WD elements external hard drive is not working - need to get data

There is only one thing that springs to mind in this case. Linux. More specifically, test disk. Test disk is a terminal-ran program that is offered with several versions of Linux rescue CD's and is fairly simple to use. One of test-disks tools is the ability to copy any and all information off of a disk, whether or not that disk has partitions that are readable by windows. The easiest way to obtain this is through the website http://www.sysresccd.org/ This rescue CD also has other tools in it that you may find useful in exploring your drive.

This is, of course, assuming that the issue is driver or software related, and not related to a hardware malfunction. If it is hardware related, it is most likely to do with the USB port, the circuit board inside the HDD itself, or something along those lines. Logic says that if the disk itself, or a head were damaged, windows would still recognize the device but not be able to access the disk, or possibly even not be able to tell you that it is in fact a drive at all, but merely an attached USB device.

One thing that I would recommend before starting on the Linux adventure is to go into device manager and see if there are any unidentified devices, or perhaps any devices that are not installed or not functioning properly. You may not be getting a notification when you plug the HDD in simply because windows already knows of its' existence and is not mounting it for one reason or another. Device manager may help you narrow this down.

There are, of course, other methods for data recovery. They are difficult and often hazardous to proceed with. Destroying the disk or permanently losing data are not unheard of. One method is removing the disk itself from the drive and placing it in another drive of the same model. This does not always work, but it has been known to. The most common method, however, is to send it in to a company that specializes in the recovery of data from dead drives. I don't have a link at the moment, but it should be easy enough to find using google. Know however that their services do not come cheap.

Hope this helps

Hello, shonick!

I'm really sorry hear about your WD Elements!
Check if your drive is still under warranty: http://goo.gl/KTukZz
If it is, I'd suggest turning to a professional data recovery company for help: http://goo.gl/98VMZ2
Afterwards get in touch with our tech support and RMA your product to get a replacement: http://goo.gl/RzvZvr

If it's not under warranty and since you are willing to try everything out to retrieve the data, you can try recovering it by getting the drive out of the enclosure. The WD Elements doesn't have a hardware encryption, so you should be able to access the data by hooking it up directly to the SATA port on your PC.

Another thing you can try is some sort of a third party software to recover the data.
Here are a couple of threads that can help you with that:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/279966-32-recover-data-broken-external-hard-drive
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2149209/elements-1tb-external-hdd-unrecognized.html

However, I strongly suggest contacting our tech support for help though: http://goo.gl/iqXiEW

Keep me posted and good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

I also heard a soft period click as well when it spinning.

Click to expand...

This is something that any owner of a HDD fears. It is commonly called the click of death. It's primary cause is the head losing its' track on the disk and resetting. This can be due to a bad head, a bad head assembly, or a large section of corrupted data on the disk. Think of it like a needle on a record player. It's going along perfectly fine, playing your song, but someone went and took a knife to it, leaving a large gouge in the record but not splitting it in half. As soon as the needle hits that gouge, it is no longer following its track, it is forced to jump off of it. It's a very crude analogy, but this is the closest thing I can think of to give you a visual of what that little arm is doing inside your drive.

This is not guaranteed to be the problem. It may not be the death of the drive. I've actually experienced the click of death, found it to be a massive indexing issue within windows causing the drive to confuse itself and not know where to look for files, and thus causing the head arm to send the head running around like a chicken head without its' body. Ok, maybe chicken heads don't run around.... But you get my point

The fact that Ubuntu did not see the drive, however, lends credence to the "dead" HDD theory. I wish I could give you better news, but if it is indeed dead, it's dead. It happens. Especially with older HDD's.

There is another side to the solution I mentioned above. The whole "remove the physical disk" part. If you're hearing the click of death, and your HDD is dead, there is a chance that the head itself just went out. It is replaceable. There are businesses out there that can do this for you. This is normally less expensive then having the data "expertly recovered" by the same business. It's worth looking into.

You could of course do the repair yourself. Keep in mind that a single particle of dust touching one of the plates of the disk itself can irrevocably destroy data on the disk, partially or completely. This method is highly recommended against, and not guaranteed to solve the issue as it is not clear that a bad head IS the issue. You would have to locate a head from another HDD, successfully remove it without letting the two tiny arms extending off the head to touch (or three, or four, depending on how many plates your disk actually has), then remove the head from your disk, without damaging the disk or the head arm I might add, then reattach the new head to the same arm, once again without damaging the plates of the disk or allowing the tiny arms to touch (there's a technical term for the arms, just cannot think of it atm). This is, once again, incredibly risky, not guaranteed to work, and not recommended.

I would, at this time, highly recommend seeking a professional to perform the data recovery, or the repair for you. I only outlined the basic procedure for what the replacement of the head entails so as to give you an idea of how daunting a task it really is.

I hope that I have been able to help.

In this case it is possible, yes. If it is recognized when connected via sata, there is hope yet.

I would say follow the same steps as I outlined before. Whether it be using linux's built in file browser, or test disk again. Both have the ability to view and copy files. Test disk is normally able to view that which the file browser cannot, if indeed the file browser turns up nothing again. There are other data recovery options as well, including cloning the drive or creating an image of it. In the cloning sense, the only real benefit that you would get is having the same data, corrupted or not, on a drive that works. With the image option, you may be able to use a program like Winrar (Yes, winrar can "unzip" .iso files) to then try and recover the data, or you can mount it in a virtual drive using software such as Daemon Tools. In Windows, Paragon Hard Disk Manager is able to do this. They offer a trial version on their website. Many other disk recovery/backup programs are able to perform this task as well.

That tells me that something about the bios/OS on desktop 3 is able to recognize the disk that the other two don't have. Which tells me the disk isn't in a condition that Windows/BIOS developers anticipate it being in. Which means that the disk isn't healthy.

I still refer to my previous post as the possible solution(s). The disk simply isn't in a state where conventional data rescue techniques will work. You'll have to use something different, and it appears you'll have to do it on desktop 3.

The other options involve sending the disk to professionals to do an expensive data rescue. If the data is even still in a state to rescue. I hope that it isn't corrupted or that there isn't damage inside the disk itself.

The reason I say that it is not healthy based on what I've been told so far is due to how disks work. Here are two links that may help you understand exactly why your drive isn't being recognized, and why when it is you cannot get the data therein.

The Master File Table

Hard Disk Partitions

That tells me that something about the bios/OS on desktop 3 is able to recognize the disk that the other two don't have. Which tells me the disk isn't in a condition that Windows/BIOS developers anticipate it being in. Which means that the disk isn't healthy.

I still refer to my previous post as the possible solution(s). The disk simply isn't in a state where conventional data rescue techniques will work. You'll have to use something different, and it appears you'll have to do it on desktop 3.

The other options involve sending the disk to professionals to do an expensive data rescue. If the data is even still in a state to rescue. I hope that it isn't corrupted or that there isn't damage inside the disk itself.

The reason I say that it is not healthy based on what I've been told so far is due to how disks work. Here are two links that may help you understand exactly why your drive isn't being recognized, and why when it is you cannot get the data therein.

The Master File Table

Hard Disk Partitions