My Western Digital My Book suddenly went dead. I use it all the time!! It was on, working fine, I walked away from the computer and when I returned it was just dead! It is out of warranty and won't turn on, no fan noise, nothing. How can I retrieve the data on it without sending it to the company? It has every picture I own on it!!!!

IT appears that the HD is dead
Take it to an IT repair shop and have it checked out
If that is the case , replace it with a sshd unit as there is no moving parts like you have now to wear out
it powers up faster as well

Reset to Factory Settings

• 1 Download the computer software for your Western Digital My Book World Edition if you don't have it installed on your computer. The software can be downloaded on the Western Digital website (see Resources.) Install the software to your computer.
  
• 2 Go to the "Start" menu. Click "All Programs," the "Western Digital" folder and then "My Book World Edition Software" to launch the software.
  
• 3 Switch to the "System" tab. Click either the "Restore Configuration" or "Full Restore" button on the tab, depending on your My Book World Edition drive.
  
• 4 Click the "Browse" button, select the factory settings default restoration point, and then "General Restore" to return the unit to factory settings, or click "Full Restore" and then "Restore Factory Default," again depending on your specific My Book World Edition device. The unit powers off, all data is erased from the hard drive and the My Book is returned to factory settings.
  

you have to walk up the battery .keep it in charger for long time one or two hours then power on...if nothing happen the you have to change the battery.

If this is western digital world edition

Download the computer software for your Western Digital My Book World Edition if you don't have it installed on your computer.

The software can be downloaded on the Western Digital website.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=118&lang=en

Install the software to your computer.

Go to the "Start" menu.

Click "All Programs," the "Western Digital" folder and then "My Book World Edition Software" to launch the software.

Switch to the "System" tab. Click either the "Restore Configuration" or "Full Restore" button on the tab, depending on your My Book World Edition drive.

Click the "Browse" button, select the factory settings default restoration point, and then "General Restore" to return the unit to factory settings, or click "Full Restore" and then "Restore Factory Default," again depending on your specific My Book World Edition device.

The unit powers off, all data is erased from the hard drive and the My Book is returned to factory settings.

Hope this helps

Hello,

insert the Western digital my book into your computer, the click start menu, under "search" type in "Device Manager and press enter. When you get to the device manager, you will see a list of your computer's component. Scroll to the USB, under the USB you should see the Western digital my book, right click on it and press uninstall. Remove the Western digital my book and fix it back into your computer.

Secondly, go to start > All programs > Accessories > System tools > system restore. This will help to restore your computer to the time when the Western digital my book was working perfectly.

If the above does not solve the problem, then you can download the appropriate driver from the below link:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?wdc_lang=en

http://www.opendrivers.com/company/2625/western-digital-free-driver-download.html

Good luck.

If you're connecting a known-good power supply to the MyBook, and it's not turning on... I suspect that the MyBook has died. You should replace it or have it serviced. If the data on it is very important, it might be worth taking the drive apart and removing the hard drive inside and trying to recover data. If the data isn't important, I would say the MyBook is dead. Sorry.

Power down the drive, disconnect it, and then power it back up ... does it come up? If not, get new drive. Connect the drive to a known-good USB port (e.g. one that you've demonstrated your mouse can work on). Does Windows recognize it (****, "Installing External Device", etc.)? If not, try downloading new drivers from the Western Digital site. If it is recognized by not responding, you have a hard disk failure. If it is new, return it to the manufacturer ("infant mortality"). If not, good thing you have a back up, right? If you need to get data off of it, you may find you can get short-term access by using some low level disk access tools, available on Sourceforge.net.

Western Digital Enclosures are known to have this issue due to the electronics inside. The Hard drive is most likely fine but the electronics that drive the enclosure are not that great.

If it is newly purchased you could return it on warranty or by a new enclosure but buy a good quality one.

Mybook does not require any additional driver to work on systems from Win XP onward, same for recents Linux and MAC OS.
If the drive is not detected on more of one computer, then it is usually because of a fault.
Try a replacement cable (mybook uses Mini USB to USB, available at computer and at camera shops). If still no luck contact WD, mybooks have one year warranty. If you want to recover data, the disk must be mounted on a different enclosure, that service can be asked when discussing repair.
Regards

I discovered that the wrong power adapter was plugged into the Western Digital My Book which is why it was blinking two times a second and fried it. Plugged in a 24v instead of the 12vThe tech support person at Western Digital ignored the information of the blinking light. I fixed the hard drive issue by removing the cover (no easy task) and installing it as a slave drive on my computer. I am backing up that hard drive using another Western Digital My Book.

I would suggest to anyone who has the problem of frying their Western Digital hard drive to make it a secondary drive on your computer. My item was under warranty, but all they would have done is replace the product and not recovered the data. They gave me references on whom to send the problem hard drive to.

There are a couple of videos on youtube showing how to remove the cover. I wound up using credit cards and a DVD to pry it apart. I was fearful that a screwdriver could create noticeable tampering.