Please Help

[spiker_27]

Hi,

I have a WD 1TB MyBook Essential. Recently the device would not power on (no lights, no disk spinning…nothing) I tried multiple power outlets in the house with the same results. So I removed the hard drive from its original WD enclosure and purchased a USB to SATA docking station. The docking station works. It will read a 2.5 Seagate 160 GB laptop hard drive and a 2.5 WD 320 GB Passport. But when I insert the 1TB WD MyBook I can hear/feel the drive spinning, but it does not show up in My Computer or under Disk Management. I have data on the 1TB hard drive that I need to access. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated in order to solve this problem.

Thanks

[Vadir]

Does the drive shows up under Device Manager?

If is not possible to detect the drive you may need to take it to a data recovery specialist.

[Keith]

Wait! Before running off to a data recovery specialist.. Have you tried a different power brick? That could be dead. Swapping outlets won't change that. Try a different A/C adapter.

If this MyBook essential is self-encrypting then a USB cable & docking station will not read it. It needs the original PCB in the MyBook housing.

Try the adapter swap. If that doesn't work, then let's consider a specialist.

[spiker_27 · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your help.  It seems that the PCB is no longer working.  I guess I'll just try and attempt a PCB swap.  Thanks for you help.

[Keith]

The PCB is probably specific to your disk. I don't believe a different one, even of the same model and date code will work.

[spiker_27]

Oh really...

Just to clarify...even if I swap PCB using identical model numbers, I still won' be able to recover/read the data that is on the HDD?

So am I right to think that all data on the HDD is lost and unable to be recovered?

Thanks

[Keith]

You can try, but I doubt it very much. How do you know your PCB is broken?

[spiker_27]

Hi,

I actually don't really know if it's broken.  I've removed the HDD from its original WD enclosure and then connected the PCB back onto the HDD (plugged in same PSU and USB cable) but the HDD still doesn't spin.

The HDD will spin though in a USB to SATA docking station, but doesn't show up in Device Mgr, Disk Mgmt, or My Computer.

The HDD shows up when I slave it to a desktop PC via SATA cable but the drive is uninitialized and unallocated.

I just figured it was the PCB since the HDD will spin in a SATA dock and the drive "shows" up when directly connected to SATA

[Keith]

Well, is the power brick broken?

[Keith]

I don't think anything is wrong with the HDD mechanics or disk itself.

It could simply be a bad solder connection. Or the power brick is not putting out power. And I will assume you've tried a different usb cable. The disk needs both power and USB signal going to the PCB in order for it to spin up.