3-Yr.-Old External USB WD 4TB Black Game Drive Gone Bad?

[Darius1968]

Just now, after completing a backup with Macrium Reflect and unmounting/remounting my backup HDD, Windows can no longer read my backup storage device, though CrystalDiskInfo says all is well.  In light of the last bit of info, what does this actually mean? 

If I have to replace, I'm asking for the kind input of others on this board for ideas about what are the best drives for performance and longevity.  I always thought Western Digital was supposed to praise highly in that regard. 

Many thanks! 

[Mario]

Any disk or SSD can die anytime.
I replace my external USB disks every two years (they are used daily), and I have several of them.
A MOSFET or even a simple part like a capacitor that gets shorted will kill the board and make the disk data inaccessible.

"No longer read" means what? Can Windows mount the disk (do you see it in Windows Explorer or in Disk Manager)?
When I recall correctly, CrystalDiskInfo  is a tool to read the SMART data and do performance measurements on disks. That's a different thing. Maybe the file system got corrupted? Then Windows disk manager should show the disk, but Windows cannot mount the file system anymore.

[Carlo Didier]

If it's a disk in a USB enclosure, you may try to put it into another enclosure or install it directly in a desktop PC to get access or better diagnostics without the intermediary of the USB/SATA conversion circuits.

[Mike M]

Here are my tips for reducing failures of my external HDDs (spinning type, non solid state).

My use case may differ from your.  I typically backup only changed files after dumping my camera memory cards to my PC drive.  This allows me to:


1) NEVER move an external HDD while it is powered on, even slightly, this is very important.
2) I physically power it down and disconnect it when not in use.
3a) when planning on a long (hours) sustained read or writing session, I pull out a small desk fan
3b) run Crystal Disk Info and watch the drive temperature, turn on fan when the temp goes over 100f
4a) when full, pull it from service and store it
4b) get a new larger drive, dump everything on the new drive and keep going

[6b6561]

I use 2.5" drives for my backups and I have added small rubber feats on the drives to reduce vibration to the drives and allow a little bit of air to flow under them. The drives are stored in the retail boxes to protect them against accidental drops etc.

Have at least two USB drives for backups, just in case something happens during a backup.