20 Most Recent Western Digital My Book Essential 1TB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Page 8 Questions & Answers

When it hit the floor it either knocked the reader arms loose or damaged them in someway or possibly damaged the Plates inside the drive. Unfortunately, in most cases it will cost more to repair the drive than it will to replace it. There are some companies out there that can recover the information from the drive platters but they are expensive and normally geared to big business.

From your description it appears that your drive is failing. You can check if there are problems with the drive using the free trial version of http://www.hdtune.com/

If it checks out ok then you can try to recover your data with Recuva it's free http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Or if you need data recovery help this a good choice for low cost and fast data recovery. All data recovery work is performed by an experienced tech remotely over the Internet from a boot cd that you download and the best part is they just ask for donations: http://FreeDataRecovery.us

The best thing to do is to use the existing hard disk as an external USB hard drive. This will not interfere with or configuring for your new computer.
Install the hard disk into an USB hard drive adapter case and you can access the data on this hard drive as well as storing additional data (ie backup your data).

If you format it for a PC, both the MAC and PC should be able to read it.
If not, there is a product called MACDrive that you can put on your PC that will allow you to read MAC formatted disks on your PC.

It sound like your HDD need more power..Try with different port of USB and or use different USB cable..I suggest that you using Y cable USB to get more enough power...

HI, RULE #1 IS "ALWAYS" ATTACH/PLUGIN WHILE PC IS SHUT-DOWN. NEVER CONNECT/DISCONNECT WHILE RUNNING. GO TO CONTROL PANEL, DEVICE MANAGER, SCROLL TO BOTTOM, CLICK + WD DRIVE MANAGEMENT DEVICES, SEE IF WD SES DEVICES IS THERE IF IT IS, DOUBLE CLICK IT. A WINDOW SHOULD POP-UP SEE IF IT SAY'S THIS DEVICE IS WORKING PROPERLY. IF NO DRIVERS ARE INSTALLED, CLICK UPDATE DRIVER. IF THAT DOES NOT WORK, GO TO CONTROL PANEL, ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS, COMPUTER MANAGEMENT, UNDER STORAGE, CLICK DISK MANAGEMENT, MAXIMIZE PAGE, SEE IF MY BOOK IS THERE. IF IT IS, RIGHT CLICK, THEN MARK PARTITION AS ACTIVE...........I HOPE THIS HELPS..........JEFFXC

if your computer came with a motherboard disc the drivers could be on it click start control panel administrive tools ,computer management ,device manager look through all of your devices if you see a yellow question mark?or exclamation mark ! or red x right click to reinstall drivers or if you can see your usb but its not working ports(com&lpt)right click update driver sometimes the wires inside the cable will be damaged due to bending or stretching or placing heavy equipment upon the cable, just replace the cable of the hard disk, when you plugged the external disk drive you got that windows could recognize the USB device change the cable everything should work fine again, check the USB leads that attach to the motherboard usually red-white-green-black make sure they are securely seated and have no dust build up on them dust will cause static and a lot of unforeseen problems hope this helps

There are tutorials in the FAQ on WD's web site but no booklet available http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=120&lang=en

Have you tried a different USB port? If you have and it still dose not work then I would do the following.

Select My computer
Select Manage
Select Device manager
Select the Diskdrives
Find your USB HDD esternal
Right click and select uninstall
Then scan for new hardware this will reinstall the drivers for that device.
Often the device driver or registry becomes corrupt this will 9 times out of 10 resolve the problem.
If this still dose not resolve it test your Drive on another PC to make sure its not the External HDD that is having a controller problem.

From your description it appears that your My Book drive is failing. You can check if there are problems with the drive using the free trial version of http://www.hdtune.com/

If it checks out ok then you can try to recover your data with Recuva it's free http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Or if you need data recovery help this a good choice for low cost and fast data recovery. All data recovery work is performed by an experienced tech remotely over the Internet from a boot cd that you download and the best part is they just ask for donations: http://FreeDataRecovery.us

the serge might have damaged some usb ports or some usb device hardware
click start control panel administrive tools ,computer management ,device manager look through all of your devices if you see a yellow question mark?or exclamation mark ! or red x right click to reinstall drivers or if you can see your usb but its not working ports(com&lpt)right click update driver sometimes the wires inside the cable will be damaged due to bending or stretching or placing heavy equipment upon the cable, just replace the cable of the hard disk, when you plugged the external disk drive you got that windows could recognize the USB device change the cable everything should work fine again, check the USB leads that attach to the motherboard usually red-white-green-black make sure they are securely seated and have no dust build up on them dust will cause static and a lot of unforeseen problems also make sure the computers Ram and Cmos battery are securely seated or you might have to install a usb 2 or 3 card they are cheap and easy to install you can buy these on Ebay very cheap if this solution does not work and you might need one if it has damaged your usb hope this helps http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280406610810&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT $1 + $2.46 postage worlwide You might get these on Ebay im not sure which country you are in this might guide you to one you could get this on Ebay if you dont have an account you will need to create one Add Email adress Add Bank Acc Add Credit Card also add your postal adress also add a paypal account when you get to the paypal login page at the bottom you will see new to paypal sign up tab paypal to create an account paypal registration password ,bank card /credit card phone numbers home/mobile ,email adress and a postal adress be very specific when you type in the search always ask questions? before you make a purchase and keep the email/s for security reasons if the item arrives and its not as described you will even see the pictures of your item so you cant make a mistake and get them home delivered hope this helps

For that you need to delete upper and lower filter for below registry keys. First make sure usb cable connected to harddrive is working fine. try it in different usb ports. Press windows key +R key so you can see run then type in run "devmgmt.msc" then press ok so you can see device manager uninstall all usb drivers then it automatic install usb drivers. then check. Also you need to change registry for that type in run "regedit" then press ok then you can see registry editor then locate below key. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11 CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} And remove upper filter and lower filter.Then restart computer then check. Also locate the below key and make sure it's value is 3 not 4. HKLM\system\currentcontrolset\services\usbstor make sure start value is 3 not 4. Let me know if you need further assistance. Thanks for using FixYa

Slowness like this is a sign of bad sectors. Run Western Digitals Data Lifeguard diagnostic utility to confirm.

If you need data recovery this guy does it remotely and works for donations. FreeDataRecovery.us

You need data recovery. This guy does it remotely and works for donations. http://FreeDataRecovery.us

click start control panel administrive tools ,computer management :device manager look through all of your devices if you see a yellow question mark?or exclamation mark ! or red x right click to reinstall drivers: or if you can see your usb but its not working ports(com&lpt)right click update driver if your computer came with a motherboard disk the drivers could be on it sometimes the wires inside the cable will be damaged due to bending or stretching or placing heavy equipment upon the cable, just replace the cable of the hard disk, when you plugged the external disk drive you got that windows could recognize the USB device change the cable everything should work fine again, check the USB leads that attach to the motherboard usually red-white-green-black make sure they are securely seated and have no dust build up on them dust will cause static and a lot of unforeseen problems also make sure the computers Ram and Cmos battery are securely seated hope this helps

I think the drive needs to be allocated first. Just right click on my computer and select manage.

Now click on disk management on and the drive should be there around 990GB and it will say unallocated. Just right click and select new. Go through the steps and make sure you give a volume label and select the file system NTFS. Also select quick format as the drive will be formatted first.

I hope you have no data on the drive. If you have any data on the drive do not format it.

click start control panel administrive tools ,computer management ,device manager look through all of your devices if you see a yellow question mark?or exclamation mark ! or red x right click to reinstall drivers or if you can see your usb but its not working ports(com&lpt)right click update driver just replace the cable of the hard disk, when you plugged the external disk drive you got that windows could recognize the USB device change the cable everything should work fine again, sometimes the wires inside the cable will be damaged due to bending or stretching or placing heavy equipment upon the cable, check the USB leads that attach to the motherboard usually red-white-green-black make sure they are securely seated and have no dust build up on them dust will cause static and a lot of unforeseen problems hope this helps