Thread: External Hard Drive Failure - Help Please!!

^ You could also try a new lead. A single USB should work if the USB port on the PC is giving out enough power (laptops seem better ime in this regard).

Originally Posted by baldrick

so it is a laptop drive and not a desktop one - you would need an adapter for it to be plugged into a desktop internally.

you need someone who has some skill and who really understands english - the basics are not that hard to do if you have a desktop to use and can follow instructions

Sorry, don't think I explained it very well (typo didn't help either).

I have had it running/attached to my desktop, the cable itself has three plugs - 1 that goes into the drive; and 2 that go into USB ports on my PC (1 marked "power" and 1 marked "power & data").

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

^ You could also try a new lead. A single USB should work if the USB port on the PC is giving out enough power (laptops seem better ime in this regard).

Will give that a go. I do have another lead for my PSP that fits. Already tried it on the desktop with no joy (seemingly not enough power), but will give it a crack on my laptop.

Feck I really hope I can salvage this! It's got a stack of movies and TV series on it that I really wanted to see!!

if the enclosure has a socket for DC power you can use a 5 volt DC power pack that has a plug that fits to power it and just use the USB lead for the data connection to the PC

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Feck I really hope I can salvage this! It's got a stack of movies and TV series on it that I really wanted to see!!

which are all still out there via bittorrent

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

^ You could also try a new lead. A single USB should work if the USB port on the PC is giving out enough power (laptops seem better ime in this regard).

Well there will always be someone who swears that it works, 3 days ago Ant would also have sworn that USB powered external cabinets were working ok...

I have tried so many different manufacturers of cabinets, I have tried connecting them to a USB hub which has a separate power adapter, I have connected them to laptops and to my desktop which has good power sourcing on USB.

Some of these cabinets works for a short time where after the harddisk starts to make the clicketi-clicketi-clicketi noise when starting up. They can't get enough power to get the disks spinning.
I've also suddenly lost a USB connected harddisk in Windows and that is a real disaster if it is during a write operation to the harddisk.

There is only one real solution and that is to power the cabinet directly from an external power adapter.
USB's ability to drive low power consuming devices was never intended for harddisks, never intended for motors who always require a high startup current.

You'll also find that the mechanically better cabinets always comes with a separate power adapter and not the fekkin USB power cord.
Using a USB power cord equals gambling with your data!

Originally Posted by baldrick

if the enclosure has a socket for DC power you can use a 5 volt DC power pack that has a plug that fits to power it and just use the USB lead for the data connection to the PC

No joy there either unfortunately. The only input socket is for the USB cable.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Feck I really hope I can salvage this! It's got a stack of movies and TV series on it that I really wanted to see!!

which are all still out there via bittorrent

True that. But I'm talking many GB's of files - I've got all series of The Wire, BSG, Lost and others on there. Will take me forever to download them again.

Btw, i just googled some mfgs specifications for 2.5" harddisks and many of them specify max needed spin-up current to be 1.A but there are mfgs with higher current demand. Samsung specifies 4.50A for a couple of their disks.

Using 2 USB cables giving 500mA each will satisfy the demand of 1.0A at least until the disk gets older and needs more current to spin up..

I've just tried it again with the usual cable on my laptop - it's the same effect, if it's plugged in at start-up it 'freezes' the start-up process when the "Windows is starting up" message comes up.

The moment that I disconnect it it's business as usual. The PC/laptop still both recognise when it's attached but the drive itself is not showing up in the drive list.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

The PC/laptop still both recognise when it's attached but the drive itself is not showing up in the drive list.

That is most likely a file system error, your PC's don't recognise a valid filesystem on the drive and it can often be fixed with a good disk doctor program.

^This may be a dumb question (I really am quite retarded when it comes to this stuff!) but how would I run such a program to fix the drive if the drive's not being recognised?

^ The disk doctor program doesn't need a valid filesystem for the drive to show up, it is enough that the raw drive is there.
It looks for the hardware and doesn't care about filesystems so if you get a USB device connected message then you should be fine to run a fix program like O&O disc recovery.

There is just one big problem, disc recovery programs can make things worser if you don't know what you are doing..

Originally Posted by lom

^ The disk doctor program doesn't need a valid filesystem for the drive to show up, it is enough that the raw drive is there.
It looks for the hardware and doesn't care about filesystems so if you get a USB device connected message then you should be fine to run a fix program like O&O disc recovery.

Excellent! Thanks for the help.

There is just one big problem, disc recovery programs can make things worser if you don't know what you are doing..

Oh... Bugger!

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

It's got a stack of movies and TV series on it that I really wanted to see!!

is that all?

fookin nuffink to worry about then.

d/l them again.

I was thinking you'd lost photos and work and stuff.

Sheesh.

It was probably about 200GB's worth, and not just movies.

That will take me forever and a day on my crappy connection to d/l them again. And that's presuming I can even find some of the rarer torrents again.

Originally Posted by lom

I have only bad experience from external drive cabinets powered via the USB port.
A USB port can deliver max 500mA of current and that is usually enough to run a 2.5" harddisk.

Harddisk do consume more power when starting up and are close to 500mA for a short while before the mass starts rotating and they can after a few month of usage
require higher startup current.
Higher internal friction in pivots or bearings due to heat is one of the reasons.

I always use a separate power adapter with at least 1000mA (= 1A) rating and I am suprised to see that Seagate is selling this USB powered shite.

A USB port is not enough to run these shit drives -- that's why I always use FireWire powered drives (cue Butterfly: "firewire is for tards, fag") - the firewire port delivers plenty of power, and subsequently I have never had any problem.

Most of my PC using acquaintances who 'swear' by USB drives, invariably lose their data. Then again they also swear by their Windows installation, all the way to BSOD, and loss of data... 'nuff said.

Sadly EVERYBODY makes these USB drives - Seagate, WD, Toshiba, etc... because they are cheap to make. iOmega makes external drives with Firewire (and USB as well).

Good advice on always using an external power adapter (which, of course, defeats the purpose of a portable drive).

Actually ironically enough prior to this drive I did have an external with it's own power adaptor however that bit the dust also.

But in a further Alanis '10,000 spoons' Morissette twist of the ironic it has recently come to life again.

In fact just the other day I transferred all the remaining files from it onto the USB one so they would be safe should it shit itself again.

I had a similar problem with a Seagate drive (on another thread). Was a Seagate firmware fail that caused it. Have you tried looking for any related problems for your model on the Seagate forums?

Ant,

Try a new enclosure first, I've had enclosures crap out before, and a new one has fixed the problem.

Don't plug the drive in until windows has finished booting up - If I leave a drive plugged in then sometimes it isn't recognised in explorer.

Hope this helps .....

Originally Posted by Plan B

I had a similar problem with a Seagate drive (on another thread). Was a Seagate firmware fail that caused it. Have you tried looking for any related problems for your model on the Seagate forums?

Actually no I haven't, will do though. Thanks.

Originally Posted by SandMike

Ant,

Try a new enclosure first, I've had enclosures crap out before, and a new one has fixed the problem.

Don't plug the drive in until windows has finished booting up - If I leave a drive plugged in then sometimes it isn't recognised in explorer.

Hope this helps .....

Ditto. Cheers for the input/tips.

Originally Posted by lom

There is only one real solution and that is to power the cabinet directly from an external power adapter. USB's ability to drive low power consuming devices was never intended for harddisks, never intended for motors who always require a high startup current. You'll also find that the mechanically better cabinets always comes with a separate power adapter and not the fekkin USB power cord. Using a USB power cord equals gambling with your data!

Agreed.

Originally Posted by slackula

Not strictly speaking correct I think. Although the USB standards do specify 500mA some mobos have a controller that will deliver more to one port at the expense of another.

I had an older laptop with 2 USB ports and the controller would deliver power to a port as required, but that made less available to the other port. My USB gizmo worked fine with that machine but didn't on another that followed the specs strictly and would not give more than 500mA to a port.

I have witness the same thing on my laptop. Most laptops these days come with at least 3 USB ports, all powered correctly, therefore the need of an extra powersupply is not really needed.

I also noted that some cables would supply enough power while others wouldn't, so it's not an easy issue to catch.

The Seagate Passport HD are brilliant, no extra power supply and very easy to go around with. I had a 500GB FireWire but I never use that one because you need the power supply, and it's big.

Originally Posted by Butterfly

The Seagate Passport HD are brilliant

Passport are WD, you poof.

right, same shit, different name

Thanks all, for the tips and help in this thread. Haven't had chance to put many of them into action yet (probably won't until next weekend!) but will try and report my (hopefully!) success back.

Cheers.