Hi, I'm new to this forum and am looking for help with a problematic HDD.

Model: 3.5" external Western Digital My Book Studio 2TB.

I use an iMac running Mac OSX 10.6.8. A couple of days back I noticed some folders which are supposed to contain files, but Finder suddenly reports '0 files' in these folders. Sensing something amiss I tried to perform Verify Disk/Disk Repair using Disk Utility, but it returned an error message which said 'Disk cannot be unmounted'. I switched the HDD off and when I tried to switch it on again, Finder doesn't detect it, and the power light on the HDD doesn't light up. Each time I try to switch it on, I hear faint clicking sounds for about 5 seconds before it goes silent again.

1) How do I determine what is wrong with my HDD?
2) Depending on what the problem is, are there methods to recover my data without having it sent to a DR professional?

Most possibly the heads of the drive went bad. If you care about the data on the drive, then you should consult a professional.

If you dont care about data, and drive under warranty, RMA it.
If you care about data, then you should ask a pro. If heads have failed there is nothing you can do on your own.

PS. you could always check if drive detects as SATA, by taking drive off the USB enclosure (WARNING THIS WILL VOID WARRANTY). Be aware that even if it does detect, you wouldn't be able to recover the data, due to the encryption of the USB bridge. It is a long shot but I've seen this behaviour on these drives caused by the pcb on the usb-caddy.

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Yes, its either failed head/s or a lot of bad sectors.

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If you really care about it no you will need a professional to change out heads is not easy and especially if you never did it before. Seek some help from a DR company in your area

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Iorana Haraharaini