20 Most Recent Western Digital 250GB MyBook External USB 2.0 250 GB Hard Drive - Page 6 Questions & Answers

the disk label might be incorrect.

you know how you have c: and d:\ and maybe e: and F: drives?

in Windows XP you can set those letters.
if you had it in a mates PC, or your friend plugged their drive into your PC, the drive letters might get 'out of whack'.

to correct in Windows XP - Right click on My Computer - select Manage.

then go to Disk Management on the left panel.

find the usb drive there, right click on it, and select Change Drive letters and Paths.
change to a unused drive letter, and save these settings.

all going to plan, the disk should load as it normally would.

this is not just for this model of portable hard drive, this is for any USB drives, penstick/memory sticks included.

just update the chipset drivers of ur system form the vendors site,,, tat ll solve the issue...

If you have your data in other drives then you do not loose anything. Only this drive data will be lost as the whole disk is formatted after partitioning.

this may be a hdd physical failure, best to check this would be to connect disk to another computer for a minute and run full HDTACH tests, if it's not damaged, then boot record is damaged, and Partition magic or similar program is needed to delete partition and re-create it

does the Drive show up as being connected? if so then the drive may be the problem, if you can attach the drive to another computer and see what happens, the link up to the computer is automatic, u shouldn't have to do anything, on a mac it is very doubtful the computer is the problem, my money would be on a defective drive.

I sometimes manage to overcome a similar problem by turning the hard drive over and standing it upside down. Don't know what this does but it often seems to work

Hi

1) Is the drive seen in Device Manager?

2) If it is in device manager are there yellow exclamation marks beside it?

If you have another cable try to connect the drive with that and plug it in to a different USB port on your computer.

If that fails use disk clean up and delete any temporary files found on your computer as a first measure.

Let me know how you get on.

Hi there

Please try to make a new file in the drive, such a Word or text document. Any new file will do really. Then, unplug the drive safely as usual. Connect it back in and delete that new file.

Does the same problem happen to the new file as well?

If not, and that file goes away forever, does the problem only seem to happen with certain folders, or all folders? If unsure please make a new folder, pop some test files in there, delete the folder and see if that one comes back. Let me know the results.

Also provide the operating system you are using.

Please do not rate this reply unless I have solved your problem or your reply will not be returned to me.

Thanks.

you can try few options, first try on a nohter pc with windows & see if it's fast, also if there is less data, backup & try a format.

seemd to me you have a defective drive. if it was bought new.. try looking for warranty

yes the PC will not boot when the external driver is connected, thats cause you dont have any boot files on the drive.

Did you install the drivers for the drive? Is it recognised in Windows as a device? If not, try reconnecting and Windows should prompt you to install the drivers, Assuming the drive is recognised by WIndows, then are a few causes for not transferring data. I've attached a link to Western Digital's FAQ regarding Data Transfer problems with your drive....

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=nCt181pj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=1017&p_li=&p_page=1&p_new_search=1&p_search_type=answers.search_nl&p_sort_by=&p_search_text=transferring+data

Several page of possible solutions are listed above.... however, you can refine the search if it is only happening when running specific apps or @ specific times. The answer you seek is located in this link. If you can provide more details on the type of file(s) you are trying to transfer and how, I'll refine the solution for you....

Sounds like to me you already did the troubleshooting. If you cannot get the drive to function properly on another computer and it has the same symptoms, then logic would say that it is your drive. Note to also use a different cable to make sure it isn't the cable. I would try it on at least two more computers to make sure, hopefully with at least XP and Vista.

Format it with NTFS. FAT32 is limited to a max file size of 4gb and goes wacky with a drive size more than 62 GB..

First instinct is that your drive has failed. I would remove the drive and insert it into a system to test. If it works, then it is the housing from the external drive that failed. If the drive does not work once inside your system, then the drive is bad. Good luck.

Does the external drive work when connected to some _other_ computer? (Friend? Office? Home?)

It could be a failure either in the "hardware" inside the external-case (the USB adapter & interface)
or in the disk-drive "inside" the external-case.

So, a qualified technician can open the external drive, remove the disk-drive, and connect it directly to a computer, to see if the files can be "directly" read from the disk-drive.

If not, then you should search online for a "data recovery" service -- they are expensive, but they physically repair a damaged disk-drive, just long-enough to copy your data to another disk-drive.

Hi,

these drives are a bit delicate and do tend to damage easily when dropped. You may just have knocked a cable loose, could have damaged the usb controller board or may have damaged the HDD.

If you're not concerned about warranty, you can slide the shell off of the body of the drive with a little prying around the back edge(around the metal end with all the plugs. It can be put back when you're done but you will likely leave some tool marks on it.

Once you have it open you will see the HDD mounted along the cases length, at one end it has two small cables attached. ensure they are snug, then follow each to it's other end and ensure they are snug, the check the small circuit board running perpendicular to the HDD to ensute the pinned end it securely attached to the larger ciruit board.

Test the drive, if no luck the next step involves buying a new drive enclosure. Go to you local computer store and ask for a 3.5" SATA Hard Drive enclosure. Then finish disassembling the Western Digital, removing the HDD and placing it in the new Enclosure, be careful not to touch the circuit board attached to the bottom of the hard drive.

Once you've installed the HDD in the new enclosure plug it into your computer and power it up. If this works your done, if not the HDD may be finished.

Still if this doesn't work you can send the HDD for recovery to a pro, try Armor-IT Data Recovery in Canada, they have good rates and are listed on FixYa's directory.

Hope this helps FixYa

Chris