WD Passport stopped working

Rajdeep2000

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May 16, 2014
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I plugged in my wd passsport external powerless hdd, was listening to a song and suddenly song stopped. When I seen there was no HDD drive on my computer.

HDD shows up in safety remove, Manage option. In manage option "wd drive management devices" shows up quickly but under disk drives "WD My Passport...." takes some 5 min time to show up. In my computer if i do refresh I see just the drive symbol and nothing else.

If I touch HDD and put my ear to listen its sound it is doing something repeatedly. "tik tik tik, tik tik tik, tik tik tik tik..." Its like machine gun shooting! But SOUND is not much loud for HDD to consider dead.

Please help what should I do. I want my data. All happened when I was collecting my data in this. :(
 
Solution
It's difficult to say if that is exactly what caused the problem. But , you can be sure it did play a part in creating the problem.
A simple laptop hdd would have been the only choice if these new kind of fast data transfer hdd's weren't available.
I've lost 8 TB worth of data on them , but the 3.5'' seagate external ones... even though those could be removed and put onto the Mobo directly, the problem is not only with the Hdds but with USB tech on the whole, on one hand they have made them plug and play types where you can plug them in and get them out at your convenience, but on the second side, laptops and mobos, if, don't have proper earthing, then the current flows straight to the USB sockets, causing shorts of these pluggable ...
That tik tik tik is a stuck head on the platter.
This is not a suggested remedy, but , to salvage whatever data you can from the dick, you need to hold it in your hand and shake it a little while it is plugged in to get the head a little free, this is going to be a recurring problem since the hdd is failing.
The warranty for these drives is good, so you can recover whatever you can from the hdd using this method and then format it, if possible before getting it replaced under it's warranty.
 

Rajdeep2000

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May 16, 2014
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That tik tik is not very strong. You need to put HDD near ear. You think its really stuck? I just want to make sure.

When I did buy this HDD. I got 2 same pieces. So if some parts are needed I have second identical drive with me.
 
Signs of the motor not functioning would be no vibration altogether. When plugged in and you lift the drive up in your hand you can literally feel the platters spin.... when you don't feel anything , that's when the motors dead.

The drive is not with me , so I can't say that it's a stuck head for sure, but, the symptoms you have put down, suggest a broken head , bouncing off a ridge on the platter caused by the damage.
The tik tik indicates that the platters are cycling up, meaning , no dead motor.
 

Rajdeep2000

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May 16, 2014
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I tried moving plugged HDD horizontally So heads might adjust. But it did not work for me. There is personal data but I wont die without that. So I will open it.

Last thing I want to ask is can there be any corruption in firmware for this case? I heard somewhere in threads of this forum WD firmware is in two parts. One on board and another on HDD. Can that be my case. If not than I can go ahead.

Thank you in advance. You are being very helpful alyoshka.
 

Rajdeep2000

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May 16, 2014
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I inspected more. There was little earthing current leakage on my PC, where my WD hdd was last connected. Can that damage Head Movement??

I seen some video online about head adjustment. Head should not be in the middle at start & they move platter while adjusting head. Is this procedure cure for my case??

Also tell me why cant I plug it into SATA port on mobo. Is there any proprietary connector inside?
 
The current leak in your PC, yes, could harm the circuit of the ext-hdd....
No, head adjustment cannot help you in your case because that needs you to open up the drive.
You can't plug it into a SATA port on the mobo 'cos yes, it has a propreity connector inside, like I said before the USB3 Socket is soldered onto the PCB of the ext-hdd and has no SATA port on it.
 

Rajdeep2000

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May 16, 2014
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Alyoshka you talked about current leak damaging circuit board. I wanted to know if that is related to my case. I mean "HDD not getting detected and small tik tik tik tik sound coming out of it."

Now I feel I would have bought simple Laptop HDD and have covered it with normal casing to make it external. At least it could have been easy to troubleshoot. Buying good company external HDD is putting me in unexpected troubles :'(

 
It's difficult to say if that is exactly what caused the problem. But , you can be sure it did play a part in creating the problem.
A simple laptop hdd would have been the only choice if these new kind of fast data transfer hdd's weren't available.
I've lost 8 TB worth of data on them , but the 3.5'' seagate external ones... even though those could be removed and put onto the Mobo directly, the problem is not only with the Hdds but with USB tech on the whole, on one hand they have made them plug and play types where you can plug them in and get them out at your convenience, but on the second side, laptops and mobos, if, don't have proper earthing, then the current flows straight to the USB sockets, causing shorts of these pluggable , highly sensitive devices.
But on the whole , I've found the WD Essential, Ultra and Passport HDDs, to be pretty much good, I'm using 12 TB of those now and have been hopping around with them all over.... luckily, I haven't run into a problem until now. The only thing I've changed in using such drives is, I avoid putting them into equipment that is already switched on.... and avoid removing them from equipment in the on state.

 
Solution

Rajdeep2000

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May 16, 2014
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In HDD SalvationData operation. If room is not much clear can it damage HDD permenetly unrecoverable or we just get data loss at places dust particles landed on hdd?? I heard HDD has dust filter then why we need very very clean room?
 
YES. You had better really have a very clean room and be very careful not to smudge the platter with your finger.
The HDD has a dust filter inside it. It is already sealed in dust free environments before you get it.
After that if the HDD is opened, the mirror like platters are actually magnetic and even the minutest of dust particles that get onto it will cause you to loose data later on.