How to restore power to a portable external hard drive

[lpasteur]

I have a Lacie Rugged External Portable Hard Drive - 160GB - that is about 8 years old. It can be powered via usb or firewire 400/800. When I plug it into an external source, I can hear the drive spin, though admittedly by it's sound, it doesn't seem to spin as fast it did in the past. What do I need to do to restore power and see my data? Would it be possible to switch drive enclosures? I am confused on how to trouble shoot as I have tried new wires to see if it was an outside connectivity problem but the drive still didn't show up on my system. I am working with a 2009 Macbook Pro that is running 10.7.5

 

[JaredDM]

If you've tried different wires and tried connecting to another computer, it's probably a hardware issue with the drive. Lacie drives are usually Seagate inside, so it's no surprise at all if an 8 year old Seagate drive has failed.

You can try removing it from the enclosure and using a SATA to USB dock or adapter to test the drive. Maybe you'll get lucky and the issue is only with the enclosure, but I highly doubt it. It's far and away more likely that the drive itself is bad.

If the data is important, your best bet would be to seek out a data recovery company in your area. If you PM me your location I can probably recommend a good lab. I run one of the top data recovery forums (just google "data recovery forum" to find it) so I know guys around the world in this business.

 

[lpasteur]

Thank you for your answer and solution.

I just purchased a portable hard drive enclosure through Amazon for $9 to see if that works. Unfortunately I don’t have another computer to test the drive out on to see if it’s a connectivity/compatibility issue with my MacBook Pro.

My MacBook Pro is usb 2.0 and needed an external boost attached to the drive to get the lacie up & running. If I switch enclosures, will I run into the same power draw problem with my laptop? This enclosure is usb 3.0 and is backwards compatible but again 3.0 draws more power and there is a fixed amount the 2.0 port can give.

I just feel like the Lacie rugged was pretty unreliable. It would randomly drop off connectivity during large file transfers. I really regret investing in one. I guess I don’t understand how it required an external power source whereas other portable external drives did not.

If you've tried different wires and tried connecting to another computer, it's probably a hardware issue with the drive. Lacie drives are usually Seagate inside, so it's no surprise at all if an 8 year old Seagate drive has failed.

You can try removing it from the enclosure and using a SATA to USB dock or adapter to test the drive. Maybe you'll get lucky and the issue is only with the enclosure, but I highly doubt it. It's far and away more likely that the drive itself is bad.

If the data is important, your best bet would be to seek out a data recovery company in your area. If you PM me your location I can probably recommend a good lab. I run one of the top data recovery forums (just google "data recovery forum" to find it) so I know guys around the world in this business.