Computer Hope
Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: Eshlin on December 22, 2016, 03:05:53 PM
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Hi,
I am using a WD Elements 1042. I have had it for over a year and it is likely to be a few years old as I bought it second hand.
The hard drive works perfectly, however a few days ago it got damaged and the point on it which I connect the USB to has become faulty. As a result, I now have to wiggle it around to get it to power on.
The hard drive works perfectly once powered on with no glitches.
These are the questions which I have.
1. Will buying an external enclosure solve the problem?
2. Will a 2.5 inch external enclosure do the trick, will any brand be Ok? I was thinking of buying one of Ebay from China since it is much cheaper.
3. Is it Ok to use the external hard drive now? Its works fine when I wiggle it to power on?
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First thing I would do is pop the drive open and see what sort of hard drive you have inside, if it's a regular SATA hard drive then a third party enclosure of the correct size would certainly do the trick. However, I have a WD external drive where the USB connector is soldered directly to the hard drive itself (i.e. there are no SATA connectors on the drive) - If you have one of these you are basically out of luck beyond soldering a new connector on which isn't going to be particularly easy!
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Thank you for your response. I am a novice when I comes to handling a PC and tech related stuff. Do you know how I can open it safely. Also this is an older Hard drive. I believe from around 09-10. It does not even say WD on it. It just says Elements 1042 when I plug in. It also does not use a Usb connector but rathr the signature WD one.
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I can't seem to find much info on that model, may help if you could upload some photos of it.
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Ok, here are two pictures.
https://postimg.org/image/sq986kxqp/
https://postimg.org/image/ihvssfoov/
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Cool, on those ones the base is just clipped on so you should be able to carefully pry it off taking care not to snap the casing to get to the drive inside. The drive has a USB 3.0 port so is likely to be from 2011 onwards.
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I was talking to someone from Bleeping Computer who said it is likely to be soldered to the drivers PCB as it has a USB 3 port. Do you think it will be worth it to repair if I take it to a PC repair shop?
Also, do you think the hard drive will last as is? It works well, I just have to wiggle to power on.
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In my view if you have to "wiggle" the connector to get it to come alive this is unreliable hardware. It could get wiggled or moved or suddenly get worse during a data transfer and then you may have corrupted data or a trashed file system.
Youtube video
How to Open a Western Digital Elements External Hard Drive Enclosure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCS8ui-6WZY
From the comments
I had the blinking light problem, drive not being recognized. I opened the case (prior to seeing this video!) and removed the drive. Only two screws need to be removed to detach the small circuit board - the ones that are closer to the middle of the drive. Once that is done the drive can be easily inserted into an external drive dock such as the iDsonix iDD-U3102 2.5" / 3.5" SATA Docking Station (about $23). Or it can be installed in a desktop computer. The power supply/USB interface (the little green circuit board) seems to be a problem with this external drive. If the drive is otherwise working, the data on the drive can be recovered in the manner suggested here. It's much cheaper than sending it to a recovery lab! Thanks for posting this video.
Another video shows removal of USB logic board
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwQu37T1a50
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His looks like the WD Elements portable drive (2.5") whereas the video shows the Elements desktop drive (3.5").
I have an older Elements portable USB 2.0. Recently had a SMART failure of a WD Passport which has no SATA adapter. The Seagate equivalent uses an adapter module which makes the case a little bit longer.
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It does not even say WD on it.
One of your photos clearly shows the WD logo.
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One of your photos clearly shows the WD logo.
Do you think it is repairable?