failing hard drive?

[brannsiu]

I have a WD hard drive that was bought only in 2016. It's 4TB and worked always fine. A few days ago, I took it out from the chassis, and put it into the external case, and since then, it was starting to have problems.

It first took a few minutes before the files appeared, I wasn't very aware, and did not immediately transfer the files to a new drive. After operating for a few hours, the files disappeared, Total space = 0 GB , used space = 0 GB . The files never
show again.

The hard drive never dropped to ground or got wet, I am pretty sure.

I tried to put it back to the PC. instead of the external case. It doesn't work either.

Is there still any way I'll be able to get the files recovered?

Yes, I totally understand that a drive could fail at any time, but I have 8 hard drives, both Seagate and WD, but this is the newest drive among the 8.

Some suggested that it got short-circuited. I believe it too. Is there still any way
I could try to see if I am lucky enough to get back some critical files, before considering shipping it to a data recovery center which will cost a hand and a leg

 

[captaincharisma]

if the drive got shorted then likely it fried the bord on the HDD. you can try to find a way to replace the board on the HDD but that may be too complex. i believe the only option you have to to go to a data recovery centre to get your data recovered. if this drive is still under warranty WD (i'm not sure how long WD warranties last) may have an option like that for you.

 

[ss202sl]

critical files should be backed up.
If you shorted out the circuit board, you could try to replace it. There are a few companies that specialize in helping you do this, and if it works would be much cheaper than a recovery service. Some place like this:
https://www.hddzone.com/fix_hard_drive_pcb_board.html

 

[brannsiu]

critical files should be backed up.
If you shorted out the circuit board, you could try to replace it. There are a few companies that specialize in helping you do this, and if it works would be much cheaper than a recovery service. Some place like this:
https://www.hddzone.com/fix_hard_drive_pcb_board.html

I don't know but I strongly believe that it's a short-out.

Then, what is the approx. price of replacing the board by technicians?