External HDD copy speed drops to 0

[Aditya_29]

Hi folks, I've got a 1TB Seagate external HDD that has a copy speed problem. It begins copying at the expected 60 mb/s rate before suddenly dropping to 0 after a minute or so, and then it fluctuates between 0 and 2mb. I can copy small files like individual songs without interruption but anything larger than 100mb gets the same problem. I ran chkdsk and it detected no errors or bad sectors, but when I do a long generic test or a Short Drive Self Test on SeaTools it fails. What could remedy the problem? I've reformatted the drive a couple times too and it hasn't helped.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, Aditya_29.

It really sounds like the drive is having a serious problem if it fails the diagnostic tool tests. You could give it a try with a different cable and computer just for the sake of it, but I wouldn't put too much hope in that.

I'd recommend that you contact the vendor you got it from (or the manufacturer) and try to RMA the HDD if it's still under warranty.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Aditya_29]

Hey there, Aditya_29.

It really sounds like the drive is having a serious problem if it fails the diagnostic tool tests. You could give it a try wit ha different cable and computer just for the sake of it, but I wouldn't put too much hope in that.

I'd recommend that you contact the vendor you got it from (or the manufacturer) and try to RMA the HDD if it's still under warranty.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD

Hey Boogieman_WD, thanks for the advice. Yeah, I guess it might be a long shot trying to hope diagnostics could fix it somehow. It's just odd considering it was my dad's a while ago and he said it was working fine, I reckon it might have sustained some physical damage. 🙁

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Well unfortunately sometimes this happens with HDDs, they tend to wear out with time since they are mechanical devices. The best case scenario would really be to contact the customer support and try to RMA it if it's still under warranty. Other than that you could keep using it until it eventually dies, but don't trust it with valuable data.