WD Elements 1.5 TB External hard drive BLINKING LIGHT Problem - FIXED!

[diemodern]

I am so sick of this .... anyways - my 1.5 TB WD Elements drive starts blinking and won't show up.

It's great that WD will replace the drive - but how about the reason I bought the bloody drive in the first place TO BACKUP DATA!!!!

Anyways - crazy to think people have to pay thousands of dollars for data recovery.

I've been researching for days and trying to figure out how to get it to work -  I DID!!!  

I downloaded a program called Remo Recover - it was able to see my drive (it was still blinking non-stop) - I clicked on the recover files option and left it. When I came back a few hours later - my drive was on the desktop!!! 

Quickly started copying files to another back up disk. Remo is stil working in the backgroung - showing it had another 2 days of creating a tree from the lost files (it's already been at it for 16 hours - but I'm recovering 1.5 TB of data)

Anyways - hope this helps anyone out! it worked for me. GOODLUCK!

Bye bye WD - no more data for you!

[glebrok]

Just found this forum since I'm having basically same problems described. I have an older Elements ext HD, used it occasionally for years, and a couple months ago my Acer laptop, a new one, just died for no reason, had to do data recovery, worked for hours to recover everything I could and placed it on the Elements. Left it plugged into new laptop, no problems, now today it lights for 3 seconds and dies. Kept unplugging and plugging it, 3 seconds of light, then dies. Tried direct outlet like some members recommended, no help. Finally I resorted to semi-barbaric means, smacked the SOB lightly multiple times on a table, tried it and light started flashing, finally held and laptop recognized it. Although it was older it had VERY little use on it until 2 months ago. From what I read here even new ones are crashing. I'm storing it until I get another external HD and hopefully it will run then and I'll transfer everything. The fact that I could whack the thing and make it run means it is a physical problem with the HD. I don't think it was the connection to the HD as it seemed to be plugged in fully and there was no movement at the connection. And if I turned the HD upside down or sideways while I was performing whacking maneuvers, it would run intermittently. I'm thinking internal connection or the motor's starting to go, this being more likely.  Useful advice I found here is to back-up to 2 different sources. I'm getting 2 external HD's and doing just that. For everyone experiencing lost data here, don't give up. Your stuff's on there, you just have to get it back. Look for data recovery software, I used GetData but there are others out there, they're not cheap but worth it and the venture can be time consuming. Good luck!

[glebrok]

Remo's an excellent choice, I posted just after you with my woes concerning WD. I used GetData but used Remo on another recovery venture a while back, they have it so you can also run the  program from a USB drive, that's what I used. Anyway, on my post I said I would now back up to 2 externals, but I don't think I'll use WD. Take care.

[ShaneD]

Had the same issue with a WD Elements (USB Powered) drive.   Used EASEUS Partition Master (free for home use).

Tried NTFS format and this didn't work (it just hung, same as trying to use windows disk manager).

I then did a FAT32 format and this worked a treat.

I suspect doing an NTFS format now may work, but FAT32 will do for my purposes.

[mai6542]

I can't not believe that what is meant to be one of the leading brands and this is happening to sooooo many people.  I have had my portable hard drive and wall power external hard drive (which was my back up) go within two weeks of each other.  BOTH were WD. Will never buy WD again.  I have a WD media box too, I feel like throwing it in the bin.  I know how everyone feels, especially the people whom have lost photos as I have lost all of mine 

[LFolz]

Argg,

I got the blinking light of death today.  So sad, my music & photos on this WD HD.  I downloaded the trial Remo Recover - but I can't see the HD listed in the list of drives on my system.  I don't want to commit to the $50 if it's not going to work.  Any suggestions?

I have the 1TB and I purchased it less than a year ago.  Quite disappointed in its performance.

[SSalp]

tried it and because my drive is displayed with 0mb, remo recovery crashed xD

[royatl]

My 3TB Elements drive has been blinking like that for months but Windows 7 still sees it fine.  Once I access the drive, the LED stays lit for awhile.  I had assumed that the blinking (1 sec on, 1 sec off) was a standby or sleep indicator.

A 1.5TB Elements drive is right next to it.  It is about 3 years old and its LED is always steady on.

So am I correct in assuming that the blinking you all are talking about is the same as mine (1 sec on, 1 sec off) or is it faster?

[CaptainXtreme]

I had the same problem, i used "Get Data", it really works. At least enough to copy your stuff off your hard drive.

[seagateisbetter]

Hi, so I had this problem and now facing it again. The element 2tb just keeps blinking and wont recognize on my mac tower. So a while ago I was freaking out. I have 2 of the same kind so I thought it was the cable that was messing it up. Anyways, I just let it sit while the external was plugged into my mac tower. And 20 min or so it just popped and recognized it. I went and bought another external. This time seagate as opposed to wd. I am hoping that my computer will recognize it again and I can back everything to this new external. But I just wanted to share with everyone, perhaps leave your external plugged in to your computer for a long time. Try that... hope that helps someone. It worked for me. And Im hoping that it will work for me again. (had to restart my computer for the new external installation) now its not showing once again.