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[SOLVED] How Do I Get My Wd 500Gb External Hard Drive To Work Properly

Started by Esn , May 22 2011 05:25 AM

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#1 Esn

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Posted 22 May 2011 - 05:25 AM

I have a 500GB WD Elements portable hard drive. When I plug it in, it starts running but no icon pops up on the desktop. I tried plugging it in through a USB hub, just in case, but it still didn't work. Then I got a dmesg output to help figure out what is wrong, but I need some help understanding what it means...
Spoiler


By the way, I also tried connecting a 1TB WD Passport portable harddrive, and that one seemed to work perfectly, even though it says it was formatted in NTFS (only it says it has about 465GB of free space rather than 1TB... not sure what's up with that).

#2 Alerino

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Posted 22 May 2011 - 01:10 PM

my guess is that Elements needs more power than Passport (I got one working fine) and the usb port only provides 500mA.
Try an AC powered usb hub

#3 Esn

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Posted 23 May 2011 - 01:56 AM

Now the Passport HD doesn't work either. It accidentally got disconnected from the USB while plugged in, and since then I can't get the icon to show up on the desktop, even after unplugging it and restarting my Pandora. mesg output:

Spoiler


EDIT: Ok, that was weird. I got the Passport HD to work again by doing this: plugging it into Pandora directly (it was recognized this time), then unplugging it and plugging it in from the USB hub. Now it was recognized through the USB hub as well. I have no idea why that would work. Maybe the USB hub I got is a bit wonky.

By the way, should I be unmounting every HD or SD card before I unplug it or take it out?

As for the 'Elements' HD, I just checked and my home PC doesn't recognize it either. Although it does turn on. Hm.

I didn't know the Pandora could read and write an NTFS file system, by the way.

Edited by Esn, 23 May 2011 - 04:06 AM.

#4 Custom Processing Unlimite

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Posted 23 May 2011 - 04:32 AM

I had a similar SD card error where one of my cards wasn't recognized and wouldn't load for a few hours one day... it eventually worked after a few un/replugs and a few more reboots... wouldn't hurt to try... you never know!

#5 asimov-solensan

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Posted 23 May 2011 - 07:12 AM

Try a shorter usb wire. Yes it's as stupid as it sounds. It could be that the plugs of the cable are slightly dmaged and this makes them to work on some computers and not on others. Usually the same disk could work only on a few ports of the same computer. It's due the data signal doesen't gets correctly to the computer.

There could be another problem but this is quite easy to try, it worked for me with at least two usb hard drives.

#6 Custom Processing Unlimite

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Posted 23 May 2011 - 07:26 AM

That's not really a stupid option... I know that USB cables have a limited length that data can travel before degradation occurs (hence why you never see a USB cable longer than 16ft, though you can circumvent that distance with USB to Cat5/6 adaptors, but it's an expensive option), so a weaker cable (under any circumstances) could be a feasible issue.

#7 Prometheus

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Posted 23 May 2011 - 01:43 PM

By the way, should I be unmounting every HD or SD card before I unplug it or take it out?

Yes, you absolutely should. Not doing so can cause problems or general wonkiness - it's exactly the same as "safely removing" or "ejecting" on any other OS. :P

I didn't know the Pandora could read and write an NTFS file system, by the way.

Out of the box, it can't - this is added by the Community Codec Pack. ;)

#8 Esn

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Posted 23 May 2011 - 01:54 PM

Thanks everyone... the USB cable I'm using is fairly short, maybe 40cm (one-and-a-third feet for you Americans).

The harddrive is also not recognized on my PC, as I said. It may just be defective in some way. I'll try it out on some other computers before I make the call.

#9 Custom Processing Unlimite

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Posted 23 May 2011 - 03:39 PM

I have never been able to unmount an SD card since I got my pandora... wonder if I've had any issues crop up as of late. I always get an error when I try to unmount anything. if others can unmount, maybe I should start a thread on my problem...

#10 Prometheus

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Posted 23 May 2011 - 03:59 PM

@Esn - I think that that cable may be too long for that drive. I have an older WD Elements drive, and the cable supplied with it is only about six to eight inches in length at the most. I seem to recall that the one I have really doesn't like longer cables, so if you have anything shorter, it's worth giving it a try.

#11 Esn

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Posted 24 May 2011 - 02:49 PM

Well... you were on the right track. It was the cable that was the problem, but not because it was too long.

I tried connecting the harddrive with the only other cable of the right type that I had, which was 3 times longer - but it worked. Oh well, I guess replacing a cable isn't so expensive.

#12 Prometheus

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Posted 24 May 2011 - 05:02 PM

Glad you got it working. :D Should I mark this one as "[SOLVED]"?

#13 Esn

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Posted 25 May 2011 - 02:10 AM

Yeah, sure.
Back to I need help [Pandora]


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