IMPORTANT: WD My Book Live End of Support Notice!
WD My Book Live has reached its end of support life cycle.
WDC-21008 Recommended Security Measures for WD My Book Live and WD My Book Live Duo
Need more help?
- Answer ID 28917: WD My Book Live End of Support
- Answer ID 28740: Western Digital Product Lifecycle Support Policy
Critical: The instructions below apply only to the My Book Live Duo and My Book Thunderbolt Duo. Opening the enclosure of a non-user-serviceable device, for exapmle a My Book Live, will void the warranty. |
For example: A WD Green model WD30EZRX-00SPEB0 must be replaced with another WD Green model WD30EZRX-00SPEB0 to function properly. Exchanging the hard drive with a different model or capacity may cause unexpected behavior, such as data loss or damage to the operating system and will void the warranty.
The My Book Live Duo and My Book Thunderbolt Duo devices are limited user-serviceable products that allows for replacing a hard drive in the device. Please see the table below for assistance:
How to determine if a My Book Live Duo is faulty | Click Here |
How to determine if a My Book Thunderbolt Duo is faulty | Click Here |
How to replace a drive in a My Book Live Duo or My Book Thunderbolt Duo | Click Here |
Replacing a My Book Live Duo or My Book Thunderbolt Duo or one of its drives | Click Here |
How to determine if a My Book Live Duo is faulty
If the front LED on the My Book Live Duo is flashing red or you have received an alert, the device or drive(s) may be faulty. To determine which drive is faulty, do the following:
- Open the Dashboard for your My Book Live Duo.
- Click Settings.
- Click on the Storage tab.
- Review Drive A and Drive B to determine which drive is faulty.
- If one of the drives has the message Failed or Storage Failed, note the letter of the drive (for example, Drive A).
In the event a fault occurs and you would like to service the device yourself, please see the section of this article titled Getting a replacement drive and/or enclosure for assistance finding a replacement drive.
How to determine if a My Book Thunderbolt Duo is faulty:
Whether the application is running or not, the WD Drive Utilities software continuously monitors the operational condition of your My Book Thunderbolt Duo drives. When a drive fails, the utility displays a warning message, depending on the configuration of your system:
For a striped RAID 0 configuration the message reads The RAID Stripe set has failed:
For a mirrored RAID 1 configuration the message reads Mirrored RAID Set is running in degraded mode:
For an individual drives JBOD configuration the message reads The drive in slot A/B is missing:
For a JBOD configuration, the warning message indicates the drive indicated has failed. If the drive is configured in a RAID, use the WD Drive Utilities software to determine which drive has failed.
Using WD Drive Utilities software to determine what drive has failed:The WD Drive Utilities software provides a status indication of the device configuration and each device drive. To check the device status:
If you do not have WD Drive Utilities downloaded and installed you can obtain a copy in the download library for the My Book Thunderbolt Duo. |
- From your macOS desktop, click Go.
- Click on Applications.
- Click on WD Drive Utilities to display the WD Drive Utilities screen.
- If there is more than one supported drive or storage device connected to the Mac, please select the one that needs to be checked.
- Click Diagnostics to display the Diagnostics dialog.
- On the Diagnostics window, click the button for S.M.A.R.T. status. If both drives indicate they have passed the S.M.A.R.T. test, in most cases a Quick Drive Test will reveal which drive is faulty. If all the drives pass the Quick Drive Test a more in-depth Complete Drive Test may need to be performed on the drives inside the My Book Thudnerbolt Duo enclosure. IMPORTANT: The Quick Test may take several hours to complete on each drive. The Complete Test will take even longer.
In the event a fault occurs and you would like to service the device yourself, please see the section of this article titled Replacing a My Book Live Duo or My Book Thunderbolt Duo or one of its drives for assistance finding a replacement drive.
How to replace a drive in the My Book Live Duo or My Book Thunderbolt Duo:
Follow the steps below to replace one faulty drive:
- Determine which drive is faulty. For assistance in making this determination, please see the section of this article titled How to determine if a My Book Live Duo is faulty or How to determine if a My Book Thunderbolt Duo is faulty depending on the drive you have.
- Before getting started, power off the unit and disconnect all external cables.
- Place the unit on a clean and stable surface.
- Using your thumb, firmly push down on the top front panel of the unit to release the latch and open the cover.
- Loosen the thumbscrew that secures the drive cover plate.
- Remove the drive cover plate and set aside. Note: Each drive is designated A or B by a color coded decal.
- Locate the drive label that corresponds with the one on the dashboard Storage tab.
- Using the pull tab, carefully and slowly pull the drive out of the enclosure and set aside.
- Gently slide the replacement drive assembly into the drive slot until it's fully inserted.
- Replace the cover plate.
- Secure the cover plate with the thumbscrew.
- Close the door and firmly push in until it locks into place.
- Reconnect all of the cables for the unit.
- The drive starts the rebuild process automatically. The RAID rebuild may take up to 15 hours depending on drive capacity and activity, but typically will complete in 7 to 12 hours. Allow the RAID rebuild to complete. IMPORTANT: Do not attempt to use the device during the rebuild process.
Critical: To avoid electrostatic discharge (ESD) problems, ground yourself by touching metal before handling the device. |
Do not over-tighten the thumbscrew. |
Replacing a My Book Live Duo or My Book Thunderbolt Duo or one of its drives
In addition to replacing the device, one of the drives can be replaced individually. This is only useful if the device is cofigured as RAID 1 (Mirror). If the device is cofigured as Spanning and one hard drive fails, the volume could be compromised which would require replacing the entire device. When creating an RMA for one of the internal drives, be sure to use the serial number of the internal drive and not the device. |
If you need to contact Technical Support for assistance with creating an RMA, have the following items ready: My Book Live Duo serial number (from the device), date of purchase, and the serial number of the internal hard drive which requires replacement (if you are replacing only the internal drive).
Once you have received the replacement drive, follow the steps in the section of this article titled Replacing a drive in the My Book Live Duo or My Book Thunderbolt Duo.
If the device is no longer under warranty, or you wish to purchase a drive as a spare. Be sure to get a drive with an identical model number to the drives included in your enclosure. This includes the information in the suffix of the model number (For example if the model number was WDM0D31NUM83R-0000 both the the WDM0D31NUM83R and 0000 numbers should be identical.)
To replace the internal hard drive under warrnaty, plse see Answer ID 10336: Steps to Get a Warranty Replacement, Power Supply, or USB Cable