Western Digital external hard drive issue

[Beth Goffe]

I purchased a 1 TB Western Digital My Book firewire external drive last year as a backup to my new iMac. After a number of odd issues associated with physically turning the thing on and off. More recently, I kept getting messages from my computer that one of the external peripherals was disconnected incorrectly. I ignored it because, occasionally, my cat will bump something and temporarily affect the connection. Now I think it was the drive failing. It has finally come to the point where, when the power supply is plugged in, I can feel the housing vibrating, presumably the drive spinning, but I can't actually get it to turn on (the computer does not "see" it either). After a few minutes on the phone with Western Digital, I was told that they would ship me a new one, no question or arguments. I'm going to take possession of a new drive but I think I'm also going to purchase another backup hard drive from a different manufacturer. Anybody else have any trouble with one of these?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Mine works fine but I only turn it on when I want it to make a new backup. After doing this, I disconnect and unplug the power cord.

[Rocky Sharwell]

I have the same experience as Axel--I have not had any problems with my WD. If you are looking for another brand I have been really happy with the external laptop drive from Other World Computing (www.macsales.com)...

[Jackie Schuknecht]

No problems for me either Beth. Mine works fine and comes on and off when I turn the computer on/off. Have the 1TB too. Working on a Windows Platform, desktop.

[Beth Goffe]

Jackie, that's interesting, because mine did not turn off when the computer was turned off. Instead, I did what Axel mentioned, which is turn it on to do backups and then turn it off. It behaved strangely from almost the start so I may have just gotten a lemon.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Jackie, that's interesting, because mine did not turn off when the computer was turned off. Instead, I did what Axel mentioned, which is turn it on to do backups and then turn it off. It behaved strangely from almost the start so I may have just gotten a lemon.

Actually, I didn't turn it on or off, I physically unplugged it.

[Ed Cordes]

I have the WD Essentials 1 TB drive using USB 2.0. No problems in over a year. I, too, only turn it on for back up and temporary access.

I just ordered another from NewEgg at less than $100!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Beth I have mine connected with USB and leave it connected all the time. It has a blue LED on the front that tells me if it is on or off.

[Roger Clark]

All hardware fails. And Murphy's law says it will fail at the worst time ;). So never trust a single backup if you are concerned about your data. What happens if your were out and returned home to find your house had burned down? (This just happened to a couple here in the Denver area.) Do you have a disaster recovery plan?

With the cost of disk space so low, it does not cost much to have several backups.

I have 3 sets of backup drives. I rotate the backups, keeping 2 off site (at my office at work). I had also been backing up to DVD, but with the growing size of image files, I find this harder to do, so usb drives are becoming the only viable alternative.

[Grady Weed]

Beth,

As Roger has stated above 2 or 3 backup drives is essential if you value your files, and I 'm sure you do. :) That said, all hardware will fail, it is only a matter of time. When the larger drives, such as 1TB drives, arrived on scene they all had some issues. As technology improves those issue go away and others appear as the drives become larger in capacity and smaller in size. Therefore as Roger stated, have a disaster plan.

I have been a self employed PC & Network tech since 89. Just a few hours ago a client dropped off her Dell Laptop and a Iomega external drive and pleaded with me to recover her images, documents etc as the 2nd drive in 1 1/2 years had died. And I hear it every day. The lesson? Have 2 or 3 back ups at all times. Then you may only lose a weeks worth of images, provided you back them up every week. A hint here: I back my images up every time I go out and then return from the field.

I hope you get it all sorted out. I also use Kanguru Drives. Go here: http://www.kanguru.com/ for a different perspective and choice other than the Western Digital.

[Steve Leach]

to the problem with the current drive.
If its not being seen and you hear the disk grinding away, try this.
Unplug it all, take the drive and set it in the freezer for 20 minutes. Take it out and plug it right in.
Sometimes the cold will contract it enough to re align it or compress it enough to let the "needle" rest on the disk again to read correctly. I had to do this with a Toshiba external 320gig and have done it with work drives before. works for me 5 outta 6 times.

Workflow for backing up data, archiving, on site and off site as well as online has as many options as how to mask in PhotoShop.