WD Elements drive has stopped working

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

Hi,
My Elements drive has suddenly stopped being recognized by my laptop. I can no longer access my files. I am a photographer with client work on the drive and have not had a chance to back up to another drive. How can I access my files without the risk of losing these important files?

2

@gregandkev There could be a few reasons why the drive is not showing up under Computer. The drive itself could have failed, the partition on the drive may be damaged, the data cable may no longer be good, or the drive may no longer be getting enough power to fully spin up.

Please refer to the KBA below: Error

3

I suggest you to try the below solutions & check if that works:

  1. Plug the drive into another USB port
  2. Change USB cable
  3. Change drive letter
  4. Reinstall USB controller
  5. Update WD device driver
  6. Run anti-virus software
4

Hi,

Please share your drive status in disk management. Is it visible there?

5

Hi Lizzy1,

Here’s what shows in Disk Mgmt.

Screen Shot 2021-07-13 at 2.58.13 PM
Screen Shot 2021-07-13 at 2.58.13 PM2188Ă—1066 184 KB

When I connect the drive, I hear some clicks, the light comes on to show that it’s receiving power but it doesn’t show up in finder. I clicked on repair and it immediately said it was done but it still doesn’t connect.

Kevin.

7

You have absolutely no clue what you are talking about and should stop giving horrible and spamming for Stellar.

The drive is showing 0MB is because the drive is unable to load its firmware, either because of firmware damage, head damage and/or surface damage. If the data is valuable to the user, which is implied in the OP, they had better seek professional data recovery assistance before further damage is caused.

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8

@RecoveryForce: correct !!

Only try the device on a second computer if it doesn’t work…

Myself (professional) opened a few devices in the past, but that’s nothing for normal people.
And i replaced USB Controllers and so on… But you should KNOW what you are doing.
For example: A youtube video is no help in that situation and you can broke the device totally.

Btw.:
My new! bought elements makes sounds, which indicates trying to read sectors or repair actions.
And if something unnormal happens, always replace device and save your data twice.

9

I run a clean room and change heads all day long. It is bad enough to have to tell a person that their data is not recoverable because of an unexpected head crash. But, to have to tell them that it is not recoverable because of the damage caused by the actions they took following the advice of spammers on forums is infuriating.

1 Like