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Thread ID: 147521	2019-01-07 21:19:00	WD Elements external HDD	Brucem (8688)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1457161	2019-01-07 21:19:00	I have two external HDD, the newer one is a WD Elements 1 Tb, which may have died. Last night before my weekly backup I decided to create the Acronis boot drive, which required the drive to be reformatted, this failed so I allowed it to carry on with the scheduled backup. This also failed, and now I cannot access the drive in the normal way. When I open Device manager via the control panel, this drive is listed, and claims that "This device is working properly". Now Acronis 2019 will not open. HELP!	Brucem (8688)
1457162	2019-01-07 21:41:00	Get into Disk Management and see if the HDD is listed, it may need to be initialized again or reformatted by Windows.	Bryan (147)
1457163	2019-01-08 00:26:00	It isn't listed in disk management. Could it be that the lead has failed? It has USB 3 connection to the drive, and standard rectangular USB 2 plug to the computer and I don't have spare to test it.	Brucem (8688)
1457164	2019-01-08 01:26:00	It isn't listed in disk management. Could it be that the lead has failed? It has USB 3 connection to the drive, and standard rectangular USB 2 plug to the computer and I don't have spare to test it. It is quite possible that the lead is faulty and they are cheap enough to replace. It's certainly worth testing.	CliveM (6007)
1457165	2019-01-08 01:59:00	The lead or the board inside the drive enclosure, they fail a little more often than the actual drives I think. If all else fails you may be able to remove the drive and install it into your PC but I think WD may use encryption meaning you may not be able to read any existing data.	dugimodo (138)
1457166	2019-01-08 22:07:00	On brand name USB HD's, its usually the actual HD that fails . Worth trying another USB cable , clutching at straws though. I dont think WD encrypt the internal drive, not the ones Ive seen anyway. Download the WD test tool & use that to diag it. You may get lucky & its just a failed Acronos format . Try reformatting it if possible. Or use diskpart to 'clean' the drive first . Or It could be the failed format pushed a flacky HD over the edge . .... I decided to create the Acronis boot drive, which required the drive to be reformatted, this failed so I allowed it to carry on with the scheduled backup. Best idea with backups is to keep it simple . You didnt need the complication of making the backup drive bootable. Make a Acronis boot CD/USB instead Anyway, with backup media : if in doubt, throw it out :-)	1101 (13337)
1457167	2019-01-10 08:04:00	I tried a new cable to no effect. I downloaded the WD diagnostics file and scanned the drive. (about 3.25 hours!). It reported that the drive was "good". I renamed, and relettered the drive using Partition master, and formatted the drive. and now it is working apparently perfectly. I will use a pen drive as the boot drive. Thanks to all for your help.	Brucem (8688)
1457168	2019-01-12 04:32:00	Unfortunately, my last post was mistaken, and although I had successfully done a backup, which shows in Partition master, as having a 40 Gb file on the disk, it won't seem to retain its drive letter ("W"), and therefore cannot be accessed. The only conclusion that I can come to is that there is something seriously wrong with the disk.	Brucem (8688)
1457169	2019-01-12 06:50:00	Are you certain that it is not still there under a different drive letter?	CliveM (6007)
1457170	2019-01-14 21:40:00	Once again, this drive does not show in File explorer. In Partition master this disk (Disk 3) shows as being named "Backup two", but with no drive letter. In Partition master, change drive letter to "W", and File explorer finds it OK. I allowed it to do the scheduled backup last night, which was successful. and "W" was there with the backup ok. Restarting the computer returned me to not having Drive "W". It is not there under any other letter.	Brucem (8688)
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