothing has worked. I am not able to see the drive on the network. 

I have lot of data on that drive, I need to get to that somehow, before i can writeoff the drive. Somebody please help. I have tried following options already.

  1. Reset 4 Sec

  2. Reset and boot computer

  3. Try different cables

  4. Try directly connecting with computer (Ethernet connection)

  5. Tried to detect with Smartware software.

  6. Tried to read from R-Linux utilities.

Nothing worked so far.

I really appreciate any help to get it connected or read the partition somehow to recover data.

Thanks in advance.

2
  1. Is the MBL powering up once connected to the mains

 - what is the colour of LED light you get (blue/yellow/white?) (is MBL dead or alive)

  1. Is the drive spinning up after powering up/any weird noises coming from the hard drive? (is the hard drive dead or alive)

  2. Re. 5 and 6 - assuming you have taken the disk out of MBL enclosure and hooked it up to the PC - can you see the drive in R-Linux/Linux Reader/UFS Explorer tools ?  (for any “home” data recovery you have to be able to detect the drive).

Let us know.

3

It does power up and there is normal spinning sound.

No weird sound. Drive is spinning.

There is a green solid light that sometimes turns into orange solid light.

If i disconnect Ethernet line and connect again it changes to green again.

Drive is not dead, it does start spinning when power is connected.

I hooked it up with PC via Ethernet connection. 

None of R-Linux or any other tool were able to detect the drive. They detect my computer drives but could not find this drive.

Thanks and I apprecaite all the help.

4

Sorry, front panel light is RED. I was looking at the back Ethernet light.

5

Check manual for LED status:

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/?id=230&type=25

But if you already removed the drive and failed to be detected by R-Linux, You might just have a dead hard drive.

I also strongly recommend you read this article carefully…

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-33088_39-57556308/digital-storage-basics-part-3-backup-vs-redundancy/

But just in case…

Home users might not need redundancy but they definitely need backup, which basically means keeping separate copies of data in multiple places so that if something happens to one place you can turn to another. The more copies of data you have, the safer it is.

6

Is there anything that i can do when the light is red, or I will have to take it to the service center?

7

@Najam

If the MBL is hooked to the PC via Ethernet cable - R-Linux or other tools will not detect it (unless I am totally wrong here).
You have to take the disk drive out and hook it up to the PC using SATA cable. (which would be the best option to check the SMART status of the drive  - see if it has been damaged, etc).
If you are not comfortable doing so - reach out for help from some the service center - or RMA it.

Front Red light  - yes, it means “bad” things have happened to the drive…but it may be just OS that’s gone bonkers or controller on the MBL - in which case - RMA is the best option.

8

If you have warranty and do not care about the data, get a replacement.

If you don’t want to go that route, the first thing is, you need to find out if you have software or hardware issue.

Also check this see if it helps you.

http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Book-Live/GUIDE-How-to-unbrick-a-totally-dead-MBL/td-p/435724

9

Thank you so much. I had to open and put it in my Computer and then using R-utilities helped it identify. I am able to recover all my data. Thanks for all the help. 

It had some root files curuppted that’s why it did not recognize the drive on the network.