External Drive Help Needed

[rebeccastt]

I have a Western Digital 250MB My Book External Hard Drive. I've had it for years, but have never quite figured it out. I set it up to do timed backups, which it did for a very brief period, then it stopped. When I tried to plug it in again, I couldn't read the drive. After playing with it for quite awhile, I can sometimes get my computer to recognize it. I've unplugged it, restarted my computer, etc. and it's still fussy. On a few occasions, I've been able to transfer specific files directly onto it instead of using the timed feature. Again today I am trying to get my computer to recognize it to no avail.

Someone please help me...I'm about to throw this thing out the window but I know my husband would kill me.

[Abby]

Before I messed with it any more, I'd get as much OFF of it as possible, in case it's dying - at least you wouldn't lose your treasures. Hopefully someone can offer advice, but usually once they start doing things like this, it's not good :(

[rebeccastt]

Thankfully I only use it to backup what is on my computer. It's been doing this since I bought it though, so I'm wondering if I'm just not using it properly. I've looked on their website for directions, but they have nothing that tells you how to work it.

[allsmilz61772]

i had their NAS for less than a year, started having that exact problem, thought the network drive was going bad so direct connected it to my computer....its done for. Found out later that WD is NOT a reliable hard drive source. Luckily I had backed up to a portable external, everything but my music and videos that is. Still trying to find something reasonably priced as far as date recovery :( Sounds like your drive is going bad, not user error

[rebeccastt]

Hmm...That is what I was thinking, but I've pretty much been having this problem since I first purchased it. Does anyone out there have a WD external drive?????

[Abby]

My first one was a WD external drive - it was weird from the get-go, so I just returned it and traded it in for a LaCie, and also got an HP external that fits in the bay in the front of my computer. So far, -touch wood- haven't had any problems with either of them.

[rebeccastt]

Thanks for replying Abby. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy a different brand.

[gammie]

I have a DYNEX and it's been great about 2 yrs now.

[Kathleen]

rebeccastt ... I realize your original post is old, but I am just seeing it. I have a WD My Book also (500GB). If you used their back-up software to automatically do your back-ups, it creates a new back-up everytime. Which means you have to manually delete prior back-ups periodically to have enough space on the drive for the next back-up (depending on how much data you are backing up, and how much disk space you need). So I am wondering if maybe the drive just got full? Or based on some of the symptoms, maybe it is just off and needs to be returned.

Once I figured this out, I started using the built in back-up feature of Windows, which will overwrite the previous back-up so you are always making room for the latest back-up.