My one terrabyte drive stopped working few weeks back so i decided to get a sata cable. It plugs in power lights on on the cable but the access light isnt. Drive still not working and my lifes work is on there. There is also an eight pin port on my drive does that have some significance. I was told some tb drives dont work with some satas. My sata has two usb plugs on one end but im thinking i need something else plzzzz help
1 terrabyte drive not working with sata
- Thread starter markjason
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Goldengoose
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If your life's work is on there i would suggest take it to a professional asap. Dont try messing around with it, dont take it apart and dont start trying to run recovery software on it or it will just make their life harder.
I would suggest find a specialist hard drive recovery company - don't go to a big branded place like PC world or some sh*t, they tend to mess it up further.
I would suggest find a specialist hard drive recovery company - don't go to a big branded place like PC world or some sh*t, they tend to mess it up further.
Goldengoose
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Comment from my buddy who works for hard drive recovery:
"Not sure if it's an external or not but if it just stop working with no trauma then most likely to be a failing surface. Powering it on will likely cause more damage if this is the case as microscopic contaminants from the surface of the platters get caught in the heads and dragged around."
"Not sure if it's an external or not but if it just stop working with no trauma then most likely to be a failing surface. Powering it on will likely cause more damage if this is the case as microscopic contaminants from the surface of the platters get caught in the heads and dragged around."
Murissokah
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Helo Mark,
Firstly, let's clear some things up, as there seems to be a bit of confusion in your description of the problem.
1. SATA (serial ATA), is a standard for disk data connections, so when you say "My sata has two usb plugs", this doesn't really make sense. SATA is just the name of the standard for connecting your hard drive to a computer's motherboard or some other device, and the SATA cable looks like this:
2. The 8-pin you mentioned are probably the PATA jumpers, not really a connector. They are meant for setting up how you connect the drive (slave/master), but are pretty much useless nowadays and should be left alone. Does it look like this?
3. 1 Terabyte, or 1TB, is just the capacity of the drive, and hence bears no importance on whether it works or not with the chosen interface. If the drive and both the SATA and USB interfaces are working, it makes no difference how you connect, they should both work.
From what I could understand, you probably have a portable hard drive with both SATA (eSATA in this case) and USB connectors. If that's the case, you must mean you were using USB when it stopped working, and now you are trying to connect through the eSATA port.
Does the enclosure have a power supply? If so, connect it and check if the HDD makes any spinning noise. If the HDD is powering up but the drive does not show up in the computer, you have to make sure the eSATA port you are trying to use is actually enabled. To do this, you should boot up the computer and enter setup (usually press 'del' or F2 on startup). There, you should look for eSATA and make sure it is set to "enabled". If it is, it will probably show the drive information for the connected hard disk.
If this fails, and the disk is really important to you, you could try opening the enclosure and connecting the actual disk to the computer. A portable hard disk is basically a disk inside a cage with external connectors, you would be just removing the case, not messing with the drive itself, so you can't really damage the data. If you want to go ahead and do this, please tell us the exact model of the drive so we can walk you through the process.
Otherwise, if you don't feel savvy enough to open up the hard drive and connect it directly to the PC, then maybe professional tech support would be the best course.
I hope I understood you problem correctly, but if not, please try to explain the issue in more detail so we can try to help you better.
Gradualbling
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They wont be for PATA jumpers, they'll be the terminal connector for the drive. With specialist equipment, you can access certain areas of a hard drive through this connector as a manufacturer would.
Western Digital are the only 1TB manufacturers that I can think of that have an 8 pin terminal connector so I'll assume that you have a 1TB green series or something. If you could post the model number that may help.
Did this hard drive initially come from an external hard drive caddy or has it always been used internally on your system? WD encrypt the data on external drives through the circuit board for the USB to SATA bridge. Not all the time but quite a few.
Is it making any strange noises? Does it occasionally click or spin down and then up again? Does it even spin? If it is, try to be as descriptive as possible. It may sound daft but a hard drive that beeps will have a different issue than one that squeaks.
Has it had any traumas recently? Knocked? Dropped? Set on fire? Also, did you notice that accessing the drive became gradually slower and harder in the last few days?
Taking the drive from a caddy is fine but never ever ever open it up any further than that if the data is important to you.
Western Digital are the only 1TB manufacturers that I can think of that have an 8 pin terminal connector so I'll assume that you have a 1TB green series or something. If you could post the model number that may help.
Did this hard drive initially come from an external hard drive caddy or has it always been used internally on your system? WD encrypt the data on external drives through the circuit board for the USB to SATA bridge. Not all the time but quite a few.
Is it making any strange noises? Does it occasionally click or spin down and then up again? Does it even spin? If it is, try to be as descriptive as possible. It may sound daft but a hard drive that beeps will have a different issue than one that squeaks.
Has it had any traumas recently? Knocked? Dropped? Set on fire? Also, did you notice that accessing the drive became gradually slower and harder in the last few days?
Taking the drive from a caddy is fine but never ever ever open it up any further than that if the data is important to you.
Murissokah :
Helo Mark,
Firstly, let's clear some things up, as there seems to be a bit of confusion in your description of the problem.
1. SATA (serial ATA), is a standard for disk data connections, so when you say "My sata has two usb plugs", this doesn't really make sense. SATA is just the name of the standard for connecting your hard drive to a computer's motherboard or some other device, and the SATA cable looks like this:
2. The 8-pin you mentioned are probably the PATA jumpers, not really a connector. They are meant for setting up how you connect the drive (slave/master), but are pretty much useless nowadays and should be left alone. Does it look like this?
3. 1 Terabyte, or 1TB, is just the capacity of the drive, and hence bears no importance on whether it works or not with the chosen interface. If the drive and both the SATA and USB interfaces are working, it makes no difference how you connect, they should both work.
From what I could understand, you probably have a portable hard drive with both SATA (eSATA in this case) and USB connectors. If that's the case, you must mean you were using USB when it stopped working, and now you are trying to connect through the eSATA port.
Does the enclosure have a power supply? If so, connect it and check if the HDD makes any spinning noise. If the HDD is powering up but the drive does not show up in the computer, you have to make sure the eSATA port you are trying to use is actually enabled. To do this, you should boot up the computer and enter setup (usually press 'del' or F2 on startup). There, you should look for eSATA and make sure it is set to "enabled". If it is, it will probably show the drive information for the connected hard disk.
If this fails, and the disk is really important to you, you could try opening the enclosure and connecting the actual disk to the computer. A portable hard disk is basically a disk inside a cage with external connectors, you would be just removing the case, not messing with the drive itself, so you can't really damage the data. If you want to go ahead and do this, please tell us the exact model of the drive so we can walk you through the process.
Otherwise, if you don't feel savvy enough to open up the hard drive and connect it directly to the PC, then maybe professional tech support would be the best course.
I hope I understood you problem correctly, but if not, please try to explain the issue in more detail so we can try to help you better.
It was an external hard drive which used a power cable and a usb lead for data. So i watched vid on u tube for a fix. It suggested that i open the plastic case to the drive and take out hard drive and get rid of the small motherboard or chip board that was connected to the drive and buy a small sata clip that plugs into drive were the chip board went and wud work. My sata is a small lead with 2 usb one end and sata clip at other. Basically described it as plug and play. But i think it also needs power somewhere as it originally needed seperated power adaptor that also plugged into chip board along with usb
Overview:
This is an external USB to 2.5" SATA Hard Drive HDD cable, it will allow you to combined a 2.5" SATA HDD or SSD to be an external Hard drive. The Dual USB designed will provide you high speed data transfer rates and 5V power stable power source from the USB connector, use the USB to 2.5" SATA HDD cable to connect the 2.5" SATA HDD upto the computer. No extra power required, Support hot-swap, plug and play.
This is an external USB to 2.5" SATA Hard Drive HDD cable, it will allow you to combined a 2.5" SATA HDD or SSD to be an external Hard drive. The Dual USB designed will provide you high speed data transfer rates and 5V power stable power source from the USB connector, use the USB to 2.5" SATA HDD cable to connect the 2.5" SATA HDD upto the computer. No extra power required, Support hot-swap, plug and play.
Gradualbling
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Desktop hard drives require 12 volts to run. USB ports put out 5 volts. Also...again, if it came from a western digital caddy the data may be encrypted and need to be decrypted through the original PCB from the caddy.
Gradualbling
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What is the model of the HDD? The adapter you have is for a 2.5" HDD, in other words for a laptop or portable hard drive which needs less power than a desktop drive.
Gradualbling
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Woo! Now we're cooking with gas.
Right! Look at the label on the front of the drive. Does it say something like "WD10EACS" or "WD10EARS" or something similar?
The plastic case you took it out of, was it a "MyBook" or Western digital branded?
Right! Look at the label on the front of the drive. Does it say something like "WD10EACS" or "WD10EARS" or something similar?
The plastic case you took it out of, was it a "MyBook" or Western digital branded?
Gradualbling
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OK, from what you've told me so far, I think that you have a 3.5" HDD. The 2.5" connector wont give it the power that it needs.
What actually went wrong to begin with? Can you answer the other questions I asked earlier?
"Is it making any strange noises? Does it occasionally click or spin down and then up again? Does it even spin? If it is, try to be as descriptive as possible. It may sound daft but a hard drive that beeps will have a different issue than one that squeaks.
Has it had any traumas recently? Knocked? Dropped? Set on fire? Also, did you notice that accessing the drive became gradually slower and harder in the last few days?"
What actually went wrong to begin with? Can you answer the other questions I asked earlier?
"Is it making any strange noises? Does it occasionally click or spin down and then up again? Does it even spin? If it is, try to be as descriptive as possible. It may sound daft but a hard drive that beeps will have a different issue than one that squeaks.
Has it had any traumas recently? Knocked? Dropped? Set on fire? Also, did you notice that accessing the drive became gradually slower and harder in the last few days?"
The last few weeks it had a knock and sometimes the drive would stop then seconds later kick back in then one day just stop completely. The drive wen plugged in still made a power buzz noise but thats normal that real slight zzzzzz just to let u know its on. Every now and then u can hear drive click slightly but now its just disconnected from everything even the chip board thats fixed to it. Secrets to FIXING YOUR EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE! Impor…: http://youtu.be/5cTZBMi-XwQ
Gradualbling
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What initially went wrong with it? In other words, why did you take it out of the plastic caddy? Did you notice that accessing it got a bit slower and then you just couldn't access it one day?
Yip thats what happened. I took it out the caddy to remove the chip board cos it was broke and was gona get a sata clip to usb but its not working still. I may need to get new board so i can plug power and usb back into it to acess it
Gradualbling
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Right, you're past the point of of being able to get this yourself. Hard drives are ridiculously delicate and any sort of trauma big or small can be enough to kill them off. In your case, I would say that the knock it received made the read/write heads knock against the surface of the disks. Most of the time, this kills the read/write heads outright through friction burns and the impact but in your case it sounds like it damaged the surface of the platters.
It's important that you don't try and do this yourself any more. There is physical damage within the drive and microscopic flecks of the platters surface are flying around inside and getting caught under the read/write heads. As these get carried around the drive they will catch on the platters and the contamination will build up until the heads eventually start to scrape the data from the surface and turn your life's work, literally, into dust.
You need specialist help now. If you are UK based, I will take a look at it for you. Send me a PM and I'll pass you my company's details. Alternatively, you can search for a company yourself. Make sure they are specialists, general computer repair shops aren't equipped for this type of work, and make sure that they offer a free analysis, no obligation quote and have a no fix, no fee policy.
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