20 Most Recent Western Digital My Book Essential 500GB External USB 2.0 - WDH1U5000N 500 GB Hard Drive - Page 4 Questions & Answers

NO IT WILL NOT BEST BET is you've lost your data as the scratched heads and exposure render it close to imposible for you to recover data the only way is to call a data recovery outfit for a solution .
good luck

what happened?

Hi,

Check the file system of your hard drive. If your PC is recognizing it, check if its a FAT or NTFS. If it is NTFS then you have to reformat it using your Mac and choose FAT. Mac OS recognizes NTFS as a read only drive. If you plan using it with your PC and MAC you should format it using your mac and choose MS-DOS in disc Utility. You cannot format the drive using your PC Computer with a FAT file system because of the capacity. Only Mac can format it with a FAT file system.

There may be. Since it is your external hard drive, if it will not recognize enough to mount you cannot recover data from the drive and the only way to physically recover the data might be a company that specializes in data recovery services which are very expensive.

Try contacting Western Digital support and see what they recommend in your situation. Don't tell them specifically that it fell, but have them walk you through troubleshooting steps as if it is just not working. If they ask, of course, tell them the truth. They will be more sympathetic with people who are honest about stuff like that.

It could be that you merely have a loose connector where the cord plugs in to your drive. Try moving it around and see if a position allows your computer to recognize it and if it does, grab your data asap.

I devised these simple steps that tend to remedy quite a few issues with most USB portable / external hard drives and devices (though not always)

A few things to check but assumes USB and Windows for other interfaces / operating systems similar steps may be adapted to suit.

1. Ensure it is connected directly to the computer to a USB 2.0 port not a USB 1.0 port as this can have effects on performance and reliability

2. Use only the cables that came with it NOT one that fits that may have been lying around or is longer. Not all USB cables are equal even though they should be)

3. Do not connect through an external USB HUB unless that hub is USB 2.0 AND has its own power supply.

4. Use ONLY the power supply that came with it if it has an external power supply Don’t use any other unless you know it has both the same voltage and current rating e.g. 12V 500mA anything rated below that would not work properly.

5. Always use the same port for connecting your devices. Some devices do not like being switched about. If switched they may want to install software / drivers again. This can be especialy true if you move a HUB to another port

If you checked and fixed anything there and still have issues then check your hardware from CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / HARDWARE.
Any exclamation marks by hardware need fixing before you investigate any further

Noramally divers are not needed for these drives

I devised these simple steps that tend to remedy quite a few issues with most portable / external hard drives (though not always)
A few things to check but assumes USB and Windows for other interfaces / operating systems similar steps may be adapted to suit.

1. Ensure it is connected directly to the computer to a USB 2.0 port not a USB 1.0 port as this can have effects on performance and reliability

2. Use only the cables that came with it NOT one that fits that may have been lying around or is longer. Not all USB cables are equal even though they should be)

3. Do not connect through an external USB HUB unless that hub is USB 2.0 AND has its own power supply.

4. Use ONLY the power supply that came with it if it has an external power supply
Don’t use any other unless you know it has both the same voltage and current rating e.g. 12V 500mA anything rated below that would not work properly.

5. Always use the same port for connecting your devices. Some devices do not like being switched about. If switched they may want to install software / drivers again.

If you checked and fixed anything there and still have issues carry on reading.

Go to your control panel and then administrative tools, select Computer Management.
Now select Disk Management and expand the window.
Your drive should be listed here, if not then you need to check your computer hardware has not got any issues before proceeding.

If your drive is listed and says healthy then right click on it an select Properties, click Tools and then Error Checking, Check now, tick the two boxes and then Start.
This will attempt to fix most minor / common errors on the drive. It may also ask you to restart which is fine. Allow it to finish its work or you could corrupt the drive. If all went well you should be able to use it normally again.

If you drive was listed but did NOT say healthy then right click and select Format. Choose NTFS as the file system and do not tick any boxes you do NOT want quick format. Again start and let it do its thing. When it is done restart your computer and you should be good to go.

If you still have problems with the drive you might want to look at other areas.

Quick checks of the drive itself can be done by removing it from its enclosure and connecting it directly
to a computer that has the correct interface. If you can read and use the drive then you know it is not that.

If you cannot use the drive in any way and esp. if you hear clicking or pinging then the drive is almost certainly dead or dying.

Hope these may have been helpful

I devised these simple steps that tend to remedy quite a few issues with most portable / external hard drives (though not always)
A few things to check but assumes USB and Windows for other interfaces / operating systems similar steps may be adapted to suit.

1. Ensure it is connected directly to the computer to a USB 2.0 port not a USB 1.0 port as this can have effects on performance and reliability
2. Use only the cables that came with it NOT one that fits that may have been lying around or is longer. Not all USB cables are equal even though they should be)
3. Do not connect through an external USB HUB unless that hub is USB 2.0 AND has its own power supply.
4. Use ONLY the power supply that came with it if it has an external power supply
Don’t use any other unless you know it has both the same voltage and current rating e.g. 12V 500mA anything rated below that would not work properly.
5. Always use the same port for connecting your devices. Some devices do not like being switched about. If switched they may want to install software / drivers again.
If you checked and fixed anything there and still have issues carry on reading.
Go to your control panel and then administrative tools, select Computer Management.
Now select Disk Management and expand the window.
Your drive should be listed here, if not then you need to check your computer hardware has not got any issues before proceeding.
If your drive is listed and says healthy then right click on it an select Properties, click Tools and then Error Checking, Check now, tick the two boxes and then Start.
This will attempt to fix most minor / common errors on the drive. It may also ask you to restart which is fine. Allow it to finish its work or you could corrupt the drive. If all went well you should be able to use it normally again.
If you drive was listed but did NOT say healthy then right click and select Format. Choose NTFS as the file system and do not tick any boxes you do NOT want quick format. Again start and let it do its thing. When it is done restart your computer and you should be good to go.
If you still have problems with the drive you might want to look at other areas.

A few things to check but assumes USB for other interfaces similar steps may be followed

1. ensure it is connected directly to the computer to a USB 2.0 port not a USB 1.0 port as this can have effects on performance and reliability

2. Use only the cables that came with it NOT one that fits that may have been lying around or is longer.

3. Do not connect through an external USB HUB unless that hub is USB 2.0 AND has its own power supply.

4. Use ONLY the power supply that came with it if it has an external power supply (Dont use any other unless you know it has both the same voltage and current rating eg. 12V 500mA anything rated below that would not work properly)

If you checked and fixed anything there and still have issues carry on reading.

Go to your control panel and then administrative tools, select computer management.

Now select Disk Management and expand the window.

Your drive should be listed here (if not then you need to check your computer hardware has not got any issues before proceeding)

If your drive is listed and says healthy then right click on it an select Properties, click tools and then error checking, Check now, tick the two boxes and then start.

This will attempt to fix any errors on the drive. It may also ask you to restart which is fine. Allow it to finish its work or you could corrupt the drive. If all went well you should be able to use it normally again.

If you drive was listed ut did NOT say healthy then right click and select Format. Choose NTFS as the file system and do not tick any boxes you do NOT want quick format. Again start and let it do its thing. when it is done restart your computer and you should be good to go.

Is this a new external with no data on it? If it is, it may need to be formatted.Go to disk management to see if the drive is there. It may need to be initialize first before you can formatted.If it has not been initialized, a message will pop up for you to initialized it. Once it is done, formatted--This should be done only if don't have any data on it.

Good luck

The hard-drive is "dying".

Is it still under "warranty"?

When you have the serial-number of the hard-drive inside the external unit, access Western Digital's web-site, and check the Warranty Status.

Note that Western Digital (the maker of the external drive)
has a "Customer Loyalty" program. Enter the serial-number
of the hard-drive on their web-site, and you can purchase a new external hard-drive at a significant discount.

Hello purplebubble,

Purchasing the notebook for backups was a smart move. It's always good to have backups. When you plug the notebook into your computer, it will be assigned a drive letter like D:\ or E:\. When you open up My Computer you should see it with the other drives, like your CDROM, and C:\ Local Disk.

Go ahead and click on that drive and it will open to a blank page. That's ok! since you haven't put anything on it yet, it should be blank. When you create your backup, just make sure when the backup program asks you about where you want to place the backup, answer that drive letter, and the rest will take care of itself.

Good Luck, and don't forget to leave a rating.

Thanks Mark

Yes. This is going to sound strange. Put the drive in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer. Next day, take it out, hook it up, and see if it is recognized.

If so, under My computer, right click on the drive - click Properties - then Tools, then Error Checking. Check box Automatically Fix File System Errors. Let it run. If everything shows up, be ready to transfer wnat you want off of it.

Freezing shrinks the metal parts . Microscopically, but often enough to get stuck parts free enough to get working.

I just went through this with a 750Gig Book. now i have reformatted the drive (after transferring all over to new drive) and the clicking is gone and all disk checks are fine and i wonder whether to trust this device ever again... Hate to just throw out a large drive.

I wish I had the words of comfort that you will need with this tale of woe I must tell you.

You see, its a matter of organization.

Though your data is SOMEWHERE on the disk, without proper ejection, the disk cannot find them as they had been assigned data space.

It is very much like the requirement that a computer be properly shut down or face similar problems with its internal disks becoming corrupted.

Your files were not actually cleared, they were corrupted, but perhaps the volume can be repaired.

Go into your applications folder, (as you should have done while installing the disk in the first place) and find a folder entitled "Utilities" and within that folder and icon entitled "Disk Utility" and click on it. and a dialogue window will open up showing all disks currently installed, including your external disk which you should select and you will notice tabs entitled "First Aid" "Erase" "RAID" and "Restore"

Follow the instructions found there and the very best of luck to you.

it must be initialised /mounted 1st for osx

What OS are you running? If it is a Mac, does the Disk Utility see it? If it is detected but it doesn't mount it needs to be initialised partitioned and formatted. You may need to partition it in smaller chunks if the computer or OS is older as they were not made with 500 GB and 1 TB drives in mind.
If it is Windows, try running the utility that came with it and see if it is recognised, or try the Disk Management tool in the Administrative Tools section of the control panel. If it is not seen by those utilities at all, it is possible you have either a bad cable, the drive is bad or the driver is not loaded for whatever reason.

Check those things and see if you get anywhere. Feel free to contact me again if you need any more help.

Cheers.

Hi hot_lips_swe

If you've tried everything possible to access it through the external,what I would do, is to dismantle the case around the hard drive, and take out the physical hard drive and switch the back pins to Slave, and add it to a desktop if you have one. (make sure you have your main drive as Master) Then as a slave drive you have a lot more options to recover your data. If you don't have a desktop, you can purchase a laptop port extender at your local computer store. Or you can buy you HERE, and connect it direct to the usb port. Your best way is to slave the drive on a desktop thou.


Good Luck
Mark

First off, have you downloaded ANYTHING onto that hard drive?

It's the limitation of the FAT32 file system format of the drive. The only solution is to reformat the drive as NTFS.

There is no absolute answer to this, it depends on the USB ports of the computer. Normally on a dekstop it might not be required, on most laptops it would be.
But ... if there are ports available, I'd use them both all the time, reduce the risk of power problems.