WD My Book 1140 3TB USB hard drive all of sudden appeared as Unknown and Not Initialized in the Disk Management. I’ve been using it for backup of selected computer files and folders with WD SmartWare and It used to work great. I’m using Windows 7. In the Disk Management the device is listed as Disk Unknown and Not initialized. The WD quick view on the notification area of the Task bar is flashing all the time with the message “Discovering”. I tried turning the drive off and on several times by unplugging it. Also unplugging and changing the USB port. Restarting the computer. But noting helped. Is that hard drive gone? If I can’t retreat my backup files it will be bad. I was planning to buy another WD external like that but now I’m scared.
Your help will be greatly appreciated
update:
I used Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics to check the drive but both tests completed instantly as if the drive have no capacity and files on it.
As a recommendation, try using a data recovery software to see if you can get the files out of the drive.
Is possible to recover the drive going through the process of initialization. However, that procedure will required the drive to be reformatted and the files will be harder to recover.
WD does not have a data recovery software that we can recommend.
I’m sure that you can get multiple options online if you look for a free data recovery.
You can use the drive as a backup option. Please note that a backup is having your files on two different locations in case that one fails. This will help you to avoid losing any data.
I bought a new hard drive, WD My Book 4TB External Hard Drive which works fine except that it can’t backup files from my system C drive. I posted a new topic about this problem, this is a link to it:
Regarding the old hard drive, someone from WD called me on the phone and tried a number of steps to troubleshoot the problem but this didn’t help and he concluded that drive has a problem that can’t be fixed. The warranty of the hard drive had expired several months ago but he said they will replace my hard drive anyway which really impressed me and made a very happy customer especially after the fact that I just had bought a new hard drive from WD after considering other brands.
Anyway, he said I can use a service or try myself data recovery before sending the dirve for replacement. While I would like to recover some of the files on that hard drive which had no backup copies on my other hard drives, they are not that important to justify considerable payment. I will try the free solutions suggested from the replies here and will update you on the progress later
I found a solution that worked for me. I disconnected the power and the usb cord from the drive. Few minutes later, I connected the power cord and at that stage the light that previously was blinking, was off. Then I connected the usb cord first to the drive and then to the pc. The light the was turned on and was blinking but slowly. I turned on the pc and the drive was recognized.
