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WD elements hdd recognized and showing in device manager and disk management but not in window explorer. Tried uninstalling/reinstalling from disk drives but didn't help. Tried initializing disk in disk management through MBR (master boot record) but it says that "the request failed due to fatal device hardware error". What options do i have to get my device started without loosing my data. kindly help.

Hennes
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dim light
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  • It sounds like the disk is poked. What does "S.M.A.R.T" report about the disk? You might be able to copy the disk using something like GnuDDRescue and read the data off a copy ? – davidgo Jan 27 '16 at 08:36
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    Possible duplicate of [How do I recover lost/inacessible data from my storage device?](http://superuser.com/questions/241817/how-do-i-recover-lost-inacessible-data-from-my-storage-device) – DavidPostill Feb 01 '16 at 00:07

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This seems very unfortunate, @dim light! :(

If you have important data on the external drive, I'd strongly advise you to consult with a Professional Data Recovery Company. I'd also recommend you to test the WD Elements with WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics for Windows. Running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests will help us determine the health and SMART status of the hard drive. The error is definitely something to be concerned about as it could be a physical damage as well, so I'd recommend you to check the WD Element's warranty. If it's still covered, you should be able to send an RMA request to our Customer Support and get a replacement.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted.

SuperSoph_WD
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    I ran the lifeguard diagnostics on my drive. test result is pass but it showing smart status as unavailable. Also, i was able to open the drive by plugging it into another laptop but copying and deleting any item in it was not taking just too long. there was no physical done to my device as it was working fine one day and stopped all of a sudden. – dim light Feb 08 '16 at 07:53
  • The error could be indicating that the drive is corrupted somehow. However, I'd advise you to use the other laptop to check up on the SMART data of the WD Elements there, since you don't have [S.M.A.R.T.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.) reading enabled on yours. I'd also recommend you to try using a different USB cable to connect the external with. It's possible that the issue is with the power cable that's supplying the HDD. Keep me posted. – SuperSoph_WD Feb 08 '16 at 13:50