HELP! Power light ON but drive not spinning/working

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

I have a My Book Essential 1.5 T drive that is less than one month old.  

I did bring the drive on an airplane in carry-on thru security and it worked when I got to my destination but did not work when i got BACK.  I am unsure if it could have been jostled around too much.

The problem is that when I plug it in, the light is ON but the drive is not “working”, not spinning,  nothing is happening.  The computer also does not recognize that it is there.  I also noticed that the power button on the back does not work (as in wont turn it off when its plugged in; but im unsure if it was working or not before)

Please help!!  I have over 10,000 pictures and many more music files on this drive that it is not an option to lose.  Does this sound like a “hard drive” problem that will cost me lots of $ to recover the files, or does it sound more like an electronics problem??  Thank you!

2

Can you hear or feel the drive trying to spin up? If not, then the problem is most likely electronic, either in the USB-SATA bridge board, or in the HD’s PCB.

If your data are more important than your warranty, then remove the drive from the enclosure and install it in another enclosure, or attach it directly to your motherboard.

Hopefully there will be no problem with encryption, assuming the drive spins up.

If the problem is in the HD’s PCB, then there may be a simple DIY fix, depending on the fault.

Good luck.