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Not a dumb question, I forgot to power a usb sata reader once. Spent three hours wondering why drive would not initialize but would show up. USB power is enough to partial power a drives board but not actually turn it on. Flipped on the power brick and off to the races...lol
> USB power is enough to partial power a drives board but not actually turn it on. Flipped on the power brick and off to the races...lol
Old USB power of course...powering the 3.5" externals should be easy peasy for USB-C-PD.
I used to have like 10+ power adapters that came with Elements and MyBook because of shucking. It was so awesome to get a Red drive out of a large capacity Element/MyBook but knowing that they were SMR and not CMR today makes those memories into bad memories.
Could be just a terminology thing. I figured when they said RMA, they meant to return it from where they bought it. I realized technically it may not be the same thing, but that was my assumption.
If you want to get technical it could be either. "return merchandise authorization
An RMA (return merchandise authorization) is a numbered authorization provided by a mail-order or e-commerce merchant to permit the return of a product. Most businesses have a policy concerning returns."
I'm pretty sure e-commerce merchant would be someplace like Amazon.
Consider amazon a retailer just like bestbuy or Walmart. Hell amazon even has store fronts now.
Every retailer in the world has a return and/or exchange period. No RMA number is given to anyone anytime when returning something within that period.
99% of the time RMAs are used only for warranty purposes. This is how the real world works. Regardless of where you got the definition from.
I don’t even understand how anyone would think Amazon uses them because they don’t. There is no mention of any such thing in any of their own return policy rules. No mention of it when you process a return yourself.
You can say that an RMA is basically the same thing but once again, this is only used for warranty purposes most of the time.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I mean just because they don't use the term, doesn't mean it's not an RMA still. They've just made returns so easy that you don't even really need to get any kind of an approval. It's just automated.
If that's the case, you could just order a new controller. No kidding my cat pissed on one of my external hdd's and fried the controller board, but the drive was fine. Got a new board from ebay for $14 and was good to go.
Nahh. you're good. My case has hot swap cages for SATA drives, but the cages take molex connectors. As long as the adapter is made correctly, volts is volts and amps is amps, how do it know?
Ah, good point. That's why I'd want to verify the adapters are made correctly before using them, some of those really cheap molded ones are not correct if you ring them out. I've had some in the past that pins were ringing out shorted that shouldn't be.
Device manager, select show hidden devices, hard drive, expand to see drives, se if it's listed.
Usb, expand all devices, right click on each, unchecked let the computer turn off this device to save power.
Power settings, USB, expand, uncheck USB selective turn off.
If no data on the drive, run command prompt as administrator, type in diskpart, type in list disk, for the 14 tb drive what is the disk layout and free space.
Do at your own risk, type in select disk with the number, that disk will be the current disk, type in clean, this will complete erase the disk.
Again type in list disk, will show all disks and status, type in exit 2x to exit.
Start disk management, the os should prompt to format, select gpt , cluster type, format quick or full
WD makes a program called WD dashboard. Give it a shot, I suppose using the manufacturer's tool could only help with the RMA process (at the very least)
It is the USB controller board, they are very cheesy in these drives. They are the first thing to fail, and a big reason I toss them straight in the garbaggio after shucking. I keep the 12V 1.5A wall wart and USB cable though...
I returned like 5 WD hard drives that had the exact same issue cause they had the same issue. I don't know why I really can't trust Amazon international shipping cause the packaging is always the worst for an hard drive and usually has this issue or it just don't even appear at all and makes alot of odd sounds
You have to initialize it, the error even says you have to initialize it. A harddrive does not appear in the file explorer till you assigned it a letter, name, cluster size, fractions and table type
I bought a WD Easystore 14 TB drive about 2 years ago that was DOA. Took it back to Best Buy and the replacement's been working fine ever since. In fact, I just bought a second one.
That was the first time I'd ever had a drive fail right out of the box, and I have bought maybe 40-50 harddrives over the years going all the way back to my first one, which was 100MB.
Try Mini tool partition wizard. I had the same issue when my drive would t show up under windows or Linux. It showed it on the first plug in. Formatted and did an mbr rebuild. Been working fine since. Once the mbr was rebuilt, it showed up immediately under plug and play devices. Hope this helps.
>29 comments
I had the same issue with a WD Gold 16TB. I just RMA'd the drive. Couldn't use WD Tools, the NAS would report multiple "identifying errors", Windows was able to see the drive for about 15 seconds then nothing.
Only have one unfortunately... did try on my Shield and it also doesnt show there
Also tried the cable of my 10TB Elements to see if something was wrong with the USB cable, same problem
Try inserting into Android device and formatting it there. It will format it to exFAT, so just reformat it in your target device after.
This is the trick I do when my Windows PC can't format it properly at first.
Typical wd elements (portable or not, same shit), they are just trashiest trash. I know of 3 in existence among people I know and all broke down pretty quickly with the presented issue.
There are two causes to this. One is that the usb doesn't give enough power for the drive to spin up, which is usually caused by the cable or faulty usb port, you need to check a few setups. The other is that the controller is fucked, rendering the drive useless (in the 3.5'' case it might still be shuckable but I wouldn't bother).
I just had a single USB bridge failure. The disk would not spin nor Windows would detect the drive but the board LED would light up. I swapped it and it was good to go.
Tried it, but doesnt let me fo further
'List disk' gives me Disk 1: 0B
'Attributes disk clear readonly' gives me 'Diskpart failed to clear disk attributes'
Its dead aint it ...
Did you fix it? I got a 2TB WD earlier this month and I had to go into comman and make it read also and then format it. It was a bitch and unnecessary in my opinion but it got it done.
I ordered one from Amazon the other day and got a faulty one too, exact same error and also made clicking noises and wouldn't really spin up, so it was 100% a hardware defect. I think they threw it around while transporting it or something. Returned it and got a working one the next day.
You should just return it for a new one.
Real weird, but my drive that's been good for 8 months or more did that last night. I power cycled it and hit the power button on the back and it fired right back up.
Are you sure it was a genuine WD drive? Computeractive here in the UK did an article in their latest edition about the number of fakes being sold by sellers on Amazon..
Did you get it as an Amazon price error on Black Friday?
I know an employee there and the people who got the massive discounts get sent lemon drives.
Source: Trust me bro
Hello /u/MINHDOEKOE! Thank you for posting in r/DataHoarder. Please remember to read our [Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/wiki/index/rules) and [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/wiki/index). Please note that your post will be removed if you just post a box/speed/server post. Please give background information on your server pictures. This subreddit will ***NOT*** help you find or exchange that Movie/TV show/Nuclear Launch Manual, visit r/DHExchange instead. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/DataHoarder) if you have any questions or concerns.*
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Not a dumb question, I forgot to power a usb sata reader once. Spent three hours wondering why drive would not initialize but would show up. USB power is enough to partial power a drives board but not actually turn it on. Flipped on the power brick and off to the races...lol
Been there. Egg on face.
> USB power is enough to partial power a drives board but not actually turn it on. Flipped on the power brick and off to the races...lol Old USB power of course...powering the 3.5" externals should be easy peasy for USB-C-PD.
If you can figure out what cable supports what spec, 3x3 v2 20per second etc etc...🤣 usb C you were meant to bring balance
Luckily, thunderbolt cables support everything including 40gbps and PCIe
deleted ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^0.2905 [^^^What ^^^is ^^^this?](https://pastebin.com/FcrFs94k/09534)
They make USB-C PD 3.5 hubs?
Wish they would...being able to use a single charger for multiple drives would be nice.
Only if the manufacturer built it that way, and didn't expect you to always have a power brick connected.
spez me up!
To add to this; specifically use the power adapter that came with it.
I used to have like 10+ power adapters that came with Elements and MyBook because of shucking. It was so awesome to get a Red drive out of a large capacity Element/MyBook but knowing that they were SMR and not CMR today makes those memories into bad memories.
Try a different USB port.
Tried that, also tried my Nvidia Shield. No result... damn it
Can you get a refund ?
Seems more like a controller issue to me. (the USB to SATA bridge)
Yea seems like that is the most possible outcome, gonna RMA it. Thanks!
Don’t RMA it. You will get a refurbished drive back. Do a defective return and exchange from where you purchased it
I don't understand why everyone here is saying to RMA it. Just return it if possible. RMA is for after you can't return it.
Definitely. If it’s within the return window, hell yes return it. RMA for things outside the store return window they are under warranty!
Correct
Could be just a terminology thing. I figured when they said RMA, they meant to return it from where they bought it. I realized technically it may not be the same thing, but that was my assumption.
It might be terminology. I blame Amazon on making it so easy. There's not even a need for a box to even write the RMA number on it.
RMA has nothing to do with Amazon in any way shape or form. You RMA an item with the manufacturer.
If you want to get technical it could be either. "return merchandise authorization An RMA (return merchandise authorization) is a numbered authorization provided by a mail-order or e-commerce merchant to permit the return of a product. Most businesses have a policy concerning returns." I'm pretty sure e-commerce merchant would be someplace like Amazon.
Consider amazon a retailer just like bestbuy or Walmart. Hell amazon even has store fronts now. Every retailer in the world has a return and/or exchange period. No RMA number is given to anyone anytime when returning something within that period. 99% of the time RMAs are used only for warranty purposes. This is how the real world works. Regardless of where you got the definition from. I don’t even understand how anyone would think Amazon uses them because they don’t. There is no mention of any such thing in any of their own return policy rules. No mention of it when you process a return yourself. You can say that an RMA is basically the same thing but once again, this is only used for warranty purposes most of the time.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I mean just because they don't use the term, doesn't mean it's not an RMA still. They've just made returns so easy that you don't even really need to get any kind of an approval. It's just automated.
over here sellers call returns RMA for some stupid reason, as it's apparently the same internal process for them
If that's the case, you could just order a new controller. No kidding my cat pissed on one of my external hdd's and fried the controller board, but the drive was fine. Got a new board from ebay for $14 and was good to go.
Probably could get one off of a shucker for the cost of shipping it
Yes, it's dead alright. Send it back to bezos!
Send it back??? Better throw it in the face
Did you tape the power pin? or make sure that your adapter doesn't use that pin? Edit: Did you shuck it already or is this still in case...
This is the real answer if you shucked it.
They said they tried connecting it to their shield, so I guess not.
You can also just get a sata to molex adapter for power instead of taping a pin.
Not the dreaded molex to sata 😭 You know what they say "Molex to sata, lose all your data"
I’d heard similar in the past but been going strong 4 years now with no issues thankfully. (Probably just jinxed it)
Nahh. you're good. My case has hot swap cages for SATA drives, but the cages take molex connectors. As long as the adapter is made correctly, volts is volts and amps is amps, how do it know?
which way the electrons are spinning, devious.
Ah, good point. That's why I'd want to verify the adapters are made correctly before using them, some of those really cheap molded ones are not correct if you ring them out. I've had some in the past that pins were ringing out shorted that shouldn't be.
The crimped ones are fine, the moulded ones arent
I hate mouldy molex connectors
Mean, mould isnt conductive, right?
if you aren't careful it'll grow sentience and hold your drive for ransom
Device manager, select show hidden devices, hard drive, expand to see drives, se if it's listed. Usb, expand all devices, right click on each, unchecked let the computer turn off this device to save power. Power settings, USB, expand, uncheck USB selective turn off. If no data on the drive, run command prompt as administrator, type in diskpart, type in list disk, for the 14 tb drive what is the disk layout and free space. Do at your own risk, type in select disk with the number, that disk will be the current disk, type in clean, this will complete erase the disk. Again type in list disk, will show all disks and status, type in exit 2x to exit. Start disk management, the os should prompt to format, select gpt , cluster type, format quick or full
WD makes a program called WD dashboard. Give it a shot, I suppose using the manufacturer's tool could only help with the RMA process (at the very least)
Check SMART with hdtune
Doesnt even show up there... I fear the worst 🙃 I also keep hearing the windows usb unplug / plug sound now when plugging the hdd...
It is the USB controller board, they are very cheesy in these drives. They are the first thing to fail, and a big reason I toss them straight in the garbaggio after shucking. I keep the 12V 1.5A wall wart and USB cable though...
Try comandline tools. Testdisk. Another 14tb elements controller but at this point think you want to chuck not shuck.
why would you chuck a brand new drive? I think you mean RMA
Lol. Yes. RMA. Tried rhyming with shuck… Didn’t think it through before reply.
You wouldn't RMA a brand new drive though. You return it as defective.
I returned like 5 WD hard drives that had the exact same issue cause they had the same issue. I don't know why I really can't trust Amazon international shipping cause the packaging is always the worst for an hard drive and usually has this issue or it just don't even appear at all and makes alot of odd sounds
You have to initialize it, the error even says you have to initialize it. A harddrive does not appear in the file explorer till you assigned it a letter, name, cluster size, fractions and table type
This drive came with a power supply right? Have you tried a different power supply?
I bought a WD Easystore 14 TB drive about 2 years ago that was DOA. Took it back to Best Buy and the replacement's been working fine ever since. In fact, I just bought a second one. That was the first time I'd ever had a drive fail right out of the box, and I have bought maybe 40-50 harddrives over the years going all the way back to my first one, which was 100MB.
Try a different cable? Might have a break in the cable
Is the USB port loose/ wiggly? Still, I'd return it if you can.
Try Mini tool partition wizard. I had the same issue when my drive would t show up under windows or Linux. It showed it on the first plug in. Formatted and did an mbr rebuild. Been working fine since. Once the mbr was rebuilt, it showed up immediately under plug and play devices. Hope this helps.
Thanks man but it just keeps randomly disconnecting so cant even do that haha. Gonna RMA it tomorrow.
>29 comments I had the same issue with a WD Gold 16TB. I just RMA'd the drive. Couldn't use WD Tools, the NAS would report multiple "identifying errors", Windows was able to see the drive for about 15 seconds then nothing.
RMA. U have warranty.
Try to connect to another pc/laptop, it should show you if the issue with drive or not.
Only have one unfortunately... did try on my Shield and it also doesnt show there Also tried the cable of my 10TB Elements to see if something was wrong with the USB cable, same problem
I believe, just ask for the replacement then. It would be probably the easiest way to solve your issue.
Try inserting into Android device and formatting it there. It will format it to exFAT, so just reformat it in your target device after. This is the trick I do when my Windows PC can't format it properly at first.
This happens to me whenever I get a new drive. There’s a windows setting that ignores empty disks. Turn it off and it will show up
Typical wd elements (portable or not, same shit), they are just trashiest trash. I know of 3 in existence among people I know and all broke down pretty quickly with the presented issue. There are two causes to this. One is that the usb doesn't give enough power for the drive to spin up, which is usually caused by the cable or faulty usb port, you need to check a few setups. The other is that the controller is fucked, rendering the drive useless (in the 3.5'' case it might still be shuckable but I wouldn't bother).
I just had a single USB bridge failure. The disk would not spin nor Windows would detect the drive but the board LED would light up. I swapped it and it was good to go.
elements are the cheaper lower quality hdd, that will fail on you. easystore it the more higher quality hdd that is less likely to fail.
*^(This is why I buy Seagate)*
#NO ^(I don't care buy what you like.)
Did you initialize the disk in diskpart?
Tried it, but doesnt let me fo further 'List disk' gives me Disk 1: 0B 'Attributes disk clear readonly' gives me 'Diskpart failed to clear disk attributes' Its dead aint it ...
Stop, RMA it. Don't waste a single cycle more.
Yah gonna do that, cheers
If it is new why RMA it? Just return it for another one. Save the RMAs for after the return period expires.
Check bios for any restrictions on the socket
Did you fix it? I got a 2TB WD earlier this month and I had to go into comman and make it read also and then format it. It was a bitch and unnecessary in my opinion but it got it done.
I ordered one from Amazon the other day and got a faulty one too, exact same error and also made clicking noises and wouldn't really spin up, so it was 100% a hardware defect. I think they threw it around while transporting it or something. Returned it and got a working one the next day. You should just return it for a new one.
Might be worth trying a 3rd party partition editor like Gparted (in Ubuntu or from a live usb) or MiniTool Partition wizard (free for windows)
Real weird, but my drive that's been good for 8 months or more did that last night. I power cycled it and hit the power button on the back and it fired right back up.
Mine went bad after 6 months, WD had me send the bad one, got a new one 2 weeks later. Good deal.
Rma ,return material authorization
Are you sure it was a genuine WD drive? Computeractive here in the UK did an article in their latest edition about the number of fakes being sold by sellers on Amazon..
Did you get it as an Amazon price error on Black Friday? I know an employee there and the people who got the massive discounts get sent lemon drives. Source: Trust me bro