External Harddrive Problem??

Hi all
I have a Western Digital My Book Essentials Edition 500GB External
Harddrive. I Have been using it for about 1 year by now. I never had
any problems with it. But recently it has started showing problems.
When I turn it on (separately or while booting up) the green light in
it just keeps flashing and it makes my computer dead slow. I cannot
access it in anyway. It is detected as USB Mass Storage Device, but it
does'nt show in My Computer as it used to do. I have about 180 GB of
data in it so I cannot afford to lose them!!! I have my 160 GB lappy,
80 GB of my pc and a 30 GB PMP to take a backup of it. But at first it
needs to be accesible. However, a notablee point is that after that
light flashes for about half an hour, the device works normally i.e.
it shows in My Computer and the light agian becomes constant. Any help
would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

"coolBuddy" <sonalswaroop@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:5fdea14d-cdde-4950-9d58-e58ccfea5eeb@z24g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Hi all
> I have a Western Digital My Book Essentials Edition 500GB External
> Harddrive. I Have been using it for about 1 year by now. I never had
> any problems with it. But recently it has started showing problems.
> When I turn it on (separately or while booting up) the green light in
> it just keeps flashing and it makes my computer dead slow. I cannot
> access it in anyway. It is detected as USB Mass Storage Device, but it
> does'nt show in My Computer as it used to do. I have about 180 GB of
> data in it so I cannot afford to lose them!!! I have my 160 GB lappy,
> 80 GB of my pc and a 30 GB PMP to take a backup of it. But at first it
> needs to be accesible. However, a notablee point is that after that
> light flashes for about half an hour, the device works normally i.e.
> it shows in My Computer and the light agian becomes constant. Any help
> would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance.


Chances are the interface in the external hard drive case is shot, or the
cable to your computer is.

Buy another (or borrow) another external hard drive case and switch your
hard drive to that one. It is easy to do.

Ed Cregger

coolBuddy wrote:

> Hi all
> I have a Western Digital My Book Essentials Edition 500GB External
> Harddrive. I Have been using it for about 1 year by now. I never had
> any problems with it. But recently it has started showing problems.
> When I turn it on (separately or while booting up) the green light in
> it just keeps flashing and it makes my computer dead slow. I cannot
> access it in anyway. It is detected as USB Mass Storage Device, but it
> does'nt show in My Computer as it used to do. I have about 180 GB of
> data in it so I cannot afford to lose them!!! I have my 160 GB lappy,
> 80 GB of my pc and a 30 GB PMP to take a backup of it. But at first it
> needs to be accesible. However, a notablee point is that after that
> light flashes for about half an hour, the device works normally i.e.
> it shows in My Computer and the light agian becomes constant. Any help
> would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>

If the only copy of the 180 GB of important data is on the hard drive
in the WD MyBook encosure, then there is no backup. Make sure that the
protection copy is made, even if it means getting a second external HD
to accomplish it. Having a backup means having 2 copies, the original
and the backup.

As for the WD MyBook itself, the problem is probably in the interface
between its electronics and the HD, either in the card or the power
supply in the card. If the physical drive is OK, it should be able to
function in a replacement, generic external HD enclosure or by using a
docking connector.

Are you all just very sure that it is an electronic short and not an
malfunctioning harddrive?? If it is that then i ll have to buy a ney
case..

Thanks for replying....thanks a lot....

coolBuddy wrote:
> Are you all just very sure that it is an electronic short and not an
> malfunctioning harddrive?? If it is that then i ll have to buy a ney
> case..
>
> Thanks for replying....thanks a lot....

When the device was working normally, was there ever a time where
the light was supposed to flash ? If the light normally stayed
on solid, as a power indicator only, and now it is flashing,
that means the power source is rapidly going on and off.

During each ON interval, the USB interface may be detected
by Windows, but there isn't time for the drive to finish
spinning up. The drive cannot report itself, until spinup
finished, so it needs solid power for at least 10 seconds
or more.

If you need the data, and you don't care about the warranty,
simply transfer the drive to an internal connector on your
computer (at least, if a desktop). For a laptop, you'd want to
purchase a quality external enclosure kit (i.e. empty box with
power supply), with good power source on it, and repackage the
drive in that.

Paul