iFixit - Active Questions With Device "External Storage"

Lacie petit 500GB n2870 ABY25: Hard drive not recognised

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 16:35:41 -0700

Hi,

I’ve got a “vintage” LaCie Petit hard drive that I had not plugged in in a while (understand a good 10 years). As I wanted to use it, I found out my latest laptop would not recognise it. I assume this is because an old driver on my hard drive. Any idea how to proceed to be able to reuse it, please?

⟐ Answered 6月 05, 2026 at 16:35 GMT-7

WD 4TB My Passport Portable: My barely used WD 4 TB My Passport Ultra spins up up then down

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 13:06:58 -0700

Based on a suggestion in this forum I twisted my hard drive drive with some rotation in the air. This knocked it out of the 16 clicks then shutoff problem which I was having. Now I'm faced with the issue of the drive spinning up for a few seconds, followed by spinning down the next few subsequent seconds. All the while the white power light is on. I'm unsure what's happening. Any help is greatly appreciated. Also worth noting, it doesn't show on my pc when connected, neither mac nor windows, at any point

⟐ Edited by author 6月 01, 2026 at 13:06 GMT-7

WD blue Hard Drive: My HDD isn't spinning, making a sound, or lighting up when plugged in

Sun, 24 May 2026 10:42:06 -0700

So I noticed my storage and applications and files all gone after the New Years, apparently the blank folder since December 2025 was a tall tell sign that the drive stopped working after I switched to a lower voltage charger since my old original one broke. I since then bought a new SATA cable and new charger but still nothing. I also tested out a external HDD drive cable to check if it worked, but still nothing. I don't have enough money to get it fixed by a specialist so I'm wondering if I can fix it myself?

Here's a Pic, I've been trying to see if it'll spin when connected to a wall but so far, nothing.

It's an internal HDD so idk if it was a good or bad idea to remove it from my laptop. I got it around the beginning of the pandemic. So 2020 or 2021.

Here's the 2 pictures. Is a bad controller board fixable at home?

⟐ Commented 5月 24, 2026 at 10:42 GMT-7

Western Digital My Book: Blue Screen of Death

Fri, 22 May 2026 15:03:04 -0700

Have a 3TB My Book, has been working fine, then all of a sudden as soon as it is plugged in i crashes my system and gives the Blue screen of Death.

Have tried it on other systems and it does the same thing.

Really need help

⟐ Answer edited 5月 22, 2026 at 15:03 GMT-7

External Storage: How to disassemble my external hard drive

Thu, 21 May 2026 11:55:22 -0700

Hi everybody, I need your help to disassemble my Verbatim Store 'n' Save SuperSpeed USB 3.0 4Tb Desktop external hard drive because I dropped it from half meter high and now it doesn't work. It makes some noises like if it's trying to read and the sistem doesn't recognize it. I want to open it to see if I can do anything to solve the problem.

Thanks everybody and keep it up!

The model is: 47674

Here some images taken from the Verbatim webpage:

⟐ Commented 5月 21, 2026 at 11:55 GMT-7

Western Digital External Storage: One WD 12tb Won't Turn Off, Even on Shutown

Sun, 10 May 2026 03:44:57 -0700

I have two 12tb WD external hard drives connected to my computer. When I shut the computer down or put it into sleep mode, only one drive powers down. The other keeps humming as if it's connected/as if the computer is powered on.

Full shutdown of the computer doesn't make it stop, nor does ejecting the disc.
The other drive doesn't have this problem. It shuts off when the computer is in sleep mode or shut down. The drives are the exact same make.
Nothing appears to be accessing the drive (nothing could be accessing it if the computer is shut down fully and disconnected from the internet, as far as I'm aware).
I have changed the USB port, and it doesn't seem to matter which port it's plugged into. The power remains on regardless. This includes extra ports, as I have a USB plug extender with an extra four USB plugs. I have swapped the main plug for this as well as not plugging the WD into it at all. I've tried just about every USB port on the computer at this point.

Looking this up online I have found some discussion about entering the BIOS and changing settings, but I don't understand why it would only effect only one WD, and not both, especially when the USB port it's plugged into doesn't seem to fix the problem. I also don't have power running into any other USB devices (art tablet, for example) when the computer is shut down, regardless of port.

⟐ Commented 5月 10, 2026 at 3:44 GMT-7

WD 4TB My Passport Portable: My hard drive showing in my computer but unable to read data

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 04:55:14 -0700

My hard drive showing in my computer but unable to access it need solution to resolve it without losing data

⟐ Answered 4月 13, 2026 at 4:55 GMT-7

Western Digital My Passport: It is no longer sharing the debt that is inside of it. How do I fix th

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:03:24 -0700

It’s no longer sharing the data inside of it

⟐ Answer edited 4月 10, 2026 at 11:03 GMT-7

Western Digital My Passport: How do I get data off?

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:36:22 -0700

The drive shows up on my computer, I can access it, but when I try to pull it off it goes EXTREMELY slow and I get an error. I need help.

⟐ Answered 4月 09, 2026 at 4:36 GMT-7

Western Digital WD1600 External Hard Drive: The dsik can be detected but cannot read

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 23:18:13 -0700

Western digital external harddrive 2 Terabyte can be detected but cannot read

⟐ Answered 4月 07, 2026 at 23:18 GMT-7

Western Digital My Passport Ultra: Prying open hard drive

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:19:27 -0700

Hello - the actual external hard drive I have is a Western Digital easystore 2TB hard drive. The reason I chose the My Passport Ultra is because its practically the same size, form and shape as the easystore EXHD I have. Unfortunately earlier this year when I was getting my new computer all setup, I dropped this hard drive of mine on the floor as it was on top of the CPU. Now, the hard drive just makes a clicking noise every time I plug it in. I wanted to see if there was a way I can extricate the hard drive itself from the case and use a recovery reader I have . However, it seems impossible to do with no way to slither my way through the edge of the hard drive casing.

Thank you

-Jordan

⟐ Answered 4月 06, 2026 at 10:19 GMT-7

Western Digital My Book 2020: How can I replace the USB Port after being damaged

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 01:18:36 -0700

My MyBook fell to the floor right where the USB connector plugs into the USB port. It has no symptoms of hard drive damage but I believe it needs a new connection port that is unique.

⟐ Answer edited 3月 26, 2026 at 1:18 GMT-7

External Storage: Reusing VanTec NexStar NX enclosure (NST-239S3B-BK)

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 06:55:24 -0700

This enclosure has a pulled HDD (500 GB) from an Apple Mac mini (Macmini4,1; Mid 2010). The HDD does not seem to be working. Have tried reseating sled into SATA connector. Have a couple of pictures of HDD and a screws

holding the HDD to sled. Any suggestions about HDD failure?

If no function of HDD, would like to remove HDD from sled and install a new SSD. The picture of screw is not very sharp. Making an ID of screws not easy. Do not have the bit to fit screws. If screws are ID, can buy screwdriver from ifixit store.

⟐ Commented 3月 25, 2026 at 6:55 GMT-7

Western Digital My Passport: Repair my external hard drive?

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 04:03:40 -0700

I accidently dropped my hard drive and now it just makes a screeching sound and is not recognized by CPU. Can the data be recovered?

⟐ Answered 3月 12, 2026 at 4:03 GMT-7

Iomega MiniMax Hard Drive: Can the HDD be replaced?

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:26:12 -0700

Can the HDD be replaced with a brand new HDD and work as a new device? Would the previous HDD be necesary?

⟐ Answered 3月 11, 2026 at 10:26 GMT-7

Western Digital My Book: will my hard drive still work after reformatting?

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 04:22:57 -0700

so got hit with the no power problem. i got that problem fixed by getting a new power board. and saved all the important things on my hard drive. so my question now is if i remove it and plug it into a external hard drive trey or plug it directly into my pc via sata and reformat it will it work or will the wd encryption brick it?

⟐ Answered 3月 11, 2026 at 4:22 GMT-7

Western Digital My Book 2020: How can I fix my wd "my book" and recover what's inside?

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 09:19:17 -0700

i bought this a month ago and the light doesn’t turn on anymore neither my mac can read the hard disk. i can hear the disk spinning but it doesn’t read…. could anyone help me. is there any way to reset it? …like in the older versions of it?

thx

⟐ Answer accepted 3月 09, 2026 at 9:19 GMT-7

Western Digital My Passport: drive won't show up and making clicking sound

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 03:34:14 -0700

off of a sudden my 2tb WD External stopped showing up and is making a clicking sound. is this thing toast?

⟐ Commented 1月 30, 2026 at 3:34 GMT-7

WD 4TB My Passport Portable: not detected at all even in the device manager or anywhere

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 06:51:40 -0700

i bought my drive then i didn't have anything to use it on so most of the time it just sat in a concealed place and i have used it from time to time and at some point without any kind of falling, being crushed or anything that might damage it; it just stopped working the white light is there but the pc, desktop or anything i plug it in never reads it and even in device manager or anywhere that you can see your device in it just doesn't appear there and i have run out of options this device for me is very expensive i bought it for a helpful reason and please help me out in anyways you can

⟐ Answered 11月 21, 2025 at 6:51 GMT-7

Western Digital My Book: Does anyone know the way to get open a My Book Duo?

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 07:47:03 -0700

I accidentally dropped my My Book Duo ( the one with the glossy top and lined lower) and I think the circuit board has moved slightly so one of the connectors for the HD does not line up. I am trying to open it up to re-align it, but I am not sure how the two halves of the enclosure are connected. Think it's clipped, just wondering if anyone had any advice. Many thanks.

Hi All, I have worked it out, it needed a thin flat screwdriver wedged in and twisted to pop it apart, and the clips didn't break either, which is a bonus.

⟐ Commented 11月 03, 2025 at 7:47 GMT-7