Problem Detecting External HDD

[Michael]

I have an old WD My Book external HDD which will take very long time to get detected and running.

While it is being detected, there is some sound from the HDD. You can watch the recorded sound here https://youtu.be/ud1E1Dgokr8.

Sometimes when I go to Disk Management to have a look, I will get a prompts saying that the disk is not initiated, and ask me to choose either the MBR or GPT partitioning. Choosing either one will get an I/O error.

I have diagnosed the disk with both Data LifeGuard and CrystalDiskInfo, both do not detect any problem with the disk.

I will have to turn off the disk and on again multiple times to get the disk detected and running. And when it runs, it's working fine most of the time, except that if I did not access the drive for a prolong period of time (eg few hours), it will take a few minutes to be able to access it again.

[Lisa_maree]

Hi

It sounds like it is not getting enough power. The WD power supplies sometimes fail with low output voltage. You can use any supply which is 12v at more than 1.5 amps with a connector which is positive center also it needs to fit.
The MYBooks go into sleep mode after 5 minutes and if the power supply is weak will not restart reliably.
   

[Michael]

Hi Lisa, I replace the adapter with one from another older, malfunction external HDD, and no more problem!

Thank you very much!