wd my book 500gb studio edition wont turn on, white light half lit

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Chelz0r

Honorable
Oct 24, 2013
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10,520
Hi,

I have a Western Digital My Book 500GB Firewire/eSATA/USB 2 Studio Edition external hard drive that i bought 2-3 years ago. I've backed up a lot of data then and after that not used it at all until recently. I can't seem to get it to mount under OS X Lion, as soon as I plug in the power lead the white bar of light at the front of the drive lights up but only the top half of it, there are no noises and plugging in a USB lead does not show the drive on my iMac.

Can anyone advise please, there's tons of data and I have only used the drive literally a few times. I just checked and my limited warranty expired six months ago so I can't ask WD to help.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Solution
C
The adapter arrived today and wham bam the hard drive works perfectly fine. Managed to pull everything off it, and at full speed too. Nothing wrong with the drive itself at all. That WD enclosure is a cheap, plastic p.o.c.
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Chelz0r

Honorable
Oct 24, 2013
8
0
10,520
How do I see it in BIOS?? I can't feel it spinning at all, actually now when i plug the power cord in the light just flashes and doesn't even come on. Crap, is there a way to get the drive out of the box and use another external case or adapter to connect it to a USB port?
 
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Chelz0r

Honorable
Oct 24, 2013
8
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10,520
OK, I think the drive might be 3.5" for which I have several other enclosures. That's if it's IDE. If it's SATA I'd need to buy an adapter just on chance it still works.

The original WD enclosure is plastic with no screws, any advice how to open it up?

Thanks a bunch.
 
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C

Chelz0r

Honorable
Oct 24, 2013
8
0
10,520
Scrap that last question. I pried the case open with a flat head screwdriver, bit of nudging and it came right off. The drive is a SATA one so I guess I need to buy a USB adapter for that.

Are there more than one version of SATA connectors, my drive has a bigger connector for power and a smaller one for data as from the drawing on the case. Will any SATA to USB adapter work? Asking cos I can't see the connectors on ebay auctions and such.
 
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lonewolf7

lonewolf7

Splendid
May 6, 2013
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24,965
I think its a SATA drive inside the caddy. Anyways here is a guide how to disassemble it :

http://www.instructables.com/id/Disassembling-a-Western-Digital-My-Book/

And if its a SATA drive you can plug the drive directly to the MB(Desktop), before buying any adapter.
 
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C

Chelz0r

Honorable
Oct 24, 2013
8
0
10,520
Just ordered a standard SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 adapter off eBay. Chose the type with an external power supply rather than two USB jacks for two powered ports. Here's hoping the original WD enclosure crapped out and not the HDD. Thanks for your input man.
 
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C

Chelz0r

Honorable
Oct 24, 2013
8
0
10,520
The adapter arrived today and wham bam the hard drive works perfectly fine. Managed to pull everything off it, and at full speed too. Nothing wrong with the drive itself at all. That WD enclosure is a cheap, plastic p.o.c.
 
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