1TB WD external hard drive (WDBAAU0010HBK) element spins for 10 seconds and stops

I have an external hard drive which is a WD 1TB that uses an external power source. While I was using it yesterday, it fell from my table through half a meter to the ground and disconnected from the laptop. I reconnected it. The drive did not appear on (my) computer but did in the 'Disk Management' as 'unallocated' with an asterisk * 'not initialized'. I right clicked on it then clicked on 'initialize'. As soon as it started initializing, the power source tripped off. Since then, my laptop cannot detect the external hard drive . I tried it on another laptop, same issue. However, I noticed, when I connect the external HDD, it spins for about 10 seconds then stops. Is there anything I can possibly do to get it back alive?

 

Assuming it is not under warrenty (and if it is this probably wont be covered as you dropped it) I would suggest take a screw driver to it and open it up, as external drives are basically internal drives but with SATA to USB converters.

Remove the actual HD from the case and if you have a desk top plug it in as a seondary internal drive. If you only have a laptop try and find someone with a desk top and install it in there.

If the PC reads the drive fine you know the disk is OK and it is the case/SATA to USB adapter/power circuits that are dead. You can then buy a new generic USB case to mount it in.

If it doesnt work when plugged into a PC directly then the drive is probably dead.

 

I was getting same problem, but after couple of days try....trying all permutation and combination.....simple solution is update the firmware (even though it is not shown in windows explorer) it will update the firmware...then restart the PC...reconnect HDD.....All the best.

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