Hey, I picked up this external drive back around September 2009 and it has worked perfectly since then till near the end of February 2010. The part number is WDBAAA5000ASL-00.
Under normal circumstances, I’d plug the drive into my macbook pro and the drive’s LED would light up and would blink in a non-repetitive pattern, as well as quietly hum as most drives do. When I first started using it, I’ve tested this to work on ALL of my USB ports.
Now, for some strange reason, when plugged in it would blink at approximately 120 flashes/minute. At the same time, there is no software response from my macbook, nor is there any hum coming from the device.
To account for a ‘weak USB port’ I’ve gone ahead and tested all of my ports (and yes, I have tested my macbook plugged into the AC adapter), as well as tested it on a desktop PC plugged directly into the motherboard USB port (running Vista, but I’ve checked this in the past to have a response, now it no longer responds). To account for bad USB ports, I’ve tested various thumbdrives and non-WD external drives to be perfectly functional on the same ports.
There is NO DAMAGE to the harddrive, as I am very careful with my electronics; I store it inside a dedicated padded pouch when not in use. The USB cable is also in great condition, I’ve even left the tag on it displaying P/N “4064-705045-000 AC”.
Can anybody suggest another way to test/repair my drive without having to ‘just go and exchange it’, or even without having to go through WD repair services? The whole point of having this is to backup my files, and now I’ve practically lost files because of it. A little counter-productive the way I’d see it.
thanks,
sdc_23
Ontario, Canada
