External Hard Drive Problem

[Yamer]

As with most of my technical issues, I turn to the CP community for help. I'll try to give as much information as possible. Thanks in advance for any help you're willing to offer.

First some specs: It is a USB 3.0 drive but I am using it on a 2.0. I am on Windows 7 Home Premium.

On Tuesday, July 3rd I purchased a 1 TB Seagate Expansion Portable USB 3.0 hard drive. For the first two days the drive worked fine, although I had some initial trouble during the plug-and-play installation of the driver software. Anyway, over the course of those two days I transferred some 550 GB of movies, pictures, and documents onto the drive to free up space. Then, Friday after work, I went to access some of the files and I found that my computer did not recognize the drive. The LED light came on, and I heard it clicking as though it was initializing, but it didn't show up in My Computer.

I tried plugging it into my netbook to see if it was a CPU issue. However, the driver software would not install and I also could not access the drive. I tried uninstalling the drivers and allowing it to re-install...but it consistently fails to install the driver software. Sometimes it installs it as 'Disk Drive', and sometimes it installs it as 'Seagate Portable USB' (I checked these in Device Manager). When I pull up the Disk Management tool, the drive does not appear. I tried using the SeaTools and Seagate Drive Settings tools but it can't find my drive...or it appears as 'Unknown'. I still have the 'Safe Eject' icon in my toolbar, and it reads as a 'Raptor 2.5" USB 3.0'.

I have attempted to contact Seagate, but of course they don't respond to issues on the weekends. I also plan to consult the retailer I purchased the drive at (BestBuy) to see what my options are. As I was in the process of transferring files over and finding space I don't have these files backed up anywhere else. While some of them are inconsequential, most are important and some of them are very discreet in nature...so if I have to find a way to recover these documents I would like to do it with as much professionalism and discretion as possible.

Anything you can suggest would be helpful. I am finding nothing on the Google Machine that relates to my problem. If you need any more information, just let me know.

[zamler]

It sounds like the drive is defective. I don't know if what you have on the drive HAS to be recovered, but if not, then you can always remove the drive from the enclosure and hook the drive itself up via the SATA connector and do a secure erase. Another option is to connect the drive to another USB>SATA controller and see if you can access it.

Basically it is either a bad interface (the USB to the drives native SATA) or the drive itself is failing. Maybe someone else has better advice.

[Rathji]

<insert obligatory stern warning about always having a backup>

testdisk might let you recover stuff if it is showing up as unknown.

[GoFlamesGo89]

Its hard to know whats going on. It could either be the HD controller on the case or the drive itself. I assume that you're not interested in simply returning the drive, and are okay with invalidating the warranty in order to recover the drive. If not, then your best best is to work with Seagate and/or retailer to get a replacement.

If you're more interested in the data, the safest and most expensive way would be a professional data recovery service, typically ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

If thats not in the cards the next thing I would do is try some data recovery software on the current drive. Try googling 'GetDataBack' from Runtime software which has a free demo to see if your data is accessible. If you can see the drive at least, there is hope. If not, try changing the case (see below) and then rerun the software to see if the case is the issue.

My next suggestion would be to find another case and move the HD into the new case (I assume the drive itself is a 2.5" SATA, but you'd need to confirm this). This is actually very simple to do assuming the Seagate case is not sealed. My experience has been that most of them can be opened using standard computer tools. The drive itself will be a typical format and will be easily transferred to a standard case (from Memoryexpress or similar online source).

Hope this helps.

Edit: Rathji's suggestion for testdisk is a good one, although in my limited experience a bit harder to use

[Yamer]

I sure wish I was more computer literate right now.

Originally Posted by zamler

It sounds like the drive is defective. I don't know if what you have on the drive HAS to be recovered, but if not, then you can always remove the drive from the enclosure and hook the drive itself up via the SATA connector and do a secure erase. Another option is to connect the drive to another USB>SATA controller and see if you can access it.

Basically it is either a bad interface (the USB to the drives native SATA) or the drive itself is failing. Maybe someone else has better advice.

So, not the most tech savvy guy...but does this mean trying a different port? If so, tried and unsuccessful.

Originally Posted by Rathji

<insert obligatory stern warning about always having a backup>

testdisk might let you recover stuff if it is showing up as unknown.

No, I deserve it. Trouble was I simply didn't have the room.

It doesn't show up with a drive letter or in My Computer, but in the Seagate Drive Settings it does come up as 'Unkown' on occasion. The computer seems to recognize that I have a Mass Storage Device connected to it, but it can't open it. I'll try TestDisk and see what happens.

Originally Posted by GoFlamesGo89

Its hard to know whats going on. It could either be the HD controller on the case or the drive itself. I assume that you're not interested in simply returning the drive, and are okay with invalidating the warranty in order to recover the drive. If not, then your best best is to work with Seagate and/or retailer to get a replacement.

I would invalidate the warranty if I had to. I have read some complicated suggestions about hooking it up as an internal drive, although I don't know if this can be done on a laptop and with a portable drive. I also don't know if I am comfortable doing that.

If you're more interested in the data, the safest and most expensive way would be a professional data recovery service, typically ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

As a working college student, this unfortunately isn't an option. Perhaps if Seagate did the right thing and covered the cost for a faulty 4 day old drive, but I highly doubt they would do such a thing for a $120 drive.

If thats not in the cards the next thing I would do is try some data recovery software on the current drive. Try googling 'GetDataBack' from Runtime software which has a free demo to see if your data is accessible. If you can see the drive at least, there is hope. If not, try changing the case (see below) and then rerun the software to see if the case is the issue.

My next suggestion would be to find another case and move the HD into the new case (I assume the drive itself is a 2.5" SATA, but you'd need to confirm this). This is actually very simple to do assuming the Seagate case is not sealed. My experience has been that most of them can be opened using standard computer tools. The drive itself will be a typical format and will be easily transferred to a standard case (from Memoryexpress or similar online source).

Hope this helps.

Edit: Rathji's suggestion for testdisk is a good one, although in my limited experience a bit harder to use

The case seems sealed pretty good. I don't have any tools of any kind that would be appropriate to attempt to open it. However, I assume with pretty fair certainty that it is a 2.5" SATA.

For further reference, this is the drive I purchased:

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/...d3cdcb7a7cen02

Pretty bummed that my photos, movies, and countless hours of work may be gone.

Either way, thanks everyone for trying to help. Any other ideas/suggestions/information/follow up is always appreciated.

[Yamer]

Actually, after looking at a quick video of how to dismantle this thing it doesn't look like such a hard job. I could try switching cases, but where could I find a new one? I searched Memoryexpress, but I can't find anything (or I am looking in the wrong place).

EDIT: Nevermind. Found a bunch. Just had to search for the right thing.

As for TestDisk, suddenly the drive isn't showing up anywhere and the program can't detect anything but my internal drive. I'll keep trying, tho.

[GoFlamesGo89]

Originally Posted by Yamer

As a working college student, this unfortunately isn't an option. Perhaps if Seagate did the right thing and covered the cost for a faulty 4 day old drive, but I highly doubt they would do such a thing for a $120 drive.

Before you try dismantling the thing, be sure about the cost of the data vs. refund. I'm pretty sure you could return this to Bestbuy given their policies and get your money back. Dismantling would likely invalidate the warranty, so make sure you're ready for that.

Having said that, the only way to become a bit more tech savvy is to try things like this-- you'll be surprised at how easy it is to do this. One more issue to consider is where you're going to put the data in case you're able to recover it-- do make sure you're prepared for that.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Yamer

So, not the most tech savvy guy...but does this mean trying a different port? If so, tried and unsuccessful.

No I'm saying remove the hard drive from the external case and connect it directly to your motherboard. You will need an adapter like this to do it. The data on the drive will not be readable however, but assuming the HD itself is working, it will give you the ability to wipe out any existing data.

Another option is to get a 2nd external drive and try swapping the controller to see if that is the problem. By controller I mean this thing:



The circuit board you see there plugs directly into the back of the hard drive, that is what translates USB to SATA, which is the native interface of the HD. This is a 3.5" drive, but it's the same basic idea. Another option is to get a dock like this one. Again, the data on the drive will most likely not be readable, but at least you can wipe the drive to make sure no sensitive data can be recovered.

[Yamer]

Can't say it enough, so thanks again everyone. I now have some options to try out if I decide to, and if Seagate can't resolve this issue. At the very least I learned a few things going forward.

I was hoping someone else had run into this problem and had one of those 'too simple to believe' solutions to an all-too common error. I should know things can't be that easy.