4TB WD HDD not working

[Azza88]

Good afternoon

Last week I bought a brand new 4TB Western digital HDD for my PC. I plugged it in, went into Disk Management and it came up no problem. I then formatted it, gave it a letter and started copying some files to the HDD. Mid way through copying, it stopped copying files for some reason and so i cancelled the copy. I then restarted my computer. Now only BIOS says there is a HDD and Windows no longer recognizes it at all. It now also takes around 5 minutes to boot my computer up whenever it is plugged in. Tried the HDD on several other computers but it was undetectable. It no longer comes up in Disk Management and so I can no longer reformat it.

Any advice or software suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Athlon2K15]

Interesting, Id say the drive is dead but if you have parted magic you could try booting in and seeing if any of those disk tools can help save your drive.

 

[Azza88]

Thanks for the reply. Ill check out Parted Magic and see if that helps. It could be very well that I was sold a dud, however I thought id exhaust all options before sending it back. I thought it was strange though that it ran fine for about an hour and then suddenly died on me.

 

[Jetster]

Download the WD test utility Data Lifeguard and if its bad RMA it

 

[Azza88]

That's the problem though, not even Life guard detects it. The only place my PC has detected it since I restarted my computer is BIOS.

 

[Jetster]

There you go then. E mail WD

 

[Azza88]

Thanks for the advice. Ill get in contact with WD, was just hoping there was another way.

 

[xvi]

was just hoping there was another way.

Likely not.

Welcome to the forums, by the way!

 

[rtwjunkie]

I thought it was strange though that it ran fine for about an hour and then suddenly died on me.

Most HDD failures are very early, or very late in the drive's life.

 

[Aquinus]

Most HDD failures are very early, or very late in the drive's life.

I'll just leave this here:

Hard drives (having moving parts,) are notorious for having higher failure rates than just about any other component in a computer. Most of my drive failures have failed early. It happens. You can't necessarily blame WD either because it could have been how the package was handled by whoever delivered it.

Either way, just RMA it with WD. I would suggest if the OP is in the US of A to do an advance RMA. They will send you the new drive before you send the old one back (they put a hold on your credit card,) you'll get it in 2 days, then you can use the box you get to send back the old one. It's what I do every time and so far I haven't received a faulty replacement drive or had any issues with the process.

@SuperSoph_WD probably can get you started.

 

[de.das.dude]

Its common to get dead drives. Because of how sensitive they are during the manufacturing process. Just RMA it as its the best option.
Even if you could "fix" it, its not really worth it to keep using a shady drive that may fail anytime later.

Although... if there was an error in the partitioning and formatting the first time, then it can easily be rectified. there is a DOS based tool called TestDisk. you may tried it once.
After formatting(NOT QUICK FORMAT) do some write benchmarks with HDTune and if the performance is inconsistent or if the drive fails, then you have a bad drive.

 

[Athlon2K15]

I wouldn't trust any data coming from backblaze, you have seen how they test right?

 

[Aquinus]

I wouldn't trust any data coming from backblaze, you have seen how they test right?

You will see the same graph on several sites. Source aside, what the image is saying is how it works. Lets keep the whining to a minimum unless you have an issue with the content itself.

 

[de.das.dude]

I wouldn't trust any data coming from backblaze, you have seen how they test right?

that graph doesnt even have any scale. Its as authentic as being drawn with a crayon. Its just gives an idea which is kind of true.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I wouldn't trust any data coming from backblaze, you have seen how they test right?

The same info comes from Google's extensive records as well. The link escapes me on my phone, unfortunately.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, @Azza88 & Happy New Year, @everybody!

I'm sorry to hear that you got a bad WD drive. Just as @Aquinus mentioned, mechanical hard drives are pretty sensitive and could fail if they are not handled properly by the reseller or while they're still being shipped even. :/ Luckily, we do our best to provide you the very best of service, so you shouldn't face any difficulties with the RMA procedure.
What you need to do first is contact our Customer Support either by phone or e-mail and send your RMA request. Afterwards, you should be given an RMA number that will allow you to track the process from our website. I'd suggest you to read through the Warranty Policy & Packing Instructions for more details, though.

Hope I was helpful. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

Azza88​