My WD not showing the hard drive

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for Windows
1

Hello everyone

My apologies for repeating what seems to be a problem shared by others but i thought i would explain my own situation to hopefully get a solution.

Ive been using a WD my Book 500GB Essential USB2.0 External HD for a few years now and all of a sudden the E drive is not showing.

Ive tried different cables but to no avail.

Ive tried the HD on two different computers and both computers seem to recognize that ive plugged something into the USB but no additional drives are showing up.

The BIOS seems to recognize the HD and Windows XP installs the drivers but for some reason i just cannot see the drive.

THe Ex HD is making no noise and seems to work fine apart from the fact i cannot see it :slight_smile:

Any advice would be hugely appreciated as i have some really important documents on this HD and like the biggest numpty ever ive not backed up some of it elsewhere …

Thanks in advance

Jos

2

Maybe you should try contacting WD’s Technical Support about this. You can do so either by phone or email.

To Contact WD for Technical Support
http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?lang=en

3

How does Microsoft’s UVCView utility see the external drive?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/UVCView.x86.exe

4

Thanks for the link.

Sorry for the delay, but the external HD was with a friend who was having a look at it for us, sadly he could not find a solution.

This is what the UVCView utility shows.

** edit ** seems ImageShack link does not seem to work.

I have inserted the USB into the front of my computer but not sure which port that is.

In port 7 it says USB Mass Storage Device with the following on the right

          —===>Device Information<===—
English product name: “External HDD”

ConnectionStatus:                  
Current Config Value:              0x01  → Device Bus Speed: High
Device Address:                    0x03
Open Pipes:                           2

          ===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x07
bDescriptorType:                   0x05
bEndpointAddress:                  0x01  → Direction: OUT - EndpointID: 1
bmAttributes:                      0x02  → Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize:                  0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval:                         0x00

          ===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x07
bDescriptorType:                   0x05
bEndpointAddress:                  0x82  → Direction: IN - EndpointID: 2
bmAttributes:                      0x02  → Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize:                  0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval:                         0x00

          ===>Device Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x12
bDescriptorType:                   0x01
bcdUSB:                          0x0200
bDeviceClass:                      0x00  → This is an Interface Class Defined Device
bDeviceSubClass:                   0x00
bDeviceProtocol:                   0x00
bMaxPacketSize0:                   0x40 = (64) Bytes
idVendor:                        0x1058 = Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
idProduct:                       0x0901
bcdDevice:                       0x0108
iManufacturer:                     0x01
     English (United States)  “Western Digital”
iProduct:                          0x02
     English (United States)  “External HDD”
iSerialNumber:                     0x03
     English (United States)  “57442D5743414D5233393938363738”
bNumConfigurations:                0x01

          ===>Configuration Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x09
bDescriptorType:                   0x02
wTotalLength:                    0x0020  → Validated
bNumInterfaces:                    0x01
bConfigurationValue:               0x01
iConfiguration:                    0x00
bmAttributes:                      0xC0  → Bus Powered
MaxPower:                          0x32 = 100 mA

          ===>Interface Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x09
bDescriptorType:                   0x04
bInterfaceNumber:                  0x00
bAlternateSetting:                 0x00
bNumEndpoints:                     0x02
bInterfaceClass:                   0x08  → This is a Mass Storage USB Device Interface Class
bInterfaceSubClass:                0x06
bInterfaceProtocol:                0x50
iInterface:                        0x00

          ===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x07
bDescriptorType:                   0x05
bEndpointAddress:                  0x01  → Direction: OUT - EndpointID: 1
bmAttributes:                      0x02  → Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize:                  0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval:                         0x00

          ===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength:                           0x07
bDescriptorType:                   0x05
bEndpointAddress:                  0x82  → Direction: IN - EndpointID: 2
bmAttributes:                      0x02  → Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize:                  0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval:                         0x00

5

UVCView is correctly identifying the USB-SATA bridge IC. It also appears to be seeing the drive behind the bridge. The serial number “57442D5743414D5233393938363738” is encoded in ASCII hexadecimal. You can use Debug in a Windows DOS box to decode it.

C:>debug
-e 100 57 44 2D 57 43 41 4D 52 33 39 39 38 36 37 38
-d 100 10e
12EB:0100 57 44 2D 57 43 41 4D 52-33 39 39 38 36 37 38 WD-WCAMR3998678
-q

Can you see the drive with a utility such as HD Sentinel or HDDScan?

http://www.hdsentinel.com
http://hddscan.com

If so, what does the SMART report say?

6

Downloaded the hard disk sentinel trial v.3.60 but not sure what im looking for.

All i can see is the C: drive which seems to be fine, but no other drive is shown.

7

With the HDD scan there seems to be 2 drives as follows .

Tried to copy and paste but it would allow it due to body error , so saved as text.

WDC WD3200YS-01PGB0-WD-[Deleted]-SMART.mht
HDDScan S.M.A.R.T. Report
Model: WDC WD3200YS-01PGB0
Firmware: 21.00M21
Serial: WD-[Deleted]
LBA: 625142448

Report By: HDDScan for Windows version 3.3
Report Date: 05/25/2011 8:31:59 AM

      Num Attribute Name Value Worst Raw(hex) Threshold

      001Raw Read Error Rate 2002000000000000-0000051

      003Spin Up Time 1741660000000000-189C021

      004Start/Stop Count 0990990000000000-06A4000

      005Reallocation Sector Count 2002000000000000-0000140

      007Seek Error Rate 2002000000000000-0000051

      009Power-On Hours Count 0750750000000000-49A6000

      010Spin Retry Count 1001000000000000-0000051

      011Recalibration Retries 1001000000000000-0000051

      012Device Power Cycle Count 0990990000000000-06A3000

      190Airflow Temperature 05804542 C 000

      194HDA Temperature 10809542 C 000

      196Reallocation Event Count 2002000000000000-0000000

      197Current Pending Errors Count 2002000000000000-0000000

      198Uncorrectable Errors Count 2002000000000000-0000000

      199UltraDMA CRC Errors 2002000000000000-0000000

      200Multi Zone Error Rate2002000000000000-0000051

WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0-WD-[Deleted]-SMART.mht
HDDScan S.M.A.R.T. Report
Model: WDC WD3200JB-00KFA0
Firmware: 08.05J08
Serial: WD-[Deleted]
LBA: 625142448

Report By: HDDScan for Windows version 3.3
Report Date: 05/25/2011 8:43:35 AM

      Num Attribute Name Value Worst Raw(hex) Threshold

      247Unknown Attribute 181181FDFDFFBFDF-FCF6255

      223Load Retry Count 187097FFFBFE0000-1612255

      255Unknown Attribute 088088FFFFFF0000-32BD255

      255Unknown Attribute 200196FDFFFF0000-0000252

      255Unknown Attribute 182182FEFFF50000-0152231

      255Unknown Attribute 0570577DFFFF0000-7D41255

      127Unknown Attribute 100100FFFBFF0004-A020245

      255Unknown Attribute 088088FDFFDF0412-2080254

      255Unknown Attribute 0980987DFFCF0000-089B255

      255Unknown Attribute 121114FDFFFF0000-001D191

      239Unknown Attribute 001001EFFFB70000-0400207

      207Spin Current 200200FCFFFF0000-0000254

      239Unknown Attribute 200001FFDDFF0000-0000239

      255Unknown Attribute 200001FFFFEFDF7F-75F4167

      255Unknown Attribute 200001F7FFFB0000-0000255

In the first report all the left hand side showed a green circle,  and the second report they where all red X’s apart from 255 which was a green circle.

8

Not sure what you meant by Debug in a windows DOS , that sounds complicated ! :slight_smile:

9

ISTM that your C: drive is a WD3200YS-01PGB0, which is a 320GB SATA model. HD Sentinel and HDDScan both see it correctly.

However, your My Book 500GB Essential is being detected as a WD3200JB-00KFA0, which is an older 320GB IDE drive, not 500GB. Are you sure you have the correct capacity?

Furthermore, since it is an older drive, it could be that the USB-PATA bridge chip inside the enclosure is unable to communicate SMART information, which would account for HDDScan’s nonsensical SMART report.

As for debug.exe, this is a powerful DOS utility that is included with Windows. I have used it to show how you can decipher ASCII data without having to consult ASCII tables. You can see the decoded “WD-WCAMR” model number in the output.

10

Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it.

Im not sure of the capacity to be honest , maybe it was a 320GB …ive had it a while and maybe i just presumed it was a 500GB.

What would you suggest i do now, debug exe ?

Do you reckon there is a chance i could get back at least some of the data?

11

We need to determine whether the drive has a logical problem or physical problem. A logical problem is one where there is file system corruption. This often happens when you disconnect the drive while it is being accessed, or before the write cache has been flushed. A physical problem can be the result of bad sectors or a more serious fault.

Inside the enclosure you have a USB-SATA bridge board. Your PC talks USB, the drive talks SATA, and the bridge IC handles the translation. UVCView has confirmed that the bridge is working correctly.

The drive also appears to be working, at least in part. Assuming that it is in fact a 320GB My Book, then the drive is identifying itself with its correct model number, serial number, and capacity. You can confirm this by verifying the model number or part number on the enclosure.

You should see the drive in Device Manager and in Disk Management. The fact that it is not assigned a drive letter would suggest that your OS doesn’t recognise the file system, or that there is a problem with the FS. Depending on the OS, you could also try manually assigning a drive letter to it.

The SMART report could have told us if there were bad sectors, but unfortunately these data are unavailable to us.

You could try using HDDScan to scan the surface of the drive. This should produce a bad block map. Otherwise, if HDDScan balks at the first sector, then I would suspect a more serious problem.

12

All this computer talk confuses me :slight_smile:

Ive just plugged in the external HD and in Hard Disk Sentinal i selected disk / surface test.

It seems to show two discs

[0] 298GB  C: WDC3200YS

[1] 298GB  WDC WD3200JB ( no drive letter shown )

Do you want me to start test on the second one ? ( test type - Read test )

13

Yes, test the WD3200JB drive.

14

This option is only available after registration and activation.

Does this mean i have to buy the product to do a surface test ?

15

OK, my apologies , got confused a bit there.

I was trying to use the HD Sentinal for some reason, did not realise i was suppose to use the HDD Scan for surface test .

Executing as i speak …

On a side note …  the WDC WD3200JB is now showing up on the HD Sentinel but health and Temp is shown as ?

Would you like any information from the information tab ?

16

If the surface test is running, then it appears that the drive is accessible. I expect that HDDScan will find some bad blocks. If so, then your best approach would be to clone the drive, sector by sector, using a utility that knows how to work around bad patches in the media. Ddrescue and dd_rescue are two freeware cloning tools. Then use data recovery software on your clone.

17

Thanks again fzabkar for your help on this …

I ran the HDDScan exe file , chose the right drive and selected Surface Test and added Test Read .

I left it run for possibly 3 hours and all it did was say the status is Executing and the HD just kept flashing that yellow circle.

I stopped it then pressuming it did not work, how long does it take to normally execute ?

18

If you assume that the average read transfer rate is 100 MB/s, then a full scan should have taken less than an hour.

(320 x 10^9) / (100 x 10^6) / 60 = 53 minutes

ISTM that the drive has some serious physical problem. :frowning:

Diagnosis is being complicated by the USB enclosure. Ideally you should remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it directly to your motherboard. However, this will only be possible if your motherboard has an IDE (PATA) port.

Before you open the enclosure, could we see the partition table and boot sectors with Microsoft’s Sector Inspector?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/SecInspect.zip

Extract the above archive to the one folder and execute the SIrun.bat file. The procedure will generate a report file named SIout.txt.

19

Date and time:
05/31/2011
09:07 AM

0001.033

Sector Inspector                 Copyright Microsoft Corporation 2003

Target - \.\PHYSICALDRIVE0  
               38913  Cylinders
                 255  Heads             
                  63  Sectors Per Track
                 512  BytesPerSector    
                  12  MediaType         

===========================================================================
                             Master Boot Record

| B | FS TYPE |       START    |        END     |            |            |
| F |  (hex)  |   C     H     S|   C     H     S|  RELATIVE  |    TOTAL   |

| * |   07    |   0     1     1|1023   254    63|          63|   625121217|
|   |   00    |   0     0     0|   0     0     0|           0|           0|
|   |   00    |   0     0     0|   0     0     0|           0|           0|
|   |   00    |   0     0     0|   0     0     0|           0|           0|

Disk Signature 0xc084c084

Partition #1 NTFS backup boot sector at LBN 625121279.

LBN 0   [C 0, H 0, S 1]

0x0000   33 c0 8e d0 bc 00 7c fb-50 07 50 1f fc be 1b 7c   3ÀŽÐ¼.|ûP.Pü¾|
0x0010   bf 1b 06 50 57 b9 e5 01-f3 a4 cb bd be 07 b1 04   ¿.PW¹å.ó¤Ë½¾.±.
0x0020   38 6e 00 7c 09 75 13 83-c5 10 e2 f4 cd 18 8b f5   8n.|.uƒÅâôÍ‹õ
0x0030   83 c6 10 49 74 19 38 2c-74 f6 a0 b5 07 b4 07 8b   ƒÆIt8,tö µ.´.‹
0x0040   f0 ac 3c 00 74 fc bb 07-00 b4 0e cd 10 eb f2 88   ð¬<.tü»…´.Íëòˆ
0x0050   4e 10 e8 46 00 73 2a fe-46 10 80 7e 04 0b 74 0b   NèF.s*þF€~…t.
0x0060   80 7e 04 0c 74 05 a0 b6-07 75 d2 80 46 02 06 83   €~…t. ¶.uÒ€F…ƒ
0x0070   46 08 06 83 56 0a 00 e8-21 00 73 05 a0 b6 07 eb   F…ƒV…è!.s. ¶.ë
0x0080   bc 81 3e fe 7d 55 aa 74-0b 80 7e 10 00 74 c8 a0   ¼>þ}Uªt.€~.tÈ
0x0090   b7 07 eb a9 8b fc 1e 57-8b f5 cb bf 05 00 8a 56   ·.ë©‹üW‹õË¿…ŠV
0x00a0   00 b4 08 cd 13 72 23 8a-c1 24 3f 98 8a de 8a fc   .´.Ír#ŠÁ$?˜ŠÞŠü
0x00b0   43 f7 e3 8b d1 86 d6 b1-06 d2 ee 42 f7 e2 39 56   C÷ã‹Ñ†Ö±.ÒîB÷â9V
0x00c0   0a 77 23 72 05 39 46 08-73 1c b8 01 02 bb 00 7c   .w#r.9F.s¸…».|
0x00d0   8b 4e 02 8b 56 00 cd 13-73 51 4f 74 4e 32 e4 8a   ‹N.‹V.ÍsQOtN2äŠ
0x00e0   56 00 cd 13 eb e4 8a 56-00 60 bb aa 55 b4 41 cd   V.ÍëäŠV.»ªU´AÍ 0x00f0&nbsp;&nbsp; 13 72 36 81 fb 55 aa 75-30 f6 c1 01 74 2b 61 60&nbsp;&nbsp; r6ûUªu0öÁ.t+a
0x0100   6a 00 6a 00 ff 76 0a ff-76 08 6a 00 68 00 7c 6a   j.j.ÿv.ÿv.j.h.|j
0x0110   01 6a 10 b4 42 8b f4 cd-13 61 61 73 0e 4f 74 0b   .j´B‹ôÍaas.Ot.
0x0120   32 e4 8a 56 00 cd 13 eb-d6 61 f9 c3 49 6e 76 61   2äŠV.ÍëÖaùÃInva
0x0130   6c 69 64 20 70 61 72 74-69 74 69 6f 6e 20 74 61   lid partition ta
0x0140   62 6c 65 00 45 72 72 6f-72 20 6c 6f 61 64 69 6e   ble.Error loadin
0x0150   67 20 6f 70 65 72 61 74-69 6e 67 20 73 79 73 74   g operating syst
0x0160   65 6d 00 4d 69 73 73 69-6e 67 20 6f 70 65 72 61   em.Missing opera
0x0170   74 69 6e 67 20 73 79 73-74 65 6d 00 00 00 00 00   ting system…
0x0180   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   …
0x0190   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   …
0x01a0   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   …
0x01b0   00 00 00 00 00 2c 44 63-84 c0 84 c0 00 00 80 01   …,Dc„À„À…€.
0x01c0   01 00 07 fe ff ff 3f 00-00 00 c1 97 42 25 00 00   …þÿÿ?..Á—B%…
0x01d0   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   …
0x01e0   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   …
0x01f0   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa   …Uª

Primary Partition 1
NTFS BIOS Parameter Block Information

  BytesPerSector      :         512
  Sectors Per Cluster :           8
  ReservedSectors     :           0
  Fats                :           0
  RootEntries         :           0
  Small Sectors       :           0 ( 0 MB )
  Media Type          :         248 ( 0xf8 )
  SectorsPerFat       :           0
  SectorsPerTrack     :          63
  Heads               :         255
  Hidden Sectors      :          63
  Large Sectors       :           0 ( 0 MB )

  ClustersPerFRS      :         246
  Clust/IndxAllocBuf  :           1
  NumberSectors       :            625121216 ( 305235 MB )
  MftStartLcn         :               786432
  Mft2StartLcn        :             39070076
  SerialNumber        :  1330971089577117989
  Checksum            :                    0 (0x0)

LBN 63   [C 0, H 1, S 1]

0x0000   eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20-20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00   ëRNTFS    …
0x0010   00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00-3f 00 ff 00 3f 00 00 00   …ø…?.ÿ.?..
0x0020   00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00-c0 97 42 25 00 00 00 00   …€.€.À—B%…
0x0030   00 00 0c 00 00 00 00 00-7c 29 54 02 00 00 00 00   …|)T…
0x0040   f6 00 00 00 01 00 00 00-25 09 8f 78 27 8f 78 12   ö…%.x’x
0x0050   00 00 00 00 fa 33 c0 8e-d0 bc 00 7c fb b8 c0 07   …ú3ÀŽÐ¼.|û¸À.
0x0060   8e d8 e8 16 00 b8 00 0d-8e c0 33 db c6 06 0e 00   ŽØè.¸…ŽÀ3ÛÆ…
0x0070   10 e8 53 00 68 00 0d 68-6a 02 cb 8a 16 24 00 b4   èS.h…hj.ËŠ$.´
0x0080   08 cd 13 73 05 b9 ff ff-8a f1 66 0f b6 c6 40 66   .Ís.¹ÿÿŠñf.¶Æ@f
0x0090   0f b6 d1 80 e2 3f f7 e2-86 cd c0 ed 06 41 66 0f   .¶Ñ€â?÷â†ÍÀí.Af.
0x00a0   b7 c9 66 f7 e1 66 a3 20-00 c3 b4 41 bb aa 55 8a   ·Éf÷áf£ .ôA»ªUŠ
0x00b0   16 24 00 cd 13 72 0f 81-fb 55 aa 75 09 f6 c1 01   $.Ír.ûUªu.öÁ.
0x00c0   74 04 fe 06 14 00 c3 66-60 1e 06 66 a1 10 00 66   t.þ…Ãf`.f¡.f
0x00d0   03 06 1c 00 66 3b 06 20-00 0f 82 3a 00 1e 66 6a   …f;. …‚:.fj
0x00e0   00 66 50 06 53 66 68 10-00 01 00 80 3e 14 00 00   .fP.Sfh…€>…
0x00f0   0f 85 0c 00 e8 b3 ff 80-3e 14 00 00 0f 84 61 00   .……è³ÿ€>…„a.
0x0100   b4 42 8a 16 24 00 16 1f-8b f4 cd 13 66 58 5b 07   ´BŠ$.‹ôÍfX[.
0x0110   66 58 66 58 1f eb 2d 66-33 d2 66 0f b7 0e 18 00   fXfXë-f3Òf.·…
0x0120   66 f7 f1 fe c2 8a ca 66-8b d0 66 c1 ea 10 f7 36   f÷ñþŠÊf‹ÐfÁê÷6
0x0130   1a 00 86 d6 8a 16 24 00-8a e8 c0 e4 06 0a cc b8   .†ÖŠ$.ŠèÀä…̸
0x0140   01 02 cd 13 0f 82 19 00-8c c0 05 20 00 8e c0 66   …Í.‚.ŒÀ. .ŽÀf
0x0150   ff 06 10 00 ff 0e 0e 00-0f 85 6f ff 07 1f 66 61   ÿ…ÿ……oÿ.fa
0x0160   c3 a0 f8 01 e8 09 00 a0-fb 01 e8 03 00 fb eb fe   àø.è… û.è…ûëþ
0x0170   b4 01 8b f0 ac 3c 00 74-09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd 10   ´.‹ð¬<.t.´.»…Í
0x0180   eb f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20 64-69 73 6b 20 72 65 61 64   ëòÃ…A disk read
0x0190   20 65 72 72 6f 72 20 6f-63 63 75 72 72 65 64 00    error occurred.
0x01a0   0d 0a 4e 54 4c 44 52 20-69 73 20 6d 69 73 73 69   …NTLDR is missi
0x01b0   6e 67 00 0d 0a 4e 54 4c-44 52 20 69 73 20 63 6f   ng…NTLDR is co
0x01c0   6d 70 72 65 73 73 65 64-00 0d 0a 50 72 65 73 73   mpressed…Press
0x01d0   20 43 74 72 6c 2b 41 6c-74 2b 44 65 6c 20 74 6f    Ctrl+Alt+Del to
0x01e0   20 72 65 73 74 61 72 74-0d 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00    restart…
0x01f0   00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-83 a0 b3 c9 00 00 55 aa   …ƒ ³É…Uª

===========================================================================
Target - \.\PHYSICALDRIVE1  
               38913  Cylinders
                 255  Heads             
                  63  Sectors Per Track
                 512  BytesPerSector    
                  12  MediaType         

Error 1117 was encountered reading from \.\PHYSICALDRIVE1.

The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.

Not sure if i did this right, extracted secinspect.exe and SIrun.bat into a new folder and then ran SIrun.bat.

20

ISTM that the external HD has real problems. Sector Inspector can’t read the very first sector. Is it possible that the drive is password protected??? Do HD Sentinel or HDDScan mention anything about the drive’s security status?