Question Does it mean my external hard disk is internally damaged/corrupted?

[vikaskumar2299]

I bought a new Seagate Expansion 2 TB hard disk yesterday.

I used it and copied 200 GB data on it. Which copied successfully. Then I copied some more data but during that I lifted my laptop to place it somewhere else but I forgot that my hard disk is attached to it with USB.

So the hard drive was physically hanging vertically from laptop and copying status window got frozen. And I heard 2-3 times some noise inside hard drive. Not sure it was normal noise or was it my laptop noise. But I suspect it was from external hard disk itself.

After that, it simply doesn't show up in any PC. I tried Ubuntu, Windows 7, Windows 10 but same problem.

I can't even find it in Disk Management. All I see is a "Safely Remove and Eject" icon when I inset the USB. But that also doesn't work when I click it.

There's no trace of Hard disk anywhere else on PC except in Device and Printers. I can see hard disk as "Expansion HDD" but it is useless. The options on it don't work. The PC hangs if I try to click any option like Remove Device.

I can see it here too but I can't perform any action:
See image:

https://imgur.com/X8mzkbP

View: https://imgur.com/X8mzkbP


Does it mean it has become useless/dead/corrupted and internally damaged?

 

[Colif]

could check to see if this can see drive - https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/seatools/

 

[Grobe]

No wonder your hard drive are dead, that is exactly how to destroy a hard drive.

And I'll tell you why - today's hard drives are an incredible piece of mechanical work with extreme accuracy.

Imagine this: You manage to get a space ship, not the ordinary one but one that can travel at near speed of light. That is all good, you can travel to the stars in no time. However, instead you put the spaceship about a couple of meters/yards above the ground of the earth and let the space ship go around the planet at this low altitude. The smallest misalignment to the path will be catastrophic for the spaceship.
Here comes the comparison : What do you think happens to the space ship in "low orbit" in the scenario where another planet crashes into earth ? Bye bye to the spaceship that is 😛

 

[vikaskumar2299]

could check to see if this can see drive - https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/seatools/

I tried this too. It didn't list any kind of disk.

 

[vikaskumar2299]

No wonder your hard drive are dead, that is exactly how to destroy a hard drive.

And I'll tell you why - today's hard drives are an incredible piece of mechanical work with extreme accuracy.

Imagine this: You manage to get a space ship, not the ordinary one but one that can travel at near speed of light. That is all good, you can travel to the stars in no time. However, instead you put the spaceship about a couple of meters/yards above the ground of the earth and let the space ship go around the planet at this low altitude. The smallest misalignment to the path will be catastrophic for the spaceship.
Here comes the comparison : What do you think happens to the space ship in "low orbit" in the scenario where another planet crashes into earth ? Bye bye to the spaceship that is 😛

Uhm if it requires this much care and risks, would it be even worth to buy an external hard disk, especially when you are planning to store data for long time? I'm reconsidering my decision. I didn't have any budget for SSD so I opted for this HDD but I did not expect this first day experience.

 

[Colif]

during that I lifted my laptop to place it somewhere else but I forgot that my hard disk is attached to it with USB.

i didn't notice this bit. Its probably dead.

you can always rma it to seagate since its brand new.

 

[vikaskumar2299]

i didn't notice this bit. Its probably dead.

you can always rma it to seagate since its brand new.

It has some data that I copied to it. Do you think they will accept a replacement under warranty?

On a separate note, I've created a return to Amazon itself as I bought it from Amazon. The only risk is my data is still on it and I'm a bit worried that next customer who will buy it might see that data. Although nothing sensitive but I'm a bit worried.

 

[Colif]

no one should buy it once you rma it, it gets returned to makers. They don't resell damaged goods... or shouldn't.

So your data is safely locked up since you can't get to it on 3 different OS now.

Seagate won't bother trying to look at it if their tests can't see it.

 

[USAFRet]

It has some data that I copied to it. Do you think they will accept a replacement under warranty?

On a separate note, I've created a return to Amazon itself as I bought it from Amazon. The only risk is my data is still on it and I'm a bit worried that next customer who will buy it might see that data. Although nothing sensitive but I'm a bit worried.

If it is actually "broken", there won't be a "next customer".

 

[Colif]

or shouldn't be. Anyway...