WD 500GB HD Malfunction

[camaro1185]

I have an external HD that I use to back up my music, documents, movies….. in the past week it has started to act weird. I plug it in to the usb, it will spin up, get recognized by the computer, then shutdown (blue light goes out). After that it will proceeded to do that cycle again where its like im plugging it in to the computer then pulling it out and repeating that, but its doing that cycle on its own. I thought it may have been a faulty usb port in my comp, so I tried it in another and in another computer. Any ideas whats wrong and what I can do to fix it.

 

[samonteroel]

try plugging it to other computer. that will isolate problem.
just wish that its only the usb port that is defective.

 

[A Cheese Danish]

Does it do the same thing while connected to the other computers you've tested it on?
And have you tried a different USB cable?

 

[camaro1185]

Nope its not the usb port, i have tried it in many computers and each time it does the same thing.

as far as the usb cable, its not a standard looking cable, its specific to the drive. i doubt its the cable though, i have never had a usb cable get screwed up.

 

[laznz1]

your best bet is possibly to slave it it an internal drive to back up data then try to discover the problems with it

 

[camaro1185]

your best bet is possibly to slave it it an internal drive to back up data then try to discover the problems with it

How would i go about doing this?

 

[laznz1]

is it still covered under warranty? as this isn't recommended if your a newb

 

[camaro1185]

is it still covered under warranty? as this isn't recommended if your a newb

No its not covered under warranty. Thanks for the concern, but i dont feel i am a newb, i just want you to clarify what you mean. do you mean taking the hd out external case and plugging it into my computer as a slave drive?

 

[raoul_1101]

That is exactly what he is getting at. Just be careful as not to damage the casing when taking it out; sometimes it can be difficult.

 

[camaro1185]

That is exactly what he is getting at. Just be careful as not to damage the casing when taking it out; sometimes it can be difficult.

thanks for the info. i will try that. i was hoping there was an easier fix than doing that, that was going to be my last resort. i have done it many times when my buddies comp wouldnt start and he needed the info off his hd.