Mac hard resets when mounting external HD

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Re: Mac hard resets when mounting external HD

Post by grahamperrin » Fri Nov 09, 2012 3:11 am

collegeitdept wrote:… If do buy one of those SATA to USB things …


Anecdotally, I would not recommend Winstars Communicator C2 docking station (from Maplin Electronics and other distributors). Some people are very happy, but two other people I know have used the product (two of the stations shared between three people) and all three of us had sometimes poor results.

Maybe we three were simply unlucky with our choices of drive to use with the station. But (collegeitdept) as you have already had some bad luck, I hesitate before recommending the Communicator C2.

Drive hardware

… Where does the problem lie? The SATA connector within the drive, or USB within the external case?


Dunno, sorry.

To help other readers answer that question – assuming that we have pretty much ruled out everything except the drive and its firmware – for convenience:

grahamperrin wrote:… According to Western Digital, WDBACW0030HBK is the My Book Essential Edition 3 TB. … 


– but there's still a problem with Western Digital's previously advertised page for the My Book Essential.

Drive firmware?

Considering the possibility of power surges etc. whilst writing in the past, I wonder whether reinstallation of firmware could help. Reinstallation might be not possible with the Mac hardware running OS X (see previous pages, viewtopic.php?p=2667#p2667 and earlier viewtopic.php?p=1352#p1352 in particular) but I have a hunch that a Windows-based attempt to reinstall firmware might succeed.

If my idea of reinstalling firmware seems loony to you … it's loosely based on a long ago unlucky experience with a carelessly handled LaCie device (under my devices with known imperfections or suspected issues).

(Don, is this too way off?)
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Re: Mac hard resets when mounting external HD

Post by grahamperrin » Fri Nov 09, 2012 3:25 am

Afterthought: specifications for the Western Digital include only one line for input voltage. 100-240 VAC

So maybe the internal power supply – for the lower voltage(s) to the sensitive electronics – is at fault. That's reasonably optimistic and if true, maybe collegeitdept will be lucky with a docking station.

Background: I'm told that for some types of hard disk drive, there are two lower voltages – the higher of the two for initial spin up from zero RPM. My own experiences (failures of multiple LaCie-branded external power supplies) have affected initial spin but not subsequent spin.

If the Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 3 TB is similarly driven (two lower voltages) then maybe the troublesome drive – in this case case – gets higher low power for initial spin but not lower low power for subsequent spin … or is that a crazy idea?
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failing to find a Western Digital listing for My Book Essent

Post by grahamperrin » Fri Nov 09, 2012 11:56 pm

Still wondering where firmware might be found.

Neither the Western Digital Product List for external storage, nor the Western Digital page for My Book lists an Essential.

Any other ideas?

collegeitdept, can you find a Western Digital page with firmware for your product? With its serial number, can you make a request for support?
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Re: Mac hard resets when mounting external HD

Post by collegeitdept » Sun Nov 11, 2012 1:58 am

how can I upgrade the firmware if nothing can recognize the drive?

Don't I first have to buy that drive docking station?

Will this drive docking station work?
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Re: Mac hard resets when mounting external HD

Post by collegeitdept » Sun Nov 11, 2012 1:59 am

Where does the power supply lie? Is it in the case? Or is it actually on the drive (in which case I'm screwed)?
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Re: Mac hard resets when mounting external HD

Post by scasady » Sun Nov 11, 2012 8:59 am

From grahamperrin's link to WD http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=240 there is listed both a firmware updater and smartware software for macs. ALthough I doubt that either will help since the problem seems to be usb communication. There might be power supply issues though. I couldn't tell from a brief search what it has for a power supply but from my experiences in the past the adapters provided by some are just barely capable of suppling the required power and so the system fails after a while. I have resurrected an external drive with a new power supply with slightly greater capability.
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link

Post by grahamperrin » Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:19 am

@scasady

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=120 , yes? (Just wondering whether I'm alone with my Western Digital redirection problem. And thanks!)
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Re: Mac hard resets when mounting external HD

Post by collegeitdept » Sun Nov 11, 2012 1:12 pm

I did try a brand new power adapter... and the drive still does not work. Is the power supply within the external case?
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power adapters for My Book Essential

Post by grahamperrin » Sun Nov 11, 2012 3:41 pm

Power adapter for WD products: WD TV, My Book, LiveWire, ShareSpace, MyDVR Expander, and Elements shows, for all Essential models, a low voltage adapter. So now I assume that:

  • the one-line specification (100-240 VAC) for the drive refers to the external adapter, not to the drive enclosure
  • the specification for power to the drive enclosure is 12 V, with whatever wattage is shown at the WD page
  • within the enclosure, there's no power adapter.

Unless anyone else has alternative ideas, you might make your next steps: purchase a docking station, remove the disk from the WD enclosure, try the disk in the dock.

Those steps assume that the disk itself is OK despite (possible/probable) failure of the electronics of the enclosure. No promises, but let's remain optimistic.

There remains a question:

  • which docking station to recommend?

How many types of docking station have been tested by users of ZEVO, I don't know.
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Re: Mac hard resets when mounting external HD

Post by shuman » Mon Nov 12, 2012 12:57 pm

Haven't used this one specifically, but I have used one that looks exactly like it. It's only ~$14. Whether it solves your problem or not they are handy to have around.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002
- Mac Mini (Late 2012), 10.8.5, 16GB memory, pool - 2 Mirrored 3TB USB 3.0 External Drives
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