Another external drive issue!

[Benson01]

Hello Everyone!

I have a Western Digital My Book 2TB that was being used as my backup drive. It got dropped and yes it was turned on and plugged in too

I’ve read several posts saying that there is no hope and bin it but my problem is that I was having a good tidy when this happened and EVERYTHING was on this.

If I plug the USB3 cable into the laptop I do not get the automatic box asking how I want to open it. However, I am able to see it in Disk Management. It shows as Disk 3 – Unknown – Not Initialized.

I am told I must initialize a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it. I’m asked what partition style I want – MBR or GPT. Either way I get the error “The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."

I have tried recovery software but as the drive doesn’t show up I can’t select it.

I think that the disk still spins. The LED lights flash. I’ve also removed it from the housing and put into an external USB docking bay but this does not show up the drive anywhere. (Cheap docking bay?)

My last resort is to buy an identical drive and swap the platters and do in a clean as possible room and hope for the best. Even if I only recover part of the drive it’ll be something.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[alvine]

do you hear any clicking sounds from the drive? if so the drive head used to read and write data from your hd's magnetic discs has hit the platter making a round scratch on the disk making the head unable to move and the scratches will develop into bad sectors which basically are rust spots on your platters making them unable to be used

 

[ram1009]

Place a dollar value on your data and call a professional recovery service. Be sure to sit down before they quote you a price.

 

[zdbc13]

Swapping platters is best done by professionals in clean room conditions. I don't recommend it for amateurs. I suggest professional data recovery.

 

[Benson01]

Thanks for the very quick replies!

I don't hear anything unusual from the drive and no clicking. Is that good news!?!

Yes, I am considering professional data recovery but want to avoid if I can. I don't think I can justify the cost for some photos.

Thanks

 

[Benson01]

Does anyone else have a good idea how to get this working?

Thanks!

 

[zdbc13]

One possibility is that the USB controller and/or power system were damaged in the enclosure. I suggest you open it up, remove the drive, and attach it directly to a sata cable from your motherboard and a power cable from your power supply (or you could get a cheap usb enclosure). You might get lucky and be able to read it. If that fails start saving your money...