[mingus03]

So I've had this external hard drive for about three years now. I'm a writer and three years ago one of my computers crashed. I lost all of my work and was devastated. So I got an external hard drive to make sure it didn't happen again. It's a WD MyBook external. I'm not sure what the storage capacity is on it...anyway. Last year when I plugged it in it started giving me a message that a USB device had malfunctioned and that Windows couldn't recognize it. I did some research and found out that the type of WD MyBook I have is known for having something lose and that if you turn it on it's side it will work properly. This was true. Something about turning it on it's side made it work. Well, we went through a move this summer and I've only had it plugged into my lap twice since then. It was the same, if I turned it on it's side or at a different angle, it work. Now, however, no angle works. I'm getting the message over and over again. I've noticed that the place it plugs into the hard drive is lose and wiggles around a lot and doesn't go in all the way. I've tried holding it in, turning it upside down, on it's side, everything. I've also tried plugging it in to different USB ports and on different computers. Nothing is working. I have a lot of work saved on it and I'm really out of ideas. Is there anything that can be done? Something that can be replaced in it to make it plug in properly?

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If it is still under warranty, they might fix it. If not, and the problem is with the connector, you can open the case (which would void the warranty) and put the disk into another case. You might be able to replace the connector, if you have a soldering iron and know how to do this.

This is one of the reasons why I prefer to buy the case separate from the disk. Often the interface in the enclosure dies or has problems and if it is under warranty, then you can't open it and they company will just replace the whole unit.

As a side note (for others who read this), when you have problems, you need to copy the data from the device to protect the data. Also, you should have more than one copy of important data.

[Kemasa]

If it is still under warranty, they might fix it. If not, and the problem is with the connector, you can open the case (which would void the warranty) and put the disk into another case. You might be able to replace the connector, if you have a soldering iron and know how to do this.

This is one of the reasons why I prefer to buy the case separate from the disk. Often the interface in the enclosure dies or has problems and if it is under warranty, then you can't open it and they company will just replace the whole unit.

As a side note (for others who read this), when you have problems, you need to copy the data from the device to protect the data. Also, you should have more than one copy of important data.