[SOLVED] Seagate Backup Plus 8tb Failing - What Causes These Symptoms?

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grahamlane1991

Jan 23, 2021
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I have a few questions to try to identify what's wrong with my hard drive, as it's definitely starting to fail but I want to back up my data before it fails completely. I don't have the money to pay a professional right now otherwise I would obviously just get that done, but I wanted to check here in case any of the symptoms I'm experiencing show up some obvious issue that I might be able to address myself.

My hard drive has randomly started to have issues connecting to any computer I connect it to. It makes beeping and clicking noises as well, most notably a distinct 2 beeps that repeat.

The most confusing thing is that I seem to be able to get the hard drive to start up somewhat reliably by attempting it several times, but then it crashes my computer whenever I attempt to access files or copy them off.

I'm not sure if it's a mechanical failure causing these problems or if it might possibly be malware or file corruption of some kind. All I know for sure is that my hard drive won't work reliably enough to do much with it once I've got my computer to recognize it's plugged in. Once the computer freezes the 2 beep repeat becomes very apparent. The hard drive also clicks continuously after I force a shut down of the computer.

I'd like to add that I've had issues with my computer power supply recently and needed to replace it, and before that I had lots of trouble with my laptop crashing and trying to backup the data on it onto my Seagate Hard Drive. There were quite a few forced shut downs due to the laptop being problematic and I'm wondering if that might have caused possible software issues or corruption on my hard drive.

Any advice at all that you guys can offer on the symptoms I'm describing would be incredibly helpful.

Thank you.
 
Solution
DSzymborski
grahamlane1991 said:
Thank you very much for the reply. Any advice on if it's possible to recover the data on it and how I might go about it?
Click to expand...

Put in an enclosure and use it as a USB drive on another working PC. Drag what you can systematically off the drive -- you're likely past the point where you can just copy the drive as a whole. If there are missing files, you can try tools like Recuva or EaseUS.

For anything not recovered in these steps, the outlook becomes bleaker. At that point, you'll either have to pay a considerable amount of money for professionals to recover the data or do without it. The unfortunate truth is the only way to dependably conserve data is to not lose it in the first place; a proper backup regimen for important data is a...
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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grahamlane1991 said:
My hard drive has randomly started to have issues connecting to any computer I connect it to. It makes beeping and clicking noises as well, most notably a distinct 2 beeps that repeat.
Click to expand...
That speaks to a failing drive.
These are electromechanical devices. They can and do fail.
Contact the manufacturer for a warranty replacement.

This is why data needs to live on more than one single device.
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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grahamlane1991 said:
Thank you very much for the reply. Any advice on if it's possible to recover the data on it and how I might go about it?
Click to expand...

Put in an enclosure and use it as a USB drive on another working PC. Drag what you can systematically off the drive -- you're likely past the point where you can just copy the drive as a whole. If there are missing files, you can try tools like Recuva or EaseUS.

For anything not recovered in these steps, the outlook becomes bleaker. At that point, you'll either have to pay a considerable amount of money for professionals to recover the data or do without it. The unfortunate truth is the only way to dependably conserve data is to not lose it in the first place; a proper backup regimen for important data is a basic part of PC ownership, no different than changing the oil in your car or the filter in your furnace.
 
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grahamlane1991

Jan 23, 2021
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USAFRet said:
If it is failing when connected to multiple PC's....your options are rapidly decreasing.

In any single system, is there any indication of connection?
If not, your options are pretty much zero.
Click to expand...
It can connect, but any time I try to open any actual files or copy them off, even 1 at a time it crashes my PC.
 
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grahamlane1991

Jan 23, 2021
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USAFRet said:
"Connect" probably just means connecting to the enclosure.

Not being able to read the drive...that's bad.
And beyond consumer level fixes.
Click to expand...
It's very strange, as I can see my files when it connects. Any attempt to open any of my videos or pictures, or to even try to copy them off one at a time fails and crashes my whole computer.

I'm hoping that if I can save up enough money a professional might be able to salvage the data though. It's sounding like that's the only option at this point.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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grahamlane1991 said:
I can see my files when it connects
Click to expand...
..means you can read the File Allocation Table.
Basically, the Table of Contents of a book. Not the actual content.

A book that sort of survives a fire.
Page 2 & 3 are readable. The TOC.
But when you go to page 82 to actually read the thing that was listed in the TOC...all you see is a charred mess.



How much data was on this?
Do you have another drive of equivalent size, with nothing on it?
 
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grahamlane1991

Jan 23, 2021
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USAFRet said:
..means you can read the File Allocation Table.
Basically, the Table of Contents of a book. Not the actual content.

A book that sort of survives a fire.
Page 2 & 3 are readable. The TOC.
But when you go to page 82 to actually read the thing that was listed in the TOC...all you see is a charred mess.



How much data was on this?
Do you have another drive of equivalent size, with nothing on it?
Click to expand...
About 4 TB was on it. And I don't currently have another hard drive of the same size but I'm going to be getting straight away.
 
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