Issues with My Book Premium in Vista

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

Hi, I’m currently trying to run my 320GB My Book Premium HD (WD3200D032-000) on my home computer, which runs on Vista Home Premium 32bit.  As of right now the drive is not being recognized whatsoever by the computer.  Also, the front lights are not turning on either.  I can definitely hear the drive running thoughh.  The drive used to run just fine on my old computer which ran Windows XP.  Here are things I’ve tried so far:

  1. Plug in HD to power, plug into computer via usb

I didn’t get any indication that the drive was recognized, did not show up in My Computer, Device Manager, or Disk Management.

  1. Installed usb driver from WD support page, repeated everything I tried the first time and still the same result.

  2. Installed firewire driver from WD support page, same result.

  3. Tried doing 1-2 on my Laptop which runs Windows 7 to see if it was and issue with Vista and still no luck.

Does anyone have any other ideas for what the issue could be?  I do not believe it is an issue with the drive because it worked perfectly fine ~1 year ago when I tried it on my old computer and I can hear the thing running.

2

Hello,

Based on the information you have provided I believe this drive has failed. I recommend that you try on another computer just for troubleshooting purposes. But if you feel the drive spinning and the light is not turning on then I think is time to get it replaced. If the drive is still under warranty check the link below to get information on how to get it replaced.

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

3

Thanks for responding to me, I really appreciate it.  Can you elaborate on why and what exactly about the drive has failed?  Since it’s spinning, I imagine it isn’t completely dead.