I have a 1TB WD elements external harddrive. I think I bought it in 2010, but it has only been used for about two months of that time. I used it in March and it worked fine. Now it’s garbage and has sustained no damage. As soon as I plug it in it bogs down my computer and starts to cause other programs to go ‘not responding’. I can usually use it for about 30 seconds or so and then it either causes my computer to freeze or gives me an ‘io error’ message. Even when it is working it trasfers so slow I can no longer watch the videos on it that it used to display (Behavioural videos of Eastern Kingbirds, not **bleep** like you probably assumed). It seems like somehow connecting the drive absorbs all my CPU’s capacity even though I have a strong processor and this never used to happen. I contacted WD and basically they just told me to buy a new one.
First, does anyone have any ideas for what is wrong with it or how to fix it?
Second, if not, is there at least a way to get my data off the drive, my thesis requires it?
Third, don’t buy WD. This drive is practically new and totally garbage now. I just ordered a new Toshiba drive and I just hope there is a way to get my data onto it. I have an old Gateway harddrive that I took out of an old laptop and it is still going strong about 8 years later.