Help with Ports at Back of Old WD External Drive

loginid on 28/03/2019 - 09:12

Hello electronic experts out there!

I know external HDD's are super hot on O.B so there must be heaps of knowledgable people about them here.

I have a really old WD 2TB external HDD and usually connect it with my USB port to my computer, but I think the port itself is failing because often I have to jiggle the cable to get it to connect properly. Also when I do the WD test app on it, it says cable failed (even though I've used 4 different cables on it).

But it has a few other ports, so I thought I might be able to use those instead.

The only thing is that I only have USB ports on my PC.

Can anyone please help me find a another cable which would help?

I've tried looking on eBay but it all seems quite complicated.

Here are the ports at the back of the HDD:

2 x FireWire 800
1 x eSata
1 x USB (not always working)

Thank you for your help!

Computing Computer Peripheral External Hard Drive Western Digital

Comments

  • Hybroid on 28/03/2019 - 09:18

    I’m guessing it’s an older WD MyBook unit as have had similar issues in the past with the port wearing out.

    eSata to USB cables exist but they’re quite expensive.

    I would suggest either:
    1) If it’s a desktop, you can pick up an eSata PCI card for very cheap and use an eSata to eSata cable directly. In theory will be faster transfer rates than old USB2. (This is what I did)
    2) Purchase a new 3.5 inch external drive case, take the WD drive out carefully and rehouse it.
    3) Purchase a new backup drive and copy all the content over. It’s worth checking the health of the drive to see if it’s approaching likely failure time by now as will be several years old and might actually be a better solution in long run.

  • scrimshaw on 28/03/2019 - 09:21

    I would definitely rehouse it, but otherwise you can purchase a Firewire card and add it to your desktop PC
    https://www.umart.com.au/Generic-PCIe-Firewire-Express-Card_…

    or, you can also buy eSATA brackets which will allow you to directly interface the HDD to your PC's internal SATA ports, which is much faster. Obviously, desktop only.
    https://www.umart.com.au/eSATA-Bracket-Dual-Port-with-Cable-…

    It shouldn't be too difficult to take apart the external drive and find yourself a more modern HDD enclosure or dock that supports the latest USB 3 / USB 3.1 Gen1 (whatever they call it now) standards. Rehousing the HDD is definitely the best option though.

  • pegaxs on 28/03/2019 - 09:21

    eSata to USB 3.0 cable (If your PC supports USB 3.0) (expensive path, could be $50++)

    Buy a new case for the drive. Remove the hard drive from the old case and fit it to a new case. (Cheaper path at about $15~)

  • loginid on 28/03/2019 - 09:36

    Thanks for all the great advice my peeps!

    If I did go ahead and get a new enclosure, the HDD has 2 x 1TB 3.5" HDDs

    Any advice on which enclosure to get?

    • scrimshaw on 28/03/2019 - 09:55
      +1

      I've had pretty good experience with Vantec / Orico docks and enclosures. Try to avoid the no-name ones on ebay as they're often not very good and can corrupt your data.

      The cheapest dual bay enclosure I've seen is this Hotway one although the Amazon reviews aren't exactly glowing, probably due to the unreliable RAID features. But if you don't use RAID, it will function just like a normal enclosure.

      • Nugs on 28/03/2019 - 10:12

        yep, I've got a vantec that I bought 10+ years ago (USB2)
        .

    • CheapAtTwiceThePrice on 28/03/2019 - 10:00
      +1

      An external dock using USB3 is a reasonable investment.
      You'll be pleasantly surprised when they can be loaned to help friends and family too.
      I bought a second one recently (already had one) when retrieving data from a 4 bay broken NAS.
      Cost $45.
      Good luck!

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 28/03/2019 - 12:20

    How many hours have the disks been used for? (use the WDapp or CrystalDiskInfo)

    Probably not worth buying a dock and just buying a new external drive if they've done more than 30-40k hours - which I assume they probably have if it's an old model with firewire!

    • loginid on 28/03/2019 - 13:04

      Gosh, it's probably done 8 years worth of hours!!
      Maybe you're right.

      But for now I'll probably go for some type of stop gap measure before waiting for a killer deal on the ol O.B :)

  • [Deactivated] on 28/03/2019 - 12:25
    -1

    Do you care about it being portable anymore?

    • loginid on 28/03/2019 - 13:05

      I think it's good to be portable.
      I always think if there is a fire I can just run and grab it off the desk and everything will still be backed up!

      • ihbh on 28/03/2019 - 13:40

        Hopefully you have a 2 backups of everything.

  • loginid on 28/03/2019 - 13:08

    Once again, thanks for the suggestions my peeps!
    I love how us O.B ppl by default suggest only bargain deals!!

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