🚀 go-pugleaf

muzician21 wrote:

> I've got this WD 500 gb Firewire  external My Book drive I've been
> using to store mostly video files for a big video project. It doesn't
> have an on/off switch, it powers up when power is first applied, goes
> dormant after a period of inactivity and restarts when you try to
> access it. It's worked flawlessly until today.
>
> Normally the blue light in front dances up and down during boot up as
> well as whenever there's data transfer but now I notice the light
> flashes briefly when power is first applied, the drive makes some
> noise like it's starting to spool up but then shuts down. The couple
> of h/d's I've had die in the past gave me some warning, made weird
> clicking noises for a while before crapping out. This one was working
> perfectly normally until now. I wouldn't think overheating would be an
> issue with this drive, the case is extensively vented unlike most
> external drives I've seen. It doesn't get used that much.
>
> Anyone have experience with these drives? Any chance there's a power
> supply inside the case that's causing the problem and can be swapped
> with another from an identical drive?

The power supply is external, but there are voltage regulators inside
the drive enclosure to convert the +12V from the power supply to +3.3V
and +5V used by the chips in the drive and the interface circuitry.

> Aaaaargggghhhhh!!!!!! to lose the hundreds of gigs of files. Any
> chance WD would do such a repair?  I don't want another drive, I need
> THIS drive to work.

Data recovery is NOT included with the warranty, but you're supposed
to have an extra HD for backup anyway because computers can wipe out
tons of data in a hurry.  Also a 1TB drive costs just $100, which is a
lot, lot less than the cheapest data recovery service.