About 3 weeks ago I purchased a WD_Black 4TB HDD from Amazon. As soon as I got it I connected it to my file PC (Gigabyte B450M) and noticed that while it did show up in the Disk Manager, I could not initialize it to either GPT or MBR. When I went looking for it within UEFI, all my other drives were listed except that one. Odd because it did show up in Windows but not UEFI. Thinking it may have been an Amazon issue, I opened up an RMA with WD. The logic here was that if Amazon sent me an HDD in a plastic bag once, who was to say they wouldn’t keep doing it regardless of what I put down in the note(s) section.
3 weeks have gone by and today my replacement came in. New, sealed and the SN is even different. I plugged it in again but this time not using the SATA cables that came with the board but rather some new ones I just purchased from Monoprice. I even went to far as to use a new SATA power cable that I tested previously on other drives and found to be in working condition. As soon as I booted into UEFI I was greeted with the same thing. All other drives are present but not the WD_Black.
I proceeded into Windows and again; shows up in disk manager but it will not initialize due to an I/O error. Booted into Manjaro and the same happened there. I then tired using an external SATA to USB caddy and I got more of the same. Initializing it in Windows this time said “the device is not ready” and refuses to go any further.
At this point I took it out and put it into my main pc (Gigabyte B550I) and still nothing. It does not show up in UEFI and will not initialize within Windows. What exactly am I doing wrong? Is this drive also damaged? Did I get the same one back but with a different SN sticker? Any help that could be provided sure would be appreciated.
After looking into it, I can’t help but wonder if I got another faulty drive or if this is PUIS / PM2 related. I will look into it tomorrow a bit more while I wait for someone to get back to me.
Oh and, Keerti_01, I did open a support case. I also tried to call the two North American phone numbers provided on the WD site. What I found was that calling is a complete waste of time. After waiting in line for a few minutes - I was put in contact with an Indian man who had an unintelligible accent. Not only did he speak a mile a minute but his reception was equally awful. He would ask a question one minute, put me on hold for two until I started to speak again to make sure he didn’t hang up. Oh and… wouldn’t you know it! After he asked me for my name and product serial number, he told me to please hold. I waited for him for approximately 30 minutes total before he eventually hung up on me.
Hi @renemauricio,
Have you opened a Support Case? If not opened, for more information, please contact the WD Technical Support team for the best assistance and troubleshooting:
https://support-en.wd.com/app/ask
As I mentioned before; I did open a case. I was contacted by someone named “Emma”. Emma told me to go ahead and file for a new RMA and that I would get a pre-paid label for my inconvenience. I did as I was told and then emailed Emma back to inquire about that promised label.
Just now I got another email. This time from someone named “Nidhi”. Saying that the last email I sent was to request an update to my warranty. What does that even mean? No label has been provided and am now really confused.
I can relate a lot to this post and am having this same issue with a WD Gold 4TB, purchased direct from WD. It’s actually a replacement one that died after just a few weeks. I too wonder if they have just sent the same one back with a different sticker on.
I can’t get it to initialise either via SATA or USB caddy. I’m getting the same messages as you and it beeps 2 or 3 times on startup. Literally nothing I have tried will activate this HDD, so I am assuming it is dead.
I was never sent a pre-paid label to send back my last dead unit. I also find the packaging woefully inadequate but yet WD want you to make it near bomb proof on return in order to qualify for an RMA
