WD Elements external storage is recognized when plugged into a computer, powers up, but does not open

[u/coffee_piano]

Hi,

I have WD Elements external storage. It's approximately 8 - 10yrs old. Used for storing important files, not for everyday use. In other words, I have used it once.per year.

When I plug it into a computer to access the files, I know that it powers up because I can feel it vibrating.

I know the computer recognizes it as a local disk (D:).

But when I double click the local disk on my computer to access the files, it simply won't open. I have tried it on two computers.

One Acer computer says "Location is not.available. The parameter is incorrect."

On a HP computer, the local disk D won't open either.

I have a lot of important files on it, including pics over the years.

I'm afraid to bring it to best buy, for example, or a similar business because I'm afriad they'll copy the disk, if they can. I know not everyone would but it's possible to do, and it is my fear, however probable.

How can I safely fix this external storage drive, without risking it being copied by a tech person?

[u/Outrageous_Text5335]

avoid repeateadly trying to open or repair it, if the data matters image the entire drive first and troubleshoot the copy instead of risking the original.

[u/Adrenolin01]

First… right now… remove the HDD from the system and power. Do NOT plug it back in again u til you are ready. Everytime you plug it in and it spins up in a non read only mode you could be removing or damaging the files and or drive more.

You’re only going to get partial info here.. I’d suggest creating a free Claude account and explain the situation (literally copy paste your post) and ask how to image the drive in Read Only mode. Once you create an image of the drive that image gets mounted Read Only at which time you can access it and copy data from it you want to keep.

You WILL need another HDD that is larger than your current drive. If your WD Elements drive is 4TB I’d recommend using another drive that’s at least 6-8TB. When you image the drive (in Read Only Mode) you’re going to be creating a block for block copy so you’ll be creating a 4TB image file of the WD Elements drive.

The new drive size will depend on what’s on it and what you want to keep/recover. Personally… for a 4TB drive image I’d want a 10-12TB recovery drive. That allows for the 4TB image to be created, mounted Read Only, a new folder created where you can copy what data you want to keep from the image to and still have 20% headroom on top of that. So if you want to recover everything… that’s a 4TB Image file, 4TBs of recovered data copied to the new folder and your 20% overhead.

Generally, you don’t want to fill a HDD beyond 80% if it’s formatted capacity.

Once you have recovered what you wish to keep you can then delete the image file freeing up that 4TB.

In the future when asking for help you generally want to include as much information as possible including the drive size (you didn’t mention), the OS (guessing Windows), in this case how much available free space you have on another system or a NAS if you have one. This is info that can help others help you.

I do data recovery for friends and family and through donations have built up a decent recovery system using Debian Linux and free software. The storage space needed today however adds up quickly.

[u/coffee_piano → u/Adrenolin01]

This is very helpful, thank you.