External Hard drive not showing

royster999 · 30-04-2014 9:59pm #1

My WD Elements external hard drive with power adapter is not visible when connected. I have tried on two different laptops (XP and Windows 7).

The hard drive powers up fine. I have tried different USB ports without success.

When I power on it installs the driver and looks like it will be connected, but is not visible in My Computer.

It is also not visible in Disk Management.

Anyone any ideas?

degsie · 30-04-2014 11:51pm

Most likely the USB controller in the enclosure is borked. You could try open the enclosure and remove the drive and attach it directly to a PC to check if it's recognised. Other option is to purchase another enclosure (I assume for 3.5" drive) and put the drive in that.

royster999 · 02-05-2014 9:00am

degsie wrote: »

Most likely the USB controller in the enclosure is borked. You could try open the enclosure and remove the drive and attach it directly to a PC to check if it's recognised. Other option is to purchase another enclosure (I assume for 3.5" drive) and put the drive in that.

Will try that.

How much would a computer hardware shop charge to retrieve all data (1TB) from a broken hard drive?

GarIT · 02-05-2014 9:11am

royster999 wrote: »

Will try that.

How much would a computer hardware shop charge to retrieve all data (1TB) from a broken hard drive?

The average is around €0.50 per GB. The TB isn't actually full is it? If the drive it damaged it can be as high as €100 per GB.

johndoe99 · 02-05-2014 9:50am

is it making any clicking sounds when powered up. If not then buy an enclosure like degsie suggested.

royster999 · 02-05-2014 10:25am

Its at about 950GB. I wouldnt mind spending 80-100 if I got the data back.
Wonder could I select what data to retrieve??

The Hard drive does make the click noise anymore.

Would a different power cable make a difference? The original one is damaged and I used a new one which has very close to the same spec. I assume it doesnt matter as the light shows.

riclad · 02-05-2014 10:28am

YOU could open a pc, put drive on a thin towel,
use sata data cables, power data to connect the drive,
ie use 2 cables from pc dvd drive temporarily.

Open drive case .remove drive.
Switch off pc,remove pc power cable from esb socket.
Connect drive to data ,power cables.

power still goes thru pc.when you power down pc.
switching off pc is not enough.

http://bychaw.blogspot.ie/2011/02/how-to-take-apart-your-wd-elements.html

a pc shop cant recover data if drive heads, internal mechanism is damaged.
This is done by specialist companys, costs 100s of euros.

You,ll need acess to pc with sata to do this.
Any PC less than 7 years old have sata drive interface.

GarIT · 02-05-2014 11:33am

royster999 wrote: »

Its at about 950GB. I wouldnt mind spending 80-100 if I got the data back.
Wonder could I select what data to retrieve??

The Hard drive does make the click noise anymore.

Would a different power cable make a difference? The original one is damaged and I used a new one which has very close to the same spec. I assume it doesnt matter as the light shows.

Most places will let you choose what you want, possibly only by folder or something though.

If it ever made a clicking noise you're looking at several hundred to get any data back. There are several noises a hard drive can make and some sound similar to the click we are talking about, so it might not be but if it is that click there is almost no hope.

If the power cable you used has a different output voltage or amps it is likely that caused the problem.

degsie · 02-05-2014 1:36pm

royster999 wrote: »

Would a different power cable make a difference? The original one is damaged and I used a new one which has very close to the same spec. I assume it doesnt matter as the light shows.

If the problem only happened when you started to use a replacement power source, then that might be the problem. This information would have been useful in your first post.

royster999 · 02-05-2014 4:23pm

degsie wrote: »

If the problem only happened when you started to use a replacement power source, then that might be the problem. This information would have been useful in your first post.

It did work a few times with the different power cable. They are nearly exactly the same spec so I didnt think it was relevent.

GarIT · 02-05-2014 5:32pm

royster999 wrote: »

It did work a few times with the different power cable. They are nearly exactly the same spec so I didnt think it was relevent.

What do you mean by nearly? If they're not the exact same electronically there's your problem.

royster999 · 05-05-2014 10:54pm

Both adapters have:
INPUT: 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz 500mA

The OUTPUT differs:
Original: 12.0V, 1,500mA
New Adapter: 9.0V 1,500mA

Could the adapter not be generating not enough power as it is 3V less in OUTPUT ?

degsie · 05-05-2014 11:08pm

royster999 wrote: »

Both adapters have:
INPUT: 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz 500mA

The OUTPUT differs:
Original: 12.0V, 1,500mA
New Adapter: 9.0V 1,500mA

Could the adapter not be generating not enough power as it is 3V less in OUTPUT ?

Yes, of course. That's the problem!

royster999 · 05-05-2014 11:14pm

Ok it worked a couple of times with it before the original adapter broke, so I thought nothing of it...

Guess I have to get a plug the same spec and try...

GarIT · 06-05-2014 12:20am

royster999 wrote: »

Could the adapter not be generating not enough power as it is 3V less in OUTPUT ?

No, the adaptor could completely fry the board because of the massive voltage difference. It is highly unlikely that a new adaptor would fix anything.

riclad · 06-05-2014 12:27am

YOU,D have to put the hardrive in a caddy to test it.
inside case theres a small usb to sata board ,
coonnects to hd thru sata power. data , cables.
that could be damaged,
and the hardisk could be fine.

http://i.testfreaks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/king12.jpg

take out hard drive,
take out the sata power, data cables,

which are plugged into small case pcb usb to sata board .

degsie · 06-05-2014 9:26am

GarIT wrote: »

No, the adaptor could completely fry the board because of the massive voltage difference. It is highly unlikely that a new adaptor would fix anything.

Using a lower voltage adapter would be highly unlikely to cause your circuit board to 'fry', rather it will lead to intermittent behavior. Using a higher voltage would be a real problem however.

So a replacement adapter will probably work IF it matches the original specs EXACTLY!

riclad · 06-05-2014 10:16am

BOARDS are usually fried ,damaged by higher voltages,not lower voltage
maybe buy another power unit on ebay,
or a 3.5inch powered caddy, with its own power supply.
make sure voltage ampage identical,to original unit.
if you buy another power unit.

royster999 · 06-05-2014 10:17am

I tried a cable the exact same spec. Slight improvement in that the drive seems to make more noise as before and is visible in My computer and Disk Management, (tried changing the drive path, no luck).

However, I still cannot access the drive. When I click to open it, the drive makes a noise 6-7 times as if struggling in trying to open/start, then an I/O device error popup is thrown.

I'l open it up later this evening after work and study the link above.

riclad · 06-05-2014 10:34am

try start menu, control panel, administration, storage, drives , partition s.
do you see it there .

royster999 · 08-05-2014 10:44pm

riclad wrote: »

YOU,D have to put the hardrive in a caddy to test it.
inside case theres a small usb to sata board ,
coonnects to hd thru sata power. data , cables.
that could be damaged,
and the hardisk could be fine.

http://i.testfreaks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/king12.jpg

take out hard drive,
take out the sata power, data cables,

which are plugged into small case pcb usb to sata board .

Something like this?
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/3-5-SATA-to-USB-HD-Hard-Disk-Drive-Enclosure-Caddy-Case-/250748745747?pt=UK_Collectables_HardDriveEnclosures_RL&hash=item3a61ca3813

riclad · 08-05-2014 11:14pm

you can connect drive to a pc,or use a caddy drive enclosure.

IF caddy is metal ,put plastic tape on the drive pcb,underside of drive.
to stop it shorting , or short circuits on the pcb .

Yeah ,you can get cheap caddys on ebay 3.5 ,inch, as in above link.

Yes something like that,
must have external power if drive is 3.5inch,drive .

royster999 · 08-05-2014 11:51pm

riclad wrote: »

try start menu, control panel, administration, storage, drives , partition s.
do you see it there .

It states that there is no space free. There was 30GB free.
It also does not show the type of disk type. It should be FAT.
See attached..

There is also some messages in the Event Viewer once disk is connected:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7
Date:  08/05/2014
Time:  22:48:04
User:  N/A
Computer: QWERTY-19C585FA
Description:
The device, \Device\Harddisk1\D, has a bad block.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at [URL]http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp[/URL].
Data:
0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00   ..h...&#182;.
0008: 00 00 00 00 07 00 04 c0   .......&#192;
0010: 00 01 00 00 9c 00 00 c0   ....&#339;..&#192;
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0020: 00 ce 04 00 00 00 00 00   .&#206;......
0028: 0d da 01 00 00 00 00 00   .&#218;......
0030: ff ff ff ff 01 00 00 00   &#255;&#255;&#255;&#255;....
0038: 40 00 00 84 02 00 00 00   @..&#8222;....
0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40   . ..@. @
0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00   ........
0050: 00 00 00 00 d8 e9 e4 86   ....&#216;&#233;&#228;&#8224;
0058: 00 00 00 00 70 50 08 86   ....pP.&#8224;
0060: 00 00 00 00 67 02 00 00   ....g...
0068: 28 00 00 00 02 67 00 00   (....g..
0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0078: f0 00 03 00 00 00 00 0a   &#240;.......
0080: 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00   ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 51
Date:  08/05/2014
Time:  22:48:07
User:  N/A
Computer: QWERTY-19C585FA
Description:
An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk1\D during a paging operation.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at [URL]http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp[/URL].
Data:
0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00   ..h...&#182;.
0008: 00 00 00 00 33 00 04 80   ....3..&#8364;
0010: 2d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00   -.......
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0020: 00 ce 04 00 00 00 00 00   .&#206;......
0028: e9 da 01 00 00 00 00 00   &#233;&#218;......
0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00   &#255;&#255;&#255;&#255;....
0038: 40 00 00 84 02 00 00 00   @..&#8222;....
0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40   . ..@. @
0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00   ........
0050: 00 00 00 00 d8 e9 e4 86   ....&#216;&#233;&#228;&#8224;
0058: 00 00 00 00 70 50 08 86   ....pP.&#8224;
0060: 00 00 00 00 67 02 00 00   ....g...
0068: 28 00 00 00 02 67 00 00   (....g..
0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0078: f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 0a   &#240;.......
0080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........

It looks the format of disk is corrupted??

I opened the drive and there seemed to be no damage.

degsie · 08-05-2014 11:57pm

Open a command prompt and run 'chkdsk k: /r' to repair the disk. It can take some time.

royster999 · 08-05-2014 11:58pm

I assume all the data is lost ?

degsie · 09-05-2014 12:00am

royster999 wrote: »

I assume all the data is lost ?

Not necessarily, might be just corruption to the FAT table on the drive.

riclad · 09-05-2014 12:37pm

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/285339-32-repair-data-loss

Nevermind, I was able to fix it. In case anyone else experiences this, I just went to a command prompt and typed: chkdsk e: /f

this should recover the fat file ,
file allocation table.
if that does,nt work try this,

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

TestDisk can
Fix partition table, recover deleted partition
Recover FAT32 boot sector from its backup
Rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sector
Fix FAT tables
Rebuild NTFS boot sector
Recover NTFS boot sector from its backup
Fix MFT using MFT mirror
Locate ext2/ext3/ext4 Backup SuperBlock
Undelete files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2 filesystem
Copy files from deleted FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2/ext3/ext4 partitions.

royster999 · 09-05-2014 12:39pm

Cool Il try this over the weekend and let ye know.

riclad · 09-05-2014 1:01pm

Fix partition table, recover deleted partition

Rebuild /FAT32 boot sector
Fix FAT tables

you may need to use one of these commands if you use testdisk.

royster999 · 12-05-2014 12:06am

I used TestDisk utility and it reported no bootable partition:

Disk /dev/sdb - 1000 GB / 931 GiB - CHS 121601 255 63 Current partition structure:      Partition                  Start        End    Size in sectors   1 P FAT32 LBA                0   1  1 121600 254 63 1953520002 [Elements] No partition is bootable  *=Primary bootable  P=Primary  L=Logical  E=Extended  D=Deleted >[Quick Search]  [ Backup ]                             Try to locate partition

Can I make the one primary partition bootable?
Is this best practised behaviour?

bonzodog2 · 12-05-2014 12:12am

There is no benefit to making the partition bootable on an ext HD unless you want to boot from it.

External Hard drive not showing

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