I can’t get it to be seen in BIOS in any computer. The drive spins up but nobody is home. I suspect that the board on the drive is bad. Is it possible to get another controler board put on the drive so that I can get the data off? Is there a way I can oder the part for this drive?
Hi. I am a newby on this site as well.
I put a post on about a drive of mine dropping off line last week! Also not visible on Device manager.
There have been 59 reads but no replies…
I took the drive out and put it on a USB connection on another pc and it worked for hours allowing me to extract the data to my other 500g drive (also WD).
I had it flat on the desk and remembered the mediapc had the drive on its edge so I put the suspect drive on its edge and it still ran ok for hours.
I have returned it to my mediapc and now need to test it again…
Let me know how you get on…
Stewpot47
I’ll be giving it a shot tonight.
meh still dead, spins but thats it. I’m betting that the board on the drive has gone bad. Does anyone know if it can be replaced?
The rule of thumb appears to be that, if a drive spins up but is not detected, or if it tries to spin up, then the board is probably OK. Instead the problem is most likely with the head/disc assembly (HDA).
If, OTOH, the drive makes no noise at all, and does not attempt to spin up, then the board is probably faulty.
well that ■■■■■ for me then.
Is there any thing out there I can use to recover the data? Or have a shot at it other than spending hundreds to send it off to On-Track?
Try MHDD:
http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/
MHDD doesn’t use BIOS to access a drive. However, it is a diagnostic, not a data recovery tool.
You could also check for oxidised contacts at the preamp connector. These can be cleaned by rubbing them gently with a soft white pencil eraser. If you upload detailed photos of both sides of the board, one of us will be able to identify the connector for you.
This article may also help with identification:
http://hddscan.com/doc/HDD_from_inside.html
It is a SATA drive. No corrosion or anything like that. Its just not finding the drive. Wish I could just get the data off. But at the same time I can’t spend the money to get it professionally done.
