Hey, I have the 2TB WD Elements external drive. I’ll provide all the numbers to it and such.
I really like my drive, but all of a sudden it doesn’t work properly for me. Sometimes it does recognizes but it takes a very long time to come up. Sometimes it doesn’t even recognize at all where there won’t even be any yellow marks in Device Manager. Other times I’ll get the below message that says:
One of your USB devices attached to your computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.
I also done a Gutmann Wipe 35 pass on my internal drive because I thought my drivers was messed up, or I thought something in the registry but I was wrong.
I tried to do a full format on the WD external drive, it went on for an excessive period of time then I got message saying unable to complete the format because it finally got recognized.
No other formatting or zero wiping tools is recognizing it so my choices are very limited.
I don’t have another USB cable to try.
The P/N for the elements is WDBAAU0020HBK-01
The S/N for the elements is [Deleted]
Could someone help me by replying to this thread ASAP?
Thank you,
Hello,
Below you will find some basic troubleshooting steps.
1- Connecting the power adapter to the wall directly.
2- If the computer is a desktop, connect it on the back USB port and use another USB cable if possible (directly to the PC, not through a hub).
3- Make sure you hear the connection sound windows makes when recognizes a USB device.
4- Go to "Disk Management” to verify if the drive shows up there.
If the drive shows up in disk management but it is not seen on Computer, then it means the partition is corrupted and you will have to format it in order to use it again. Please note that formatting the drive will delete all data stored on it.
Hello,
Right now I got the formatting started in Disk Management finally. I did not try plugging it into the wall directly yet because I am going to wait until the formatting is complete. I don’t use any hubs and I don’t own any. I always plugged them in the front.
I don’t have any USB cables to try. I live in Pennsylvania in the USA. So, would my local Radio Shack carry the USB cable I need? And what exact cable do I ask for that goes from my hard drive to my PC, like from what to what? I don’t know what cable I’ll be asking for.
Thank you for your help. I’ll let you know if this works or doesn’t work.
