• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

WD 1TB External HDD Problems

Aloke

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
30 (0.01/day)
Hi!

I have a problem.

The 1TB WD External HDD is not getting recognized by the pc. I tried taking it out of the case, no use. Also tried it without the adapter by directly using SATA cable on a desktop pc, no use as well. I also tried HP USB Disk Format Tool, it did not recognize it. TestDisk also failed to recognize it. Any idea how I might be able to get it working? Disk Management did not have it shown up as well.

- Alo
 
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Messages
1,827 (0.36/day)
Location
London
System Name Jaspe
Processor Ryzen 1500X
Motherboard Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming
Cooling Stock
Memory 16Gb Corsair 3000mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA GTS 450
Storage Crucial M500
Display(s) Philips 1080 24'
Case NZXT
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Enermax 425W
Software Windows 10 Pro
Plug it when the computer is off, then turn on the computer.
 

Aloke

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
30 (0.01/day)
Thanks for the quick reply! Will try :)
EDIT: It helped indeed! Thank you alot! Will it now normally plug n play?
 
Last edited:

Aloke

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
30 (0.01/day)
Sorry for double post, I have to bump.

Well it started like that once, now it doesn't again. I was so dumb that i didn't press scan for fixes too when it launched the first time, i just wanted to see if data is there... any ideas? Tried different usb ports, with and without the casing around the hdd, plugging hdd in before starting up pc.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,275 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
State that a different way. Thats confusing
 

Aloke

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
30 (0.01/day)
Plugging the device in before pressing power button on my laptop worked once, but then it did not get recognized again.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,275 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
Plugging it in how? SATA or USB. Try a different cable
 

Aloke

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
30 (0.01/day)
USB adapter. SATA was tried by my brother on a desktop pc and that did not work. Well the usb adapter worked once now. I will try a different cable now.
EDIT:No use.
The weird thing is, why it worked once and then quit working? Cable wouldn't cut out like that.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,275 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
Yes a cable could be intermittent short. Also is it a powered drive? Power adapter?
 

Aloke

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
30 (0.01/day)
Yea is a powered drive, has an adapter. The adapter used same plug of power as yesterday and it worked yesterday over there.
 

Aloke

New Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2011
Messages
30 (0.01/day)
Okay, now I can see it in my computer. Although, there is no info about how much space is free and the drive could not be browsed( when i left click i get an error that it cannot be found or smth ). When i try to go to disk management while having the hdd plugged in using usb, the disk management does not finish loading an gets stuck at "Connecting to Virtual Disk Service". When i take it out from usb, it loads almost instantly to disk management.
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2010
Messages
1,549 (0.32/day)
Location
Kolkata, India
System Name Coffee | Maximus
Processor Intel Core i7 9700K @ 5.2 GHz with AVX, 4.8 GHz cache clock | i7 9700KF @ 5.0 GHz/4.7 GHz cache
Motherboard ASUS Maximus X Formula | ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (modded BIOS for Coffee Lake)+TPM2.0 module
Cooling Cooler Master ML240 Illusion | Cooler Master ML120L RGB
Memory 2*16 GB (32 GB) Kingston Fury Beast @3600 MHz CL17 | 4*8 GB (32 GB) HyperX Fury @3200 MHz CL14
Video Card(s) Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB Twin Edge | Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB
Storage Samsung PM981a 1TB NVMe+480GB SATA SSD+2 TB HDD | Crucial P5 1TB, Crucial P1 500GB+2.5TB HDDs
Display(s) LG OLED 55 G3, 4K 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM, GSync, FreeSync | Samsung 43AU9070 4K TV, VRR, ALLM
Case Corsair Crystal 460X RGB | Lianli Lancool 215
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z SE | Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply ASUS ROG Strix 750G (80+ Gold) | Cooler Master MWE 650 V2 (80+ Bronze)
Mouse Cooler Master MM731 19000 DPI gaming mouse
Keyboard Cooler Master CK721 65% mechanical gaming keyboard (tactile)
Software Windows 11 Pro x64 |Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R20 MT 4200,ST 547 CPU-Z MT 4871, ST 620 | R20 MT - 4158, ST - 534, CPU-Z MT 4798, ST 603
Check the power adapter. Go to a nearby hardware shop. They can test it using a multimeter. Also, it might be an issue with the disk itself. In that case contact Western Digital for support.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,275 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
I don't think the drive is going to come back to life
 
Joined
Oct 9, 2010
Messages
1,549 (0.32/day)
Location
Kolkata, India
System Name Coffee | Maximus
Processor Intel Core i7 9700K @ 5.2 GHz with AVX, 4.8 GHz cache clock | i7 9700KF @ 5.0 GHz/4.7 GHz cache
Motherboard ASUS Maximus X Formula | ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (modded BIOS for Coffee Lake)+TPM2.0 module
Cooling Cooler Master ML240 Illusion | Cooler Master ML120L RGB
Memory 2*16 GB (32 GB) Kingston Fury Beast @3600 MHz CL17 | 4*8 GB (32 GB) HyperX Fury @3200 MHz CL14
Video Card(s) Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB Twin Edge | Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB
Storage Samsung PM981a 1TB NVMe+480GB SATA SSD+2 TB HDD | Crucial P5 1TB, Crucial P1 500GB+2.5TB HDDs
Display(s) LG OLED 55 G3, 4K 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM, GSync, FreeSync | Samsung 43AU9070 4K TV, VRR, ALLM
Case Corsair Crystal 460X RGB | Lianli Lancool 215
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z SE | Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX)
Power Supply ASUS ROG Strix 750G (80+ Gold) | Cooler Master MWE 650 V2 (80+ Bronze)
Mouse Cooler Master MM731 19000 DPI gaming mouse
Keyboard Cooler Master CK721 65% mechanical gaming keyboard (tactile)
Software Windows 11 Pro x64 |Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R20 MT 4200,ST 547 CPU-Z MT 4871, ST 620 | R20 MT - 4158, ST - 534, CPU-Z MT 4798, ST 603
Clean the SATA signal terminals. Maybe the PCB is gone then.
 
Top