# External HD causes Windows Explorer to freeze



## BZero

If I go into My Computer and plug in my Western Digital Elements 2TB external HD, Windows Explorer freezes. I have to unplug the HD to make it unfreeze. When I tried booting up the computer with the HD already plugged in, the computer wouldn't boot at all.

The HD doesn't show up in My Computer or Disc Manager, but it shows up in Device Manager. I tried the TestDisk guide in this topic, but no partitions showed up in step G.

Then I tried this topic, but after I selected "Advanced" in step D in post 4, the only option that showed up on the next screen was "Quit."

It's worked perfectly for several months, and this happened for no obvious reason. It's behaving like this on two different computers, both running Vista.


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## JMPC

Either bad drive or bad electronics. Try a different cable just to rule that out.


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## BZero

Tried another cable and it's not that.


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## JMPC

At this point you could try and remove the drives from the enclosure to rule out the drive electronics but it can be complicated on some of these enclosures. They're not always easy to open.


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## BZero

Yeah, this thing was definitely not supposed to be opened. No screws anywhere. I really don't want to start cutting it open unless that's my last option. Any other ideas?


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## BZero

Well, I opened it thanks to this video:

YouTube - Open (Take Apart) WD Elements External Hard Drive

And this is what I see inside:










Now what? I don't see anything obviously wrong with it. Is there any point in taking it apart further?


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## JMPC

If you wanted to rule out the electronics in the enclosure you'd need to remove the drive(s) and connect them to either another enclosure or install it/them in the PC.

BTW, if you meant to post a picture it didn't show up in the post.


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## BZero

Well, I don't have another enclosure, so I guess I'll try installing it in a PC. I'll probably try it on an older PC I don't use anymore just to be safe...

And that's weird, I see the picture. Here's the link to it if that works: http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=87682&stc=1&d=1298998340 If not, it's not that important anyway. Probably what you'd expect to see after prying off the top or bottom of an external hard drive.


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## BZero

Well, the old computer was too old (PATA), and I really don't want to risk damaging the computer I'm actually using.

What do I do if the drive itself is broken? Is there any way to repair it? When I plug it in, Windows makes that sound it makes when it finds new hardware that's been connected to the computer, and it shows up in device manager, so it can't be completely dead, right?


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## mr_x_i_presume

BZero said:


> If I go into My Computer and plug in my Western Digital Elements 2TB external HD, Windows Explorer freezes. I have to unplug the HD to make it unfreeze. When I tried booting up the computer with the HD already plugged in, the computer wouldn't boot at all.
> 
> The HD doesn't show up in My Computer or Disc Manager, but it shows up in Device Manager. I tried the TestDisk guide in this topic, but no partitions showed up in step G.
> 
> Then I tried this topic, but after I selected "Advanced" in step D in post 4, the only option that showed up on the next screen was "Quit."
> 
> It's worked perfectly for several months, and this happened for no obvious reason. It's behaving like this on two different computers, both running Vista.


I have the same problem, running vista 64. I have a WD 1TB network drive. It freezes up my computer when I try to shutdown, restart and sleep. I've tried restoring the factory defaults on the drive twice now- lossing all my data and it happens time and time again.

Recently, I re-mapped the drive and left reconnect at login UNCHECKED. I'm thinking vista is trying to communicate with the device causing the computer to crash.

I don't think its something to do with the electronics of the WD drive- vista for the use of a better set of words- is a little bit of a POS.


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## flmcse

You could try a SATA to IDE adapter to get it to work in your PC. 
Newegg.com - Nippon Labs AD-SATA-IDE-B IDE to SATA Adapter or SATA to IDE Adapter

Or another external enclosure:
Antec - Veris USB 2.0/eSATA Hard Drive Enclosure for 3.5" SATA Hard Drives - MX-1

Of course if the drive has failed there is always data recovery:
Hard Drive Repair Clicking HardDrive Recovery Services


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## huyi

BZero said:


> If I go into My Computer and plug in my Western Digital Elements 2TB external HD, Windows Explorer freezes. I have to unplug the HD to make it unfreeze. When I tried booting up the computer with the HD already plugged in, the computer wouldn't boot at all.
> 
> The HD doesn't show up in My Computer or Disc Manager, but it shows up in Device Manager. I tried the TestDisk guide in this topic, but no partitions showed up in step G.
> 
> Then I tried this topic, but after I selected "Advanced" in step D in post 4, the only option that showed up on the next screen was "Quit."
> 
> It's worked perfectly for several months, and this happened for no obvious reason. It's behaving like this on two different computers, both running Vista.


i've just googled searched and this topic came up, i have the exact same external hard drive (Western Digital Elements 2TB external HD) it is detected in my computer but there is nothing showing how much data there is left, just the partition letter and that's it, it stopped working randomly after a virus scan from kaspersky these external hard drives are extremely sensitive to anything going wrong.

ever since i did that virus scan i can't access it, it just freezes my whole computer and the windows explorer which forces me to shut down the computer, i can't right click, to simply format it because it freezes, i cannot detect the hard drive in device manager, nor can i detect it in Disc Manager it just freezes the program, i cannot format it at all even with EASEUS Partition Master 8.0.1 it just freezes the program, any ideas anyone? i am trying that TestDisk program but that has seemed to freeze too, it's not progressing past step C.

i think the only option for this external hard drive is the bin tbh thankfully i had a backup of all the data on that external and i didn't trust it in the 1st place with my data, i've had it for a couple of months, i am not sure of curry's will take the dam thing back now.


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## MRobare

Same WD Elements 2TB and same symptoms as OP.
Running XP sp2.
Mine stopped working after the computer locked up and I had to power cycle it.
It shows up in device manager but cannot browse it and the "my computer" browser freezes.
No solution found yet.


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## MRobare

MRobare said:


> Same WD Elements 2TB and same symptoms as OP.
> Running XP sp2.
> Mine stopped working after the computer locked up and I had to power cycle it.
> It shows up in device manager but cannot browse it and the "my computer" browser freezes.
> No solution found yet.


UPDATE - Resolved:

I verified that the USB HD existed in Device Manager and that there were no errors.

I ran the TestDisk utility (TestDisk - CGSecurity)
and verified that the partition was OK. I could also browse into the
folders that had been saved using that utility.

I finally ran Windows ChkDsk within DOS and it detected and fixed several file errors.

Once ChkDsk completed I was able to successfully open the "My Computer" browser and access the files and folders on the USB HD.


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## Rich-M

I am glad you did the right thing but this was a warning and I suggest you replace the drive because what you did now is a basic "bandaid" and the drive probably doesn't have long to live once this kind of thing occurs.
Personally I don't like Seagate or WD external drives because they don't have fans or on/off switches, the tow things that add a lot of life to an external drive.


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