Member Avatar for hornchaser1660

Can anyone help me? I have a 2 TB Western Digital hard drive that my laptop no longer recognizes. I've tested it on two working computers and it hasn't been recognized by either one. It appears to have power and is connected properly. It does not make the grinding noises that a broken drive customarily makes, it just won't show up anymore. Has anyone out there seen this before or know how to fix it?

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reported a 2 TB Western Digital that powers (LED active) but never appears on multiple PCs. Replies from and others covered the common enclosure checks and even a freeze trick, but the drive still does not enumerate. Because those quick fixes failed, the next step is to separate two situations: the host never sees any USB/storage device at all, or the device is seen but the partition table/filesystem are missing or corrupted.

Recommended passive diagnostics: on Windows, observe Device Manager for new entries under "Disk drives" and "Universal Serial Bus controllers" and check Event Viewer for USB or driver errors immediately after connecting the unit. On Linux, boot a live image and watch kernel messages while plugging the device in; useful commands:

sudo dmesg -w
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,MODEL
lsusb

If the OS never enumerates a USB/storage device, the most likely culprits are the enclosure's USB-SATA bridge, the drive's PCB, or firmware corruption. As suggested, PCB swaps are sometimes proposed; modern drives often store adaptive/firmware data on that board, so a straight swap usually fails unless the replacement is the exact revision and any ROM/adaptive chip is migrated. Hasty hardware tinkering or repeated power cycles can reduce the chance of successful professional recovery.

If the drive does appear to the OS but partitions or folders are gone, produce a full image with a non-destructive tool (for example, GNU ddrescue) and run recovery tools like TestDisk or PhotoRec against the image rather than the original media. If mechanical symptoms appear (clicking, failure to reach spin speed) or the data is irreplaceable, stop DIY attempts and consult a reputable data recovery lab.

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Member Avatar for Rik_

What windows version are you using?

Member Avatar for hornchaser1660

What windows version are you using?

I've tried it on Vista and Windows 7. I've even tried freezing it (hey, it's worked for me before). Still nothing.

Member Avatar for Rik_

Right click on your My Computer and select manage, storage, then disk management and see if you can spot it there

Member Avatar for hornchaser1660

Did all that. It's not there.

Member Avatar for Rik_

Looks like it's an ex external hard drive then!

Member Avatar for hornchaser1660

Is there any way to pull the data off of it without forking out too much money?

Member Avatar for Rik_

Other than data recovery, your chances are low.

The only thing that occasionally works is taking the drive out of it's enclosure and fitting it into a PC. It being 2TB, it's most likely a sata2 drive so you will need a PC with a spare sata port, a data cable, and power connector. Be aware, some sata drives have the 4 pin molex as well as the sata power connector. If yours is like that, use one or the other, not both, or you will damage your PC!

Member Avatar for hornchaser1660

I'll try that. Thanx

Member Avatar for Rik_

If that doesn't work then professional data recovery is the only option left and that will be very expensice indeed!

Member Avatar for cudmore11

Did you find anything that worked? Mine is doing the exact same thing. it is being recognized as being plugged in because the little light on the hard drive is lighing up, but it is not being recognized on the comp. Im sooo frustrated i have 500 gb ob info on it

Member Avatar for kerry.green.359

hi um my 2tb seagate boot in ny computor wen plug it in it makes the sound boom boom to say ts conecting but nothing shows up any were i need help please it has that many important stuff on ther too lose

Member Avatar for mouaadable

try changing the motherboard of the hard drive , it gotta be the same !!!

Member Avatar for ezzraxx1

you should buy a new one dude

Member Avatar for ezzraxx1

wait, does the drive works on other computer?

Member Avatar for blackmiau

This has been marked as solved. Start your own thread.

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