Brand New External Hard Drive S Not Spinning Or Making A Noise ...

joko | 04:03 Fri 22nd Feb 2013 | Technology

5 Answers

i have 2 identical WD Mybook essentials Hard drives and so far been using one of them with no problems.
Today i got the other unused one out of the box and plugged it in - and the flashing light is on, so the power works, but the drive is not recognised by the computer and makes no noise at all - i put it up to my ear and it is silent - the other one makes little whirring noises etc

any ideas what i can do? i will send it back if i cant get it going - its just a bt of a hassle so want to try an get it going
i dont want to take it apart but any tips to start it spinning etc?

i read on a site to give it a firm but light tap etc ... i will try that, but any other tips?

(one other thing, i did accidentally plug it in with my laptop power cord , as the connection is the same - it lit up, but i realised i'd mixed them up and took it out - but the laptop power is 19v...whereas the drive one is 12v ... could this be the cause of the problem?
it was only plugged in for a few minutes)

thanks

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Buenchico

You seem to have answered your own question:

Many (most?) devices rated at 12V will fail if connected to an excessive voltage, even if only momentarily. 'A few minutes' sounds like a certain recipe for disaster to me!

wildwood

Did the light stay on until you unplugged it? It would only take a nano second for damage to be done with excess voltage, let alone a few minutes. I don't like your chances of getting a replacement though.

wildwood

Note to myself: * must learn to type with two or more fingers at the same time*

Old_Geezer

One would hope there was protection in place to avoid damage, but one can not guarantee it. Maybe an internal fuse has blown. You could try it on another PC, but it sounds like a techie repair job to me.

joko

Question Author

thanks all
yes the light stayed on, and still comes on now, so it is getting power.

is there anything i can do or must it go back?

i say a few minutes but actually it was probably more like 1, but still too long i guess.
it wasnt plugged into the laptop at the time, just the power i think.

its under a 2 year waranty and ive only had it for a couple of months so i should be able to send it back

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