With my Western Digital 1 TB portable drive I had an issue,
as soon as I connect the WD portable drive
to my laptop ( Windows 7), it hangs and I can’t access “explorer” or My
computer and I can’t see the task bar.
I tried to re-connect portable drive and troubleshoot few
times to multiple different devices without luck.
Then after some research, I decided to install WD external
drive diagnostic tool i.e. Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics too and
investigate the issue further.
You can download free Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics
from here with the instructions.
After download, Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics installation
is straightforward. Next, next and OK ….. :-)
After installation of Western Digital Data LifeGuard
Diagnostics tool, launch tool from start
It will launch the following WD Diagnostic tool as follows
and then I right click on 1 TB portable drive and select “Run Diagnostics”
In next step, I have selected “Quick Test” to see if there
are any disk errors or any other issues.
Result of the “Quick Test” is as follows.
Test Option:
|
QUICK TEST
|
Model Number:
|
WD My Passport 0748
|
Unit Serial Number:
|
WX81AA2E8155
|
Firmware Number:
|
1019
|
Capacity:
|
1000.17 GB
|
SMART Status:
|
PASS
|
Test Result:
|
FAIL
|
Test Error Code:
|
06-Quick Test on drive 2 did not complete!
Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 97 (Unknown
Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 2!
|
Test Time:
|
07:24:26, September 22, 2013
|
So it proved something gone very badly with my WD portable
drive and then I tried “Extended Test”
But “Extended Test”
never finishes, its keep running but “Estimated Time remains the same. Extended
test is just under “Quick Test” option when you select “Run Diagnostics” in
previous step.
Then I called Western Digital call centre, seems call landed
in other part of the world i.e. Caribbean Island. Seems Western Digital have
call centre at Caribbean Island. I have spoken to a lady, she was really
helpful and suggested two options, one is either send the WD portable drive to
them so that they can fix as my drive is still under 3 year warranty or just
format and see if it resolves the issue.
As I have backed up my data in to other drive, I have chosen
to format and see if it fixes the problem. As advised by WD call centre
representative, I have decided to format using the WD Diagnostic tool as below.
You need to select “Write Zeros” to format WD portable drive
and result is as follows.
Test Option:
|
WRITE ZEROS
|
Model Number:
|
WD My Passport 0748
|
Unit Serial Number:
|
WX81AA2E8155
|
Firmware Number:
|
1019
|
Capacity:
|
1000.17 GB
|
SMART Status:
|
PASS
|
Test Result:
|
COMPLETE
|
Test Time:
|
07:22:03, September 22, 2013
|
This resolved my laptop/ system hanging issues as soon I
connect WD portable drive to my computer but I lost all my data :-)
Now I always properly disconnect my WD portable drive before
pulling USB cable from laptop. I learnt good lesson :-)
So in summary, this article explained how to install WD Data
LifeGuard Diagnostics and troubleshoot portable drive issues.
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