MyBook isnt accessible

[walkities]

You have to forgive me as this isnt my mybook as Im trying to figure it out for a friend.

It seems he cant see the hard drive in Windows.  The Virtual CD seems to register and show up in windows explorer and it sounds like the Hard Drive is listed in the Device Manager but he cant access it or see the hard drive partition in Windows Explorer.

As I'm very unfamiliar with the mybook is there anything I can do to trigger it to show up again?

[Bill_S]

---

walkities wrote:

You have to forgive me as this isnt my mybook as Im trying to figure it out for a friend.

It seems he cant see the hard drive in Windows.  The Virtual CD seems to register and show up in windows explorer and it sounds like the Hard Drive is listed in the Device Manager but he cant access it or see the hard drive partition in Windows Explorer.

As I'm very unfamiliar with the mybook is there anything I can do to trigger it to show up again?

---

Does it show up in Disk Management?

[chrisnadeau]

I have the same problem. It shows up in device manager but nowhere else so it is impossible to save anything to it. I am using windows xp pro

[Joe_S]

Fisrt try some other USB ports and make sure the cable is seated. Something strange that just turned up on powered drives is turning the plug 180 deg in outlet. See if either of those help.

[aliv4488]

Good tips Joe but I'm afraid I just got the same problem today. Lights are on but nobody's home. I briefly got one start up sound coming from inside the Book, but that is all. Now, I'll plug it in and get no sound, just lights that blink.

Even more important of a question, if in fact it is "broken", is it possible to recover the data?

Thanks,

Alex

[Joe_S]

Is this a powered or USB powered drive? They make a power booster cable that uses 2 USB ports on PC. If it's still under warranty you can contact customer service and they will probably send you a new power supply. Does the drive show up in disk manager or device manager? The data may be recoverable but if you open the drive without premission you void the warranty. It sounds more like a power issue than corruption. I know the thing about turning the power plug sounds stupid and shouldn't make any difference but it does sometimes. Somebody stumbled on this last week and there were several more posts where it worked.

[aliv4488]

It's USB powered. I purchased it in April/May of 2009 so I don't believe it is under warranty. It shows up on disk manager and device manager as My Book and WD respectively. I hit Troubleshoot last night to diagnose it and two errors came up, one for the USB and the other for the PCB. So i hope you're right that it's a power issue.

If I were a scientist, I'd say it was because I was transferring data from my XP machine yesterday to my Windows 7 that I normally run on. 

I think I may go out and purchase an enclosure. In doing so, is it safe to use the enclosure permanently?

[aliv4488]

On second thought, it is under warranty, I just checked, but the only option appears to be product replacement. 

How can I retrieve my data without voiding the warranty? Makes no sense to me.

[Joe_S]

They make a power boost cable that uses 2 USB ports on PC http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_US/DisplayAccesoryProductDetailsPage/productID.1065966... Call customer support maybe they can help.

[aliv4488]

Actually, Joe, my mistake, it is powered with a power supply.

I'll give them a call on Monday.

Thanks!