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Really wierd problem with 2TB Western Digital external drive.
- Thread starter MacRobert10
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I got a 2.5" external enclosure for about $8.00 and a Hitachi 2.5" 5400RPM drive. The 3.5" drives cost too much and I felt I'd lost enough on the WD fiasco as is. This inexpensive system is working fine.
I forgot all about this post it's been so long.
I use the WD as a secondary (SECONDARY, not PRIMARY) backup drive. It seems to work, it just likes to do its software induced freeze about every half hour.I don't trust it enough to allow it to be used as a primary back up drive. I figure if some disaster strikes and my regular drives and the main backup drive goes bad, which is unlikely, I'll still have this thing.
I use the WD as a secondary (SECONDARY, not PRIMARY) backup drive. It seems to work, it just likes to do its software induced freeze about every half hour.I don't trust it enough to allow it to be used as a primary back up drive. I figure if some disaster strikes and my regular drives and the main backup drive goes bad, which is unlikely, I'll still have this thing.
It's actually working. Every time I test it or use it, it just seems to do its 30 second lockup at random. It seems to happen on the average about every 30 minutes. I personally can't correlate the problem to read or write activity.
I don't use it for anything serious. Right now I'll probably use it to put experimental stuff on, like the Yosemite beta (who cares if that locks up???)
I don't use it for anything serious. Right now I'll probably use it to put experimental stuff on, like the Yosemite beta (who cares if that locks up???)
MacRobert:
If you're even monitoring this thread and attempt to install Yosemite onto that thing, see if it installs itself as a Core Storage volume. I for the life of me can't get Yosemite to install on one of my external drives as Core Storage but this is apparently the default. Maybe it's limited to internal boot drives only.
Thanks.
If you're even monitoring this thread and attempt to install Yosemite onto that thing, see if it installs itself as a Core Storage volume. I for the life of me can't get Yosemite to install on one of my external drives as Core Storage but this is apparently the default. Maybe it's limited to internal boot drives only.
Thanks.
To the OP:
There have been issues here and there with the WD driver software, but that problem you had was a freak. We have several of those units in house and they don't exhibit any of the problems you've described, and they sound like they're about the same age. About the only things I'd complain about are these:
WD had some problems with the drivers, I think it was with Mavericks, which would cause the drive to lose backup data. When that happened we reformatted the drives and used them without drivers. We lost some functionality like I described above, but aside from that and their slowness, not one has failed and no one has reported problems. We're going on several years now.
By the way even if you open up the drive, you still should have tried to get WD to replace it. Just explain how and why you did it. Unless there's sign of physical damage like the drive being dropped, I would bet they can still be talked into RMA'ing it for you, but I thinks it's way too late now.
There have been issues here and there with the WD driver software, but that problem you had was a freak. We have several of those units in house and they don't exhibit any of the problems you've described, and they sound like they're about the same age. About the only things I'd complain about are these:
- They're sloooooooooow. Their access times seem abnormally slow, probably because of the variable spindle speeds. Then again, it's a backup drive, so I don't think speed is the primary concern.
- If you don't install the WD drivers then some of the functions, like the space indicator or the power switch aren't enabled, which is really dumb in my opinion.
WD had some problems with the drivers, I think it was with Mavericks, which would cause the drive to lose backup data. When that happened we reformatted the drives and used them without drivers. We lost some functionality like I described above, but aside from that and their slowness, not one has failed and no one has reported problems. We're going on several years now.
By the way even if you open up the drive, you still should have tried to get WD to replace it. Just explain how and why you did it. Unless there's sign of physical damage like the drive being dropped, I would bet they can still be talked into RMA'ing it for you, but I thinks it's way too late now.
I need to correct myself on this. I said that the WDs had some type of encryption embedded in thse. Apparently that's only true for a handful of the units and I'm not sure it was even in the MyBook line, but if you see one of these dirt cheap and decide you want to pop the disk out and use it as an internal, check websites to make sure that's a feasible option.
I'm curious. What happened to the WD drive that was giving you problems? Did it die or is it still working?
It's still working. Aside from the timeout it likes to inject every now and then, it seems rock solid. I still don't trust it though.
Do you use it as a backup drive? Personally I suspect that that particular drive was designed that way to minimize power consumption. Granted, yours seems a little extreme on the timeout stuff but it's been documented on other sites as being part of the drives characteristics. It isn't intended to be a boot drive.
I use it as a secondary (as in not important) backup and to test new OSes. Being aware of the problem helped, otherwise you'd think there was something wrong with the OS or system. Disappointing but tolerable I guess.
I suppose. But for the same money i could have gotten something that works. Moral of the story: If you think there's something wrong with something, return it, don't try to troubleshoot it thinking it's some easy fix.At least you got something out of it.
Ironically, the drive may very well last years….it will just seem like they're very looooooooooong years.
That was attempted a long time ago with the same results. So long ago I forgot this thread was here!
I've just resolved myself to putting up with it.
I've just resolved myself to putting up with it.
Was this one of their drive's that's encrypted by the controller? They had or have some weird setup where the combo case interface to the outside world and the controller on the drive were encrypting the drive making it virtually useless outside of its USB housing. Just wondered if maybe that wasn't causing the delay.
If it's encrypting the drive, it's a secret. The manual says nothing about that, nor does the packaging, so I assume it isn't encrypted.