Reliable external HDD ? Mine won't respond.

[dor_13]

Hi,

I bought External HDD StoreJet 25M3 USB3 1TB 2.5 inch of Transcend.
After using it for about half a year, it suddenly doesn't respond at all.
The device's button light turns on but the PC doesn't react to the new USB connection of that HDD.

Please recommend on a reliable external HDD so that I won't fear of a sudden complete data loss in such a short period of time.

 

[Lkaos]

Had my 4 Tb WD Mybook doing exactly that...I popped the box, took the drive out and used an external HD dock for it, it's working like a charm...

 

[RolandJS]

...Please recommend on a reliable external HDD so that I won't fear of a sudden complete data loss in such a short period of time.

To my knowledge, there is no Number One hard-drive; however, elsewhere I was told that surveillance hard-drives, those sold with camera surveillance packages, are on the average tougher, longer-lasting, etc., than regular desktop or laptop hard-drives.

 

[dor_13]

Apparently this problem is common, see:

"Secrets to FIXING YOUR EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE! Important Information on "dead" EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES! "
@ youtube
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTZBMi-XwQ

I disassembled my external HDD only to discover that it contains an internal HDD (WD Blue in my case) with a USB to SATA adapter.
The USB to SATA adapter is faulty because that when I connect the internal HDD to the SATA connector of my PC, then I manage to use it without a problem (all my "lost data" is now accessible).

Cheap USB to SATA adapter is the problem here, not the actual HDD.

 

[USAFRet]

Apparently this problem is common, see:

"Secrets to FIXING YOUR EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE! Important Information on "dead" EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES! "
@ youtube
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTZBMi-XwQ

I disassembled my external HDD only to discover that it contains an internal HDD (WD Blue in my case) with a USB to SATA adapter.
The USB to SATA adapter is faulty because that when I connect the internal HDD to the SATA connector of my PC, then I manage to use it without a problem (all my "lost data" is now accessible).

Cheap USB to SATA adapter is the problem here, not the actual HDD.

This is not universal.
Some external drives have a bit of weirdness between the USB port and the actual drive.
Some have built in encryption (unusable without the enclosure), some, the USB SATA bridge is built into the drive PCB.

But yes...worth a try. I've resurrected several supposedly dead externals simply by taking them out of the external case.