siavash_8

i have this 250 gb WD external hd which turns on but its not being recognize by my pc nor laptop and now it keeps beeping ...it happened this morning ...

linderman

most likely you have a bad external enclosure


you can check by removing the drive from the enclosure and connecting it a desktop machine internally ......... but if there are warranty seals on the enclosure ..... dont do this .......... RMA the unit to the drive manuf

drkknght

I'm having a similar problem so instead of starting a new topic I would like to post my situation (hopefully you dont mind saivash_8). I have 500GB WD and yesterday it just stopped being recognized by my laptop. Now it could have been caused when I stepped on its end and it banged on the swivel chair legs or it could be because my laptop shut off while the drive was still plugged in.
When I plugged the drive in I got a pop up on the bottom saying that new hardware was found. I clicked on My Computer and to my horror the drive was'nt there. So this is what happens:
When I plug the power cord to the drive it sounds like its starting up and it spins, there is a little clicking noise and I hoping its not the dreaded WD click of death, it spins for less than a minute and then the spinning stops and the drive doesnt make any noise at but the light stays green though. When I plug the USB to the computer there is no spinning, no clicking, no noise but the computer recognizes it as "USB Mass storage device". When I remove the USB or the power cord the drive makes the same spinning sound with a little clicking and then powers down.
When I right click on My Computer > Manage > Disk Management I dont find the External HDD. When I go into Device Manager and Disk Drives I see my computer Hard drive and WD. I right click on WD and in the Device Status box it says that its working properly. And I look in Universal Serial Bus Controllers i can see the USB Mass Storage device and appartently it too is working properly.
Sorry if this post is a little too long but I just wanted to give you all the details. I dont think its the enclousre and I've tried hooking it up to my desktop and it too cant recognize my HD. So am I boned or is there hope for my data?

drkknght

So I downloaded a WD Diagnostic tool, Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows, and when i ran it it these were the results:

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number:
Unit Serial Number:
Firmware Number:
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 11-Cable Test::Read diagnostics sector error!
Test Time: 04:05:06, December 01, 2008

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number:
Unit Serial Number:
Firmware Number:
Capacity: 0.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 11-Cable Test::Read diagnostics sector error!
Test Time: 04:05:22, December 01, 2008

I have two other WD hard drives and the power/usb cable are fine. I also tried the 'Have you "lost" your drive' method as described in the stickey and here are the results.

This is step B

This is what i get when i get to step E

So when i get to step F and type "N" and then enter.................

.................it goes into this scan which takes a very very very long time. I have just stopeed it after waiting for it since my last post, should i let it go through and post the results or can my problem be solved by other means?

Thanks a lot for reading and i really appreciate any help.

linderman

I believe your partition is knackered or MFT


try running the trial version of Partition Table Doctor and see if that software reports any such errors ....... the trial version wont be able to fix them (for that you have to pay) but atleast it may give you some insight

drkknght

Thanks for replying Linderman so i downloaded partition table doctor and when i started the program i got the following warning:

Warning! Harddisk 2 Heads is 1, Sectors is 1. If PTD cannot find correct partition for you, you may try to access the CMOS setup program and change the LBA mode setting on harddisk2 to one of the following modes, and then run PTD to recover partition.

(1)Auto mode (2)LBA mode (3)Large mode (4)CHS mode

So I clicked ok and go the following error

Error: Cannot read from MBR on harddisk2


When i choose harddisk2 this is the screen i get


And when i rebuild partition table

cjayrc

This is pretty much the same exact problem I'm having. All the same errors and every program that does scan takes an enormously long time (2 days to scan 100 MB of a 750 GB Western Digital)

Can anyone please help, I'll even donate 20 bucks to a paypal account if I get a fix for this, I need the data on the drive its so important (work,school,research).

linderman

@ Cjayrc ....... I realize the temptation to jump in on similar threads but please it makes it very difficult for use to render specific solutions to specific posters. In your case I suggest you run the trial version of "get data back" to verify if you can "see" your drives data ........ if you can, recovery of data is possible

@ Drkknght ........ Try booting into the windows XP CD ....... then enter the Recovery console ...... from there try to rebuild your MBR

depending on your experience with the recovery console, you may need to review "how to use Win XP recovery console"

keep us posted ....... if you are unable to rebuild the MBR ....... you may have to try wiping the drive completely .......... do you have data on this drive which you must restore ?

linderman

I suspect if PTD cant rebuild your MBR ....... its quite possible the recovery console cant either ....... but you have to exaust all options

another option would be to remove the external drive from its enclosure ....... then connect it to a desktop computer as a slave ...... then try the MBR rebuild

I would not do this is the enclosure has a warranty seal in effect !

cjayrc

Sorry about that, I'm just desperate.

linderman

Cjayrc we are just as eager to help you also ................... simply start your own thread and you will receive assistance quickly!


best regards


joe

drkknght

Thanks for all your responses linderman.
I have absolutely no experience with xp recovery console so i will find out how to do that. I do have data on this drive and i'd rather save/recover the data than save the drive. So if its the MBR issue will trying to rebulid it make me lose the data? I have already removed the enclosure so no worries about voiding the warranty but how would i hook it up as a slave to my desktop?

linderman

what kind of drive is yours ........... please give us a model number and we can proceed with recovering your data

linderman

rebuilding the MBR will not hurt your data

linderman

may not have to do anthing ?????? we need to connect to your desktop and then go from there