External WD Game Drive (P10) is no longer detected by macOS

[marigold]

This drive worked fine for 3+ years on the same system. A few weeks ago, when the computer desk was shaken, I got the macOS notification that the disk was not ejected properly. But the drive worked fine, after disconnecting and reconnecting it again. Unfortunately, it is now no longer detected at all (just a few months after the warranty ends!).

Now. when connected, the platter spins up and the drive makes 6 clicks after which it seems to "spin" down (LED light is always on, but the platters seem to slow their spinning or not spin after the clicks). During this period it sometimes briefly shows in System Information > USB 3 but not in Disk Utility or Finder.

I have used a different cable, but that has not helped and the same issue persists. I have tried lightly tapping around the edges of the HDD disk but that also hasn't helped. I don't have access to another system, but I can probably run Linux on the same system, if necessary, through another USB disk.

How do I troubleshoot this?

[pepe]

Hello,

the 6 clicks indicate the heads are most probably gone, possibly along with some surface damage.
not much you can do about it, get an new one and move on.

pepe

[marigold]

Tried the drive with Linux (LMDE), and this is what dmesg reported:

[ 1305.848487] usb 4-4: new SuperSpeed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[ 1305.869379] usb 4-4: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=262f, bcdDevice=50.02
[ 1305.869393] usb 4-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
[ 1305.869397] usb 4-4: Product: Game Drive
[ 1305.869400] usb 4-4: Manufacturer: Western Digital
[ 1305.869403] usb 4-4: SerialNumber: 00000000000000
[ 1305.872247] usb-storage 4-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 1305.875321] scsi host7: usb-storage 4-4:1.0
[ 1306.881494] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access WD Game Drive 5002 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 1306.881988] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 1306.883093] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Spinning up disk...
[ 1307.904413] .........ready
[ 1316.097814] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Very big device. Trying to use READ CAPACITY(16).
[ 1316.098549] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 7813969920 512-byte logical blocks: (4.00 TB/3.64 TiB)
[ 1316.098558] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 4096-byte physical blocks
[ 1316.099943] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 1316.099949] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 47 00 10 08
[ 1316.101378] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
[ 1316.101384] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 1352.000492] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1357.376496] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1357.584400] usb 4-4: device not accepting address 8, error -62
[ 1363.008491] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1368.384501] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1368.592421] usb 4-4: device not accepting address 8, error -62
[ 1374.016518] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1379.392520] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1379.600423] usb 4-4: device not accepting address 8, error -62
[ 1385.024482] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1390.400527] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1390.608418] usb 4-4: device not accepting address 8, error -62
[ 1390.624755] usb 4-4: USB disconnect, device number 8
[ 1390.644397] blk_print_req_error: 2 callbacks suppressed
[ 1390.644406] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644422] buffer_io_error: 2 callbacks suppressed
[ 1390.644424] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644527] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644542] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644580] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644587] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644610] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644616] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644629] ldm_validate_partition_table(): Disk read failed.
[ 1390.644660] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644663] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644675] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644678] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644691] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644694] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644706] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644709] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644714] Dev sdc: unable to read RDB block 0
[ 1390.644724] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644727] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644739] device offline error, dev sdc, sector 0 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 1390.644742] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 0, async page read
[ 1390.644784] sdc: unable to read partition table
[ 1390.644844] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
[ 1396.032462] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1401.408460] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1401.616427] usb 4-4: device not accepting address 9, error -62
[ 1407.040457] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1412.416466] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1412.624428] usb 4-4: device not accepting address 10, error -62
[ 1412.632542] usb usb4-port4: attempt power cycle
[ 1418.816454] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1424.192454] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1424.400426] usb 4-4: device not accepting address 11, error -62
[ 1429.824465] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1435.200470] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[ 1435.408388] usb 4-4: device not accepting address 12, error -62
[ 1435.416544] usb usb4-port4: unable to enumerate USB device

[pepe]

troubleshooting hdds thru usb is kinda impossible. But, given the symptoms you described in the first post the drive has internal fault and cannot be repaired. Pls tell us one thing:
Is the data important or you are just trying to save the unit for continued use?

[marigold]

Yes, I am trying to retrieve some data off it. If it can be reused again, that's a bonus too.

[pepe]

This is beyond DIY, ask pro help if it is important. If a pro service is kicking your budget, you can wait until you can spare the amount. But if you dismount it and tamper with the internals you can easily kill it for good or make the recovery 2-3x more expensive.