External HDD died, anything to try before RMA?

Discussion in 'SSD and HDD storage' started by Toadstool, Mar 27, 2019.

  1. Toadstool

    Toadstool Member Guru

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    I think my WD Elements 8tb is dead. It was working fine the other night but is now showing up as "Not Initialized" with no space shown. I've tried a different cable, re-initializing the drive, and repairing the MBR, none of that has worked. I think he's dead Jim. Is there anything else I should try before RMA'ing the bastard?

    Luckily, it's a second 8th external drive I bought as a backup, so nothing will be lost. I lost power the night before it stopped working, I can't image that has anything to do with it since the other (identical) drive is fine and they were both on the same powerstrip.
     
  2. zipper

    zipper Maha Guru

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    Try the HDD in another enclosure - I once had dead electronics in a Buffalo, the drive itself was OK.
     
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  3. Toadstool

    Toadstool Member Guru

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    I'll attempt to, I'm hesitant to damage the enclosure since it's only a few weeks old and I don't want void the warranty too blatantly in case I do need to return it.
     
  4. Extraordinary

    Extraordinary Guest

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    Probably the enclosure, usually find putting the drive inside the machine as internal or another enclosure and it works fine

    But if you want it replaced, don't open it just RMA
     
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  5. Toadstool

    Toadstool Member Guru

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    So, I popped the sucker open. I got the drive to spin up outside of the enclosure by taping off the 3rd power pin, but the computer wouldn't detect it. I think that had something to do with the WD enclosure using some sort of encryption.

    I put it all back together to rma and the stupid thing started working again. All I can think is the connector somehow came loose but I don't know. I hate these sorts of problems that get fixed without me knowing what the hell happened.
     

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