External Hard Drive Stopped Working , Help please

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KevinZA

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Feb 8, 2015
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Hi , I have a 1Gb seagate external hard drive . It is only about 3 months old . It suddenly stopped working last night . None of my PC's will pick it up . I have checked in Disk Management and its not there and isn't showing in device manager as an unknown device .

When I plug the drive in the light stays solid for a while and then starts flashing , I can also hear the sound the pc makes when you plug a device in . When i feel the hard drive I cant feel it vibrating anymore as I did before .

This is a serious issue for me as all my data is stored on this hard drive ( web and graphic design work ) and i really need to recover the data .

Please tell me how to go about doing this . Thanks in advance for any help .
 
Solution
A
Hopefully whatever damage was done only affected the USB enclosure and not the HDD. Admittedly that's an iffy proposition. Anyway the very first thing to do is test the HDD using the Seagate SeaTools diagnostic. Download the test program from http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/
Try the various tests available on the diagnostic and hope for the best.

If the disk is not recognized by the diagnostic program it still won't be clear whether the problem lays with the USB enclosure or the HDD (or both!).

At this point there's really no althernative that I can think of other than removing the HDD from its USB enclosure without any further damage to the HDD (although the enclosure - I assume it's a Seagate...
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Lesson 1 -- NEVER only have one copy of important files -- 3 is my preferred number.

You may be able to physically remove the disk from the external enclosure and try a different USB to SATA adapter. It is possible the disk is toast and nobody except a data recovery firm can help you.
 
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kanewolf , Sadly its a lesson I have had to learn the hard way . Looking at using cloud storage now as an alternative storage .

fzabkar , I cannot hear any sound coming from the HDD . It is powered through the usb , has a single cable with a double plug that goes into the HDD .
 
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That is the most sure-fire way. It can be expensive. But if the data is worth $$$ to you it is the best way. If this is data from business, remember that the recovery is a business expense and treat it appropriately come tax time.
 
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Hopefully whatever damage was done only affected the USB enclosure and not the HDD. Admittedly that's an iffy proposition. Anyway the very first thing to do is test the HDD using the Seagate SeaTools diagnostic. Download the test program from http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/
Try the various tests available on the diagnostic and hope for the best.

If the disk is not recognized by the diagnostic program it still won't be clear whether the problem lays with the USB enclosure or the HDD (or both!).

At this point there's really no althernative that I can think of other than removing the HDD from its USB enclosure without any further damage to the HDD (although the enclosure - I assume it's a Seagate commercial product - might suffer damage). Understand that this process will INVALIDATE THE WARRANTY if one is still in effect.

The HDD will probably be the typical Seagate 2 1/2" rpm disk they install in their USB enclosures.

Directly (internally) install the HDD in one of your PCs as a secondary disk and see if you can access its contents. If the drive is not detected by the BIOS it's likely the disk is a goner. But check it out also with the Seagate SeaTools diagnostic.

A moral of this story (other than not to drop your components!) is that (in my opinion) it's more advantageous for a PC user to purchase a USB external HDD enclosure (one that accommodates both 2 1/2" & 3 1/3" disks) rather than a commercial product. One then has greater flexibility in utilizing the different size disks and selecting a HDD tailored to his/her needs. The total cost between the two is roughly similar and the installation process is simplicity itself.
 
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Solution
Hi guys , have a new update . I plugged the drive in today and i felt vibrations within the drive and if I place my ear to the drive I can hear what is best described as beeping noises . they are very short and at quick intervals . This lasts about 4 seconds and then stops. The vibrations all but go away . Can still feel slight vibrations in the drive but hardly anything .
 
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Listening to "vibrations", "beeping noises", and the like while you place your ear next to the drive is an exercise in futility. All that signifies is noise - nothing else. As was suggested, begin your diagnostic process by testing the drive with the Seagate SeaTools program.
 
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I'm assuming from your last post that you've tested the disk while it's still installed in its USB enclosure, right? While there's a strong likelihood that the disk is kaput, there's the possibility (slim as it might be) that it's the USB enclosure that's defective in one way or another and not the disk. I don't know what else to suggest other than uninstalling the disk from its enclosure and working with the disk itself. But understand this will invalidate the warranty, so since you've had the USBEHD for only 3 months I'm assuming it's still under warranty. Contact Seagate for a RMA or possibly any other suggestion they may furnish.
 
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The drive is still under warranty . I contacted seagate and have two options . Option 1 is to send the drive to the netherlands and pay 450 euros ( or over 5000 south african rands ) for recovery. option 2 is send the drive to them and they will send me a replacement . Sadly I dont have that sort of money .
 
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Well, you're on the "horns of a dilemma", that's for sure. Obviously the data on the EHD is much more valuable to you then simply getting a replacement USBEHD from Seagate. I should have realized that from your initial query. The problem with returning a unit such as a USBEHD to the manufacturer is that generally speaking the device's manufacturer (or their agent) will simply give it a cursory check to determine whether it's defective and that the device is still under warranty. Because of time/money constraints they rarely will spend any time tearing down the unit to determine if the HDD is salvageable. It's cheaper for them to just send you a replacement unit.

Other than removing the HDD from the enclosure and internally connecting it in your PC I don't know what else you can do at this point.
 
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Hi , I have taken the drive out of the enclosure . It has the same single connection that the enclosure has . How do I connect this internaly to a pc. Doesnt have sata or ide ports ?
 
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The arm itself was stuck to the platter , I gently moved it off but now the arm is moving back and forward between the rest position and the platter itself , never going on the platter .

I know opening the drive was risky , but i am really out off options here . I had pretty much written off getting any data back before I opened the drive . I have spoken to people who had success opening drives outside of clean rooms and recovering data .
 
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