[URGENT] WD Elements 1 TB Desktop NOT DETECTED on any system

[kbidols]

Hi, I am a user of the WD Elements 1 TB Desktop. I’ve had the hard drive for about 2 years now and it seems to be working fine until 2 weeks ago it wouldn’t be detected anymore. This is only a backup drive so I only use it like once a month. I tried looking up online (even this official WD forum) but seems that no one has had the exact same problem as me. A lot of people are getting similar problems, but never the exact same one.

My drive are connected with the given cables. Original power and USB cable are used. I followed the instruction on the manual book on how to connect the drive properly to the computer. Yes, I did plug-in the USB cable first then the power cable. The drive light is blinking once and then stays ON forever. (see the picture)

The drive is also making the spinning noise (without any clicking noise) and I can actually feel it spinning.

Then I tried again plugging in and out the power and USB cable. Usually I plug it in the front USB port, and it will work. Not this time. Even I tried the rear port, still no luck. I also tried plugging it in on other PC’s and laptops, but still nothing is showing up on the computer. Not only that, plugging it in the USB hub also doesn’t make it work. (see picture)

I’m running on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200  @ 2.33GHz

4.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 400MHz  6-6-6-18

ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner)

I tried recovery through software such as Speccy (to see if it detects the drive), Recuva, Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows, EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional 5.0.1, EASEUS Partition Master 5.0.1 Professional Edition, but none of them can detect the drive.

I have 2 other 500 GB hard drives on my PC. Those are the ones that shows up on my PC. To make it clearer, I include these pictures:

MY COMPUTER: NOT THERE / NOT DETECTED

Drive C, D, and E are one disk drive. Drive F is one separated disk drive.

DISK MANAGEMENT: NOT DETECTED

DEVICE MANAGER: NOT DETECTED

Since it’s not detected on any of those windows, there is no sound or whatever when I plug the USB cable. Even through the Add a Device window in Control Panel, it failed to detect the drive.

Any help would be appreciated. The files inside are very-very important. I don’t have a backup of 50% of the data inside it.

Please respond / reply as soon as possible.

Thank you very much!

Regard.

[Alucardx23]

Hi, sorry to hear that, you can try using another USB cable or a compatible power supply. You can call tech support to see if they can get you a replacement, if that doesn’t work, then you will need to get the help of a data recovery company to recover your files. Check the link below to contact support and for the power supply specs.

http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?lang=en

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/search/1/a_id/1378/#elements

[HDDRS]

Your drive could have firmware problems that are preventing it from from giving access to user data. We see this symptoms a lot coming in for data recovery. There shouldn’t be any encryption on that drive, so you can eliminate potential USB bridge issues by pulling the drive out of the enclosure and hooking up as a secondary sata to your tower or use another (know to work properly) USB enclosure. If the drive still doesn’t mount then you would need to find a place that has some type of firmware manipulation equipment like PC3000.

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Relo List problem is a very common thing nowadays on WD drives.

[kbidols]

HDDRS wrote:

Your drive could have firmware problems that are preventing it from from giving access to user data. We see this symptoms a lot coming in for data recovery. There shouldn’t be any encryption on that drive, so you can eliminate potential USB bridge issues by pulling the drive out of the enclosure and hooking up as a secondary sata to your tower or use another (know to work properly) USB enclosure. If the drive still doesn’t mount then you would need to find a place that has some type of firmware manipulation equipment like PC3000.

Relo List problem is a very common thing nowadays on WD drives.

Yes, that is the last possible option that I thought would work. I have done that to many of my previous hard drives, but at first I didn’t want to do it on this hard drive.

[kbidols]

I just tried connecting it by opening the enclosure and use the USB to SATA / IDE cable. Things are getting worse. The drive is now stop spinning. I guess there is no luck then… Unless there is some sort of a miracle.

[superDas75]

**bleep** these drives are failing.

Any tricks in opening them?

[jkristjan]

Perhaps this helps:

I experienced EXACTLY the same issue (hp pavilion HPE Win7). I don’t know whether Windows update is to be blaimed for it or not, but suddenly at some point the HDD didn’t show up anymore (working fine before over 2 years). I tried to connect it with my old computer (Win XP). It didn’t work when the HDD was connected BEFORE the computer was turned on (the light stays ON), so I disconnected the power cord and USB and reconnected both again while PC was running - suddenly the light started to blink and the computer recognized the HDD. Next I tried it again with the current PC and it finally started to work.

I really hope that helps, though I honestly don’t know what is the problem. I think it hasn’t got anything to do with USB controller updates or using different USB cables, etc etc - as I’ve tried those all with no effect.