Laptop can't read external hard drive.

kangshaun · Jun 30, 2015

Greetings,

I have been experiencing some difficulties in accessing my external hard drive. The model is WD My Passport sized 500GB.

I have tried different USB cables and have been suggested to use a power booster cable, but haven't got to yet because I don't really know how different it is appearance wise compared to normal USB cables. It is most probably USB2 so either my laptop is having trouble reading it or there's something wrong with the hard drive.

I suspect damage with the hard drive but I don't want to jump to any conclusions.
When I plug it into my laptop, nothing shows. It doesn't read it at all. There's no Local Disk drive, let alone a drive that is assigned a letter. The light on the hard drive is flashing when it is plugged in and for the first minute, there's a ticking sound coming from it.

I have tried it on another PC once and it could read it. Plugged it out to try again later, and it couldn't anymore.

I appreciate any input or at best, a solution to this problem.
Thanks in advance.

popatim · Jun 30, 2015

This would be an example of the cable they want you to try. Please note that you would need two usb ports that are close to each other.
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/LaCie-USB-cable-2-ft/2562540.aspx

kangshaun · Jul 1, 2015

popatim :

Hi popatim,

Thanks for clarifying. So I have actually tried this already but to no avail. Could it be related to possibly not enough RAM or memory to read it ?

D_Know_WD · Jul 1, 2015

Hi there kangshaun,

Sorry that you are facing some issues with your WD drive.

Clicking sounds in hard drives could be caused, more or less, by two things:
- insufficient power supply
- some mechanical flaw

So you have used the Y- type of USB cable right? In case this is not working on your laptop, it may be a good idea to try the drive on the computer that recognized it once.(in case it is a desktop one, you can attach it to the ports on the back of the case)

In case the issue persists and the drive is clicking and not being recognized, then I guess it has some mechanical flaw. If it is under warranty, you can just contact WD's Support and eventually RMA it. If the data stored on it is really important, you will need to contact a data recovery company.

In my view, this has nothing to do with RAM.

WD's Support: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=IaBQQQ
WD's Data Recovery Partners: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=BjMXdo

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

kangshaun · Jul 5, 2015

D_Know_WD :

Hi D_Know_WD,
Sorry for not getting back sooner as I have been busy lately.

I have tried both the normal cable and the Y-type cable on the PC but it can no longer read the hard drive anymore. Is it highly possible that the problem is in the hard drive itself ?

The files I have in it aren't too important but I would like to recover the files in it if possible.

D_Know_WD · Jul 6, 2015

Yeah, clicking could indicate problem related to the read/write head. In this case, you will need to use the services of a data recovery company.
In case the drive is under warranty, just contact WD's Support.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

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