External Hard Drive being detected but not loading. Need to access it to copy some data.

[Frosty11]

I have the WD My Passport 1TB External Hard Drive. When I connect the hard disk My Computer displays it as Local Disk (G: ). The green progress bar in the address bar keeps on progressing extremely slowly and the hard disk doesn't load. It also makes the computer unresponsive. Disk Manager gets stuck at Connecting to Virtual Disk Service and doesn't load. Crystal Disk Info wouldn't load till I disconnect the hard disk.

The hard disk is detected in Device Manager and Devices and Printers. I tried uninstalling the drivers and reconnected the hard disk (on which the drivers re-installed) but that didn't solve the problem. Western Digital Drive Utilities doesn't detect the hard disk when its plugged in. When I connect the hard disk the LED indicator keeps on blinking at the pace it usually blinks when writing files to it, so maybe its trying to load? Now the only way to disconnect it without making the PC unresponsive is by unplugging the cable from the PC. I tried to plug it on another PC without internet access and the same thing happened.

There are at least 20GB of files I need to copy from it, if not more. I need a way to access the hard disk. Considering that plugging in the hard disk makes storage softwares unresponsive, I wonder whether I will be able to use a recovery software (I'll try and see if Recuva works). Could this possibly be a hardware issue? I don't have other compatible cables or enclosures lying around to test the hard disk with.

I would really appreciate a solution. Please let me know if there is anything I left out which might help you come up with a solution.

OS: Windows 10 Home Edition 64 Bit
Hard Disk link: http://support.wdc.com/product.aspx?ID=218&lang=en

Additional info that might be relevant:

Spoiler

The hard disk is a couple years old maybe, but I have taken good care of it. There has been no physical damage done to it. And I use it once a month or so. So I don't see how this issue could result from wear and tear.

This issue occurred today when I was deleting some files off it. It was functioning as usual and I was able to play videos off it. Then a few minutes later while still using it, I noticed that suddenly folders and the files started to take too long to load and open. So I tried to eject it, but it wouldn't eject as it usually would. I tried shutting down the PC but it wouldn't shut down. Finally I was able to remove the hard drive via Devices and Printers after which the PC shut down. I removed the drive while the PC was off and started the PC again. Thought this was worth mentioning.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Probably a bad driver. Time to get a new one and restore the backups.

 

If you don't have a backup, boot your system into linux and image it with ddrescue. Else, send it to a data recovery service.

[Frosty11]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Probably a bad driver. Time to get a new one and restore the backups.

 

If you don't have a backup, boot your system into linux and image it with ddrescue. Else, send it to a data recovery service.

Will ddrescue let me choose the files I want to make a backup of, or will it create an image of the whole hard disk?

 

Are there any other means to choose the data I want to recover and copy it?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Frosty11 said:

Will ddrescue let me choose the files I want to make a backup of, or will it create an image of the whole hard disk?

 

Are there any other means to choose the data I want to recover and copy it?

its makes a image of the whole drive, but unlike most imaging programs it will skip bad part of the drive. 

 

You then recover data from the image, so you stop using the drive, if you useing the drive to recover from, your putting reads on it and it might die, and lose everything.

 

You don't really want to chose the data, you want a image first

[JCBiggs]

had this problem

 

#1, does the port have enough power?

 

#2,  are you up to date on drivers

 

#3,  does it work on another PC

 

 

it all else fails, take the drive apart, pull the usb circuitry apart from the sata connection and use a desktop sata connection to pull your data off.  

 

 

I had a silicon power drive that one day just stopped getting enough power through the usb part of it.  removed it from the case and put it in the pc and bought a new one. 

[Frosty11]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

its makes a image of the whole drive, but unlike most imaging programs it will skip bad part of the drive. 

 

You then recover data from the image, so you stop using the drive, if you useing the drive to recover from, your putting reads on it and it might die, and lose everything.

 

You don't really want to chose the data, you want a image first

I see. Does this mean that I'll need to have enough space to store the image ddrescue creates? For example if the drive contains 100GB of readable files I guess I will need to have 100GB of free disk space to store the ddrescue image? Correct me if I am wrong.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Frosty11 said:

I see. Does this mean that I'll need to have enough space to store the image ddrescue creates? For example if the drive contains 100GB of readable files I guess I will need to have 100GB of free disk space to store the ddrescue image? Correct me if I am wrong.

You can compress the image, but the space taken up depends on the stuff on the drive.

 

Other wise you will make a image that is the full size of the drive.

 

 

[Frosty11]

4 minutes ago, JCBiggs said:

had this problem

 

#1, does the port have enough power?

 

#2,  are you up to date on drivers

 

#3,  does it work on another PC

 

 

it all else fails, take the drive apart, pull the usb circuitry apart from the sata connection and use a desktop sata connection to pull your data off.  

 

 

I had a silicon power drive that one day just stopped getting enough power through the usb part of it.  removed it from the case and put it in the pc and bought a new one. 

Ans #1- I tried it on USB 2.0 as well as USB 3.0 ports of my laptop. So I guess it got the standard power supply.

 

Ans #2- I tried updating the drivers but it got stuck at searching for updates online.

 

Ans #3- As I mentioned in the first post, it didn't work on another PC that had no internet access. Maybe it needs internet connectivity to download a driver. I'll try it on another PC with internet access tomorrow.

 

I hope I can find a software based solution for this. If not, I'll consider taking it apart.

[Frosty11]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can compress the image, but the space taken up depends on the stuff on the drive.

 

Other wise you will make a image that is the full size of the drive.

 

 

Right now I don't have a spare empty 1TB HDD. Lets see what can be done. Thanks for the help though, I really appreciate it.

[JCBiggs]

24 minutes ago, Frosty11 said:

Ans #1- I tried it on USB 2.0 as well as USB 3.0 ports of my laptop. So I guess it got the standard power supply.

 

Ans #2- I tried updating the drivers but it got stuck at searching for updates online.

 

Ans #3- As I mentioned in the first post, it didn't work on another PC that had no internet access. Maybe it needs internet connectivity to download a driver. I'll try it on another PC with internet access tomorrow.

 

I hope I can find a software based solution for this. If not, I'll consider taking it apart.

are you using the original cable that came with the device?  (is it for sure a SS cable?)

 

not trying to talk down at you.. just making sure the simple stuff is covered 

[Frosty11]

Just now, JCBiggs said:

are you using the original cable that came with the device?  (is it for sure a SS cable?)  

Yup its the original cable. And it has the SS logo on the connector.

[JCBiggs]

all i can tell you for sure is that i have had the same problem   at it always seemed to be related to power and the USB.   Id take it apart personally.   Ive never once had good luck with any of the 1tb spinning disk external disk I've had.     I switched over to a m.2 usb enclosure and put a 512 in it. 

[Frosty11]

2 minutes ago, JCBiggs said:

all i can tell you for sure is that i have had the same problem   at it always seemed to be related to power and the USB.   Id take it apart personally.   Ive never once had good luck with any of the 1tb spinning disk external disk I've had.     I switched over to a m.2 usb enclosure and put a 512 in it. 

Well I come to realize that its best to have important data backed up on reliable storage. If I recover the data I need, I'll consider getting a external DVD writer and backup the data on DVD+R or M-Disc. Might get a USB Portable SSD for a secondary backup. BTW I didn't know M.2 Enclosures even existed. I'll take a look at them later.

 

Long term data storage tips: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2984597/storage/hard-core-data-preservation-the-best-media-and-methods-for-archiving-your-data.html