How do we handle this kind of WD usb drives

[athlesi7]

Hello,
i got today a WD3200BMVU 320 hdd which the pcb goes directly to USB.
is there a way we can "talk" to the drive with ATA commands, or image it,
or to see what are the major problem with these kind of drives (Usb maybe)?

as it concerns the drive i have here when you plug it to a usb port it writes "new Device Found"
"The device is ready for use" but thats all. i cannot even see it at the drives manager

thank you

[dmarques]

If you have PC3K these drive are already supported there.

But what happens with yours? Do you ear it spinning well? Does it knock?
That's important to know in order to diagnose properly.

[athlesi7]

Yes after its initialized it starts clicking.
do you think its a head issue?
thank you

[dmarques]

Well, I can't guarantee you that, but I do think so.
Do you have any donor to try hotswap on it?

[pninja]

Well, I can't guarantee you that, but I do think so.
Do you have any donor to try hotswap on it?

Hotswap on BAD head

[dmarques]

Hotswap might help if not all heads are damaged.

[athlesi7]

so you assume that there might be a pcb problem?

[Samo]

Those drives can work with SATA pcb.

[athlesi7]

i should try replacing with a sata pcb and see what happens
thank you

[619beave]

If it's clicking, then it can be anything, from head all the way down to PCB. Head most likely. But on a multiplatter, you wanna be careful how you swap heads.

Actually, I have found in two cases that the Clicking can be due to not enough voltage or amps going to the MCU and/or Servo IC. This is due to the USB IC being damaged.

Regards,

[poehere]

Do you have PC3K. If what you say is true that when you plug it in the sytem sees it but your disk manager can not. Use the UDMA on this one to read it. It is supported there and you do not have to switch the board right away. You can try this one first before going on. Same works on Samsung USB. They are both supported in UDMA.