Hi guys, would anyone be able to tell which part of my 1TB My Book Essential is busted?

Here is what happened and what I observed:

- I was transferring off some files when I suddenly ran into an I/O error.
- The white light froze (instead of the usual blinking) and the external HDD disappeared from my list. I unplugged the power adaptor and disconnected the USB 3.0 connection.
- I plugged the adaptor. The external HDD's indicator lit up and remained a solid white. I was surprised as this was not the case before - the indicator would only light up after the USB 3.0 has been connected to the computer.
- I plugged in the USB connection to port A - nothing. Tried it again with port B - nothing. I even tried plugging it into a non-3.0 port - still nothing.
- At this point I decided to just open the enclosure since the HDD was already past warranty.
- I connected my HDD to my motherboard via two SATA cables. The motherboard was able to detect it but not load it - an error message shows "Master Hard Disk Error." Do note that I have not tried using a separate enclosure as I have none at the moment.
- Out of curiosity I tried to plugin the PCB to my computer as a stand-alone device (with the power adaptor and USB 3.0 but not connected to the HDD). To my surprise and confusion, the computer (running Windows 7) detects it as "My Book 1130." It's as if there was an actual external HDD connected to my PC. It even had the "eject" option mini-icon - although no actual disk drive was shown. However, when I tried to connect the original configuration again (PCB + WD HDD), my computed didn't detect it.
- Do note that during this whole time, every time I connected the HDD to something, I would always hear the initial buzz and spinning of the HDD. I assume it's an attempt on the HDD's part to start up.

Which brings me back to my question: which part is busted and what can I do about it? If it's a PCB problem alone, then I assume I can try to find another PCB to fix my problem. But what about the HDD? Would it be possible that the portion of the HDD which governs booting up and detection has been corrupted? If so, is there anything I can do to fix it. or am I sitting with a paperweight? =/

Apologies if this has been posted and solved before, losing a backup suddenly is kinda disturbing and unnerving.

It's difficult to say what's the problem with the drive if you don't have right tools for diagnosis.
Most likely there are bad cluster and maybe also a bad head.

You can try to do some test with MHDD
http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

Downalod: http://hddguru.com/download/software/mh ... 4.5iso.zip
Write the ISO on a CD and boot the computer from it, press SHIFT+F3 and select the number of the channel where the drive is detect (if gets detect).
Then press F8 to see SMART attributes and do a photo of the screen.
Then press twice F4 and do a surface scan until around LBA 20.000.000 then press ESC, do a photo of the sceen.
Post both pics on forum.

If you have important data to be recovered should consider the possibility to refer to a professional

P.S.
You have to connect the drive to SATA port of the motherboard to do this test

_________________
My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI

Here you go. Ack, just noticed the pictures go in reverse order.

Your drive is not detect in MHDD, so this means that very likely it has bad firmware or bad heads.
You can try to use Sediv demo version to access to Service Area and read firmware mods to see if they get read or not.
http://sediv.net/index.php?view=downloads

Don't use it alone expecially if you never used sediv before, it can be dangerous to use sediv demo if you don't know what you are doing.
If you want, i can help you in remote via skype, you have to install also Teamviewer
http://www.teamviewer.com/it/download/windows.aspx

i send you a private message with my skype contact.

_________________
My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI

I answer to your PM also here:

Hello, yes you can still get your data back if you refer to a professional.
If you have important data to recover and don't feel to do anymore test that might stress further heads and surface, i suggest to stop powering on the drive and bring it in to a professional (clean room).

A pro will retrive your data by hardware cloning if hdd has bad sectors or will swap heads if they are bad.
Platters transfer is needed only if motor is faulty.

P.S.
No possible to recover data at home if you have bad heads or firmware issue, you need professional tools!

Good luck!

_________________
My firmware database:
https://mega.nz/folder/O01DkBRI

To be more precise, a Pro would analyse the drive to figure out the best course of action to take on the drive. It is really jumping the gun to assume a course of action. There are some symptoms that could be a number of different causes, and a Pro would know how to find them and what to do about it.

Cheers

Hey guys, thanks for your input. I've decided to keep it in a safe place while I'm searching for a local professional to diagnose it for me. Thankfully I had a backup of the more important files in that HDD. Would you guys happen to have any recommendations as to which 3.5" SATA HDD I should get next?

This has been discussed before in depth, and you should be able to find a few threads. One view that I share is simply: It doesn't really matter. More important is the creation of a backup system, it could be as simple as Windows, or cobian backup, or as involved as redundant raid system, cloud etc.

The same argument can be said for best car, and you DO see BMW's and Mercedes broken down from time to time. Better idea to choose is decide a budget, see what is available then see if there are more bad feedback/reviews than others.