External USB Hard Drive Has 'Disappeared'

[rjbinney]

I have a Western Digital 1TB "My Book" external USB drive. It has "suddenly" stopped being recognized by either of my laptops running Win 7 (64). My Western Digital 80GB My Book, Western Digital 160GB My Book, and iomega 500GB portable USB drives are all recognized on both machines.

The Western Digital drives have been in the exact same place, using the exact same cables, for over a year.

Last Monday was the last time the drive worked correctly; I did not attempt using it again until yesterday. I installed the 1TB drive in November of 2011; the others are several years older.

I have rebooted the laptops and tried, I have power-cycled the drive, I have deleted all instances of USB Roots and Hubs in the Device Manager.

The drive does NOT appear in Disk Management when I right-click on My Computer and select "Manage".

I had previously assigned it a drive letter of "T" in Disk Manager. Last night, after it had been plugged in to my laptop and not showing in Windows Explorer, I unplugged it (to try another USB port); my screen flashed a message - this is not a direct quote - but that the drive in "T" needed to be formatted. (This is interesting to me, becuase from that I infer that a) It recognizes that SOMETHING is plugged in, and 2) that something OUGHT to be the T-drive.)

I've read other forums and posts that suggest cabling issues as the cause - either the cable is too long to carry a signal, or it needs a power boost. But, in either of those cases, it does not explain (to me) why the HD would run fine for nearly 18 and suddenly be kaput. It has a  I'd be happy to buy one, if I thought it might help! (Additionally, it has a funny-looking adapter. I put a picture at the bottom that shows what I believe is the USB connection at the drive. In other words, I don't have any other cables that match that, to even attempt a swap).

This drive is the backup of my backups; as such, there is data on here that I am concerned about losing.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Geek-9pm]

rjbinney, What h appended to you is not as rare as you might thin k.
All of what you did was the sort of thing an experienced hard drive specialist would also try. At this point you can conclude  the drive has failed. Or the electronics are unstable. Either way, you don't want to use it unless the problem can be duly and  truly l resolved. Intermittent operation is not acceptable.

What you can try. Remove the drive from nits enclosure and try it in another generic enclosure that has been proven reliable. Such are available for about $25 with power supply. That will prove if it is the drive or recluse electronics and power supply. Statistically, 1 TB drives fail more  often than t the electronics. But not by a large amount.

The mere fact that windows said it was not formatted does not prove anything. Windows does not do extensive diagnostics. You have to test the drive with another enclosure to be sure. Or Soave it to a desktop computer as a secondary drive. If the drive is OK, you will get your date back.

[rjbinney]

None of that sounds good!

I'm not at home right now, so I can't try til this weekend, but I have a IDE/SATA adapter. If I pop open the enclosure of the WD drive, will I be able to use this to connect it?




Why do 1TB drives fail more?

[patio]

Chances are if it's a 1TB HDD once it's out of the enclosure it'll have a standard SATA connector...

NOTE: You should be aware removing it from the enclosure will probably Void your WD warranty...
P.S. I'd personally connect it internally as opposed to via USB if data retrieval is the goal...just my preference.

[rjbinney]

P.S. I'd personally connect it internally as opposed to via USB if data retrieval is the goal...just my preference.

I only have laptops, so I'm not certain that is an option?

[patio]

In that case...no...it's not an option.
However it was just a suggestion.

[rjbinney]

OK.

I will report back when I have success!

Thanks

[patio]

I like that positive attitude ...

[rjbinney]

So this is interesting.

I got home this afternoon, rebooted my laptop, plugged it in - nothing. Although I could have sworn I heard the HD spin up (my WD drives are all secured, under out of sight). But, still, nothing.

So I crawled around, pulled the cables, and moved the laptop and the hard drive to a different physical electrical circuit in the house. And it mounted the drive perfectly.

This makes absolutely no sense to me - the number of items that are on the "bad" circuit have not changed since I added a printer (which is mostly idle) last August.

What I think I will do is, buy another drive, and copy this one over, and get on with my life.

That said, I could really use over 500GB of storage - is there a make/model that anyone recommends? Until last weekend, I've always been happy with the MyBooks.

rjb

[patio]

I tend to buy my own enclosures and select the HDD's myself.
2 things i look for in enclosures are A/C power is a must...can't always trust the USB ports on some PC's to not go flakey...and versatility.
The Buffalo unit i have will accomodate all 4 HDD style/sizes and also has a switchable cooling fan.
It has been bulletproof for about 4 years now...even with continious opening up and swapping multiple HDD's into.
If you do in fact select another MyBook don't install the software to the drive...just use it bare.

[rjbinney]

I tend to buy my own enclosures and select the HDD's myself.

I think that's beyond my skill set.

If you do in fact select another MyBook don't install the software to the drive...just use it bare.

That is exactly in my skill set.

I've never installed their S/W, I always just let Windows handle.

Thanks for all yall's help.

[rjbinney]

Are you saying you buy something like this:




and put it in something like this:

?

Is it really that simple?

[patio]

Yes...
The good enclosures have a cooling fan...and mine is fairley easy to open and close...4 phillips head screws under the base.

[rjbinney]

And the enclosure typically has all the connecting wires, fittings, tubes, joint compounds, and starting fluids?


Do I care about 2.5" or 3.5?

[patio]

Good enclosures include what you need...minus starting fluid of course...

2.5" or 3.5" is a matter of personal preferance.