Hi, Well I have this drive which I am quiet frustrated upon as I have replaced it once before and it developed the same problems. Here is the history:-
I bought one on 1st Dec and found its cable to be loose at the USB side.
Worked fine but sometimes the cable had to be wrapped around in a particular way.
Dec 10, one of the partitions go down and become irrecoverable, device I/O errors.
Dec 19, sent for RMA, after recommendation of Technical rep at WD.
Got this drive on 25th Jan, a week late, a slightly newer model with an even worse cable problem! seriously what are you people planning to do?
The new cable now is loose on both ends and the HDD can’t be connected normally.
The mini connector side in fact only connects at a certain angle. The USB side gets unconnected with the slightest of touches.
Anyhow taped the cable and got it working. Just saw people with similar problems on the internet, with no luck after RMA even.
And today I got an I/O error, though I was getting CRC errors for some time now. 100GB still remains untouched!
Now the Lifeguard Diagnostics confirmed the bad sectors as being too many to recover from…
I have already lost much of my work data which was on backup in it as I was doing a complete refresh of my PC before the floods hit and I was forced to go back to my hometown…
So should I go for RMA (if the cable issues are just a coincidence) or buy a new one of alternative company?
Yeah may be i’ll do just that… As it just died a whle ago and all partition softwares I tried gave it a “Bad” moniker. Though the diagnostic software acesses it perfectly!
I lost all my data, that is what is getting me depressed, I have to rebuild all the DBs again… I had always recommended WD to others also!
You bought it in December. It has a two-year warranty. You replaced it once and are having the same issues. SO? If you plan or replacing the drive with another brand, why not take advantage of the warranty? Get them to replace the drive and take note there has been a slight redesign of this model since you bought your original. Replace the cable is a given – it’s the common item between the two drive you have dealt with thus far. Unless WD sent you a fully packaged replacement with a new cable, why not change it out? It’s not a long-shot that it could be cable related.
Disconnecting the drive — utilize Windows to make the drive safe for removal / disconnect. It takes SECONDS and will protect data. Folks say ut is not required, but it is a wise thing to do anyway. They would not suggest utilizing the disconnect safety program if it had no purpose. All it take is one momentary glitch when pulling the cable and the data can be corrupted. The loose cable on your computer USB port? Have you tried another cable on the same port to see if just possibly it is the computer USB port and NOT the cable? Easy to check – or use another USB port is available. Assuming it is the WD Drive or WD supplied cable does nothing; test it out to make certain the problem does not lie elsewhere.
Lastly — I have six of these drives — all purchased between April 1, 2010 and August 1, 2010 — ALL CABLE CONNECTIONS are positive and remain so both at the computer and on the drives. Absolutely NO issue with the connections or data retention / retrieval. They are connected / disconnected a minimum of 12 times per day and I have yet to have ANY data issues which I believe is because I follow protocol when disconnecting. Aftermarket cables are available and are a definite upgrade from the ones provided by WD. The average user should be OK with the ones supplied.
Don’t just dump a drive that is under warranty! Get it replaced, hook it up with a known good USB cable and leave it connected if you have already bought another. Having it continually connected causes no harm, provides a great quick storage place for info you do not want on your main HD and it gets you value for the money you already spent when initially purchased. Just dumping it is like throwing the money in the street.
If you really hate it ---- do not plan on using it — get it replaced by WD with a new one and I’ll buy the replacement from you at a negotiated and fair price. I KNOW they work on my system and have no reservations on adding yet another if the “deal” is right. Think it over – it’s money in your pocket. Nothing to lose, I’ll even send a pre-paid shipping box so all you have to do is place the packaged drive in the box after wrapping it in the provided bubble wrap and deposit it at the local post office. Can’t make it much easier than that i don’t believe.
Take care!
John
E-MAIL … WOODEN41373@MYPACKS.NET … if you are interested.
SmokeJumper is absolutely right. The other thing you can do is check Disk Management. If the drive shows up in there, then most likely you just corrupted the partition. I would definitely change the cable, it may have been just a bad one, and then repartition and format the drive. Contact WD either by phone or email and see what they say about it.
