DROPPED my Western Digital External drive!!

[jwthe3]

Hi SevenForums Community,


I just accidentally hit the power cord running from my external 1TB Western Digital MyBook Essentials with my foot and the drive crashed over 2 feet to the ground!

Nothing is cracked.. And the drive still has all the files on it and it playing music and movies just fine... but I think i should check it and stuff. The only thing that happened the connectors on the back are off alignment now with the plastic casing so i have to slide over to insert cables. This drive has everything of mine that i own on it and I'm worried about it.

Is there any software i should use to check this drive for errors?

Thanks so much..!

 

[pjhutch]

Checking disk

I would just open a command shell and run a chkdsk <drive letter>: on the drive, and let that report any possible errors.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

chkdsk /r from a command prompt will check and repair errors in the file system, if possible.

You should also go to WD website and download their drive utility for your particular model and give your drive a thorough test.

And you should make a backup of what you now have----I assume that isn't your policy. You might want to rethink the reasons you don't do it.

 

[torre]

Great advice by ignat ! Use the forum search tool and you will see many have problems with WD and other external drives. Backup now while you can.

 

[jwthe3]

Thanks for the advice

 

[boohbah]

OUch!
i agree with the above advice, i wouldnt really trust it with my data now as it may work ok at present but in a week something may decide to pack in,
it may be annoying to have to replace it but i think would be far more annoying losing your media etc.

 

[karlsnooks]

jwthe3,

First run checkdisk over the disk.

Let's say that the disk has the drive letter P, then the command would be
CHKDSK p: /R

You want to run that from an elevated command prompt, in other words,
WIN | type CMD | do NOT hit Enter | CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER key combo | ALT + y key combo
WIN=key with microsoft logo on top

After that, you want to run the manufacturer's diagnostic over the disk.

SeaTools | Seagate

 

[jwthe3]

ok thanks for all the help... running checkdisk now its takes ages ^___-

 

[F5ing]

ok thanks for all the help... running checkdisk now its takes ages ^___-

Don't know what you mean by "ages". Is that like 20 minutes or something? Is it taking long because it's finding a lot of errors?

 

[jwthe3]

Checkdisk has been on verifying file data for hours, It's almost done though... Hours is ages to me, I'm used to things going fast with my pc..

 

[karlsnooks]

Checkdisk has been on verifying file data for hours, It's almost done though... Hours is ages to me, I'm used to things going fast with my pc..

Time is in order. You have a large external disk.

I applaud your correct decision of being patient.

 

[FaberTech]

no one ever asked if the drive was even running when it fell. there is a huge difference between a non working drive and a working drive falling. if it wasnt doing anything, most likely it is fine (but back your stuff up anyway if you can) if it was transferring data or reading/writing data, It could be damage more likely. It can depend if the enclosure is shock proof or not as well. I have a hard drive enclosure that has military grade shock absorbing rubber inside that is about 1/2 inch thick all around. i put an old hard drive i didnt care about anymore in it, hooked up a usb extension cord to it, threw it at the wall while transferring data to it, and nothing happened. i threw it away anyway because it was just an old 80Gb laptop hard drive, but it was a good last use out of it. now i know how good that shock absorber works.

P.S. don't try this at home kids. I am a professional time waster.

 

[F5ing]

True enough when considering head/platter contact vs. parked.

If I was using it to store data on it I'd still be concerned.

 

[FaberTech]

True enough when considering head/platter contact vs. parked.

If I was using it to store data on it I'd still be concerned.

Absolutely, Just trying to make his day better if he wasn't using it . you know how it is when you cant stop worrying about something.

 

[F5ing]

True enough when considering head/platter contact vs. parked.

If I was using it to store data on it I'd still be concerned.

Absolutely, Just trying to make his day better if he wasn't using it . you know how it is when you cant stop worrying about something.

Yeah, it really is a way to ruin a day, week, month, whatever, especially depending on what's stored on there. Just the thought of it.