Pls help - WD My Book problem

H guys,

I just had a disaster regarding my 1tb wd my book. i use it to store all my work data and important files and it just died on me. My electricity went out today so its most likely due to that. I am using a surge protector but it appears to have been a complete waste of money seeing as the drive isnt even working.

The drives blue light isnt lighting up. the drive tries to load up but sounds like it just doesnt have enough juice to boot up and dies. there isnt any clicking noise.

Hopefully someone here can help out. Is it possible to change the power supply? are my files possibly intact?

thanks for the help

 

This may sound stupid but have you tried resetting the surge protector and multiple other wall outlets?

 

Hi, ya did that already.

btw, i was playing with the cable slowly pushing it in and out of the drive and found a spot where the blue light actually lights up. its nowreading the drive but not sure how long it will last. im trying to copy over all the files as quick as possible. will run out and get a seagate free agent desk asap.

im still be intereted in knowing if the power supply could be replaced though. thanks

 

Assuming you have verified you are getting full voltage from the wall outlet and the unit still does not work, there are a few things you can try to see if the drive is funcitonal and recover your data (which I would assume is the most important issue at the moment).

All of the following possible solutions require you to open the WD enclosure and remove the drive. After you remove the 3.5" SATA drive try one of the following 3 options:

1. If you have a desktop PC that has a SATA interface, install the drive as the second drive in the system, try to extract data. (No money outlay but probably most difficult, have to deal with PC case issues)

2. Purchase a cheap external 3.5 SATA to USB enclosure and install the drive into that enclosure, try to extract data.

3. Purchase an adapter set such as the Vantec item at http://www.frys.com/product/5010555#detailed to allow external connection to your drive, try to extract data.

Option 2 would probably be your best solution since if the drive works and you can recover your data, just leave the drive in the enclosure and you are finished. Don't even try to repair the WD enclosure, more money than it would be worth.

Edit:
You responded before I could submit my suggestions
After reading your reply, I would definitely go with option 2. If you want to get an enclosure locally, try Best Buy or Fry's. On-line try Newegg.

Or, perhaps your WD is still under warranty. Since you are able to get your data off try to get WD to replace your whole unit.

 

thanks very much for the reply. very useful. i will try contacting WD first to see if they can replace it. worse comes to worse ill change the enclosure as you recommended. im glad the drive itself is not the issue. thanks for the solutions

out of curiosity, do you know if the newer wd/seagate external drives come with embedded surge protectors? im thinking how i can plan for any future issues. i already had an external surge protector but it wasnt that helpful.

 

Can't help you there but with the cost of the enclosure probably running $5 I can't imagine there is much non-destructive surge protection (if any) built in.
Actually, some surge protection might have been evident since the unit was only damaged, not destroyed.