Seagate Expansion Fail

[kGius]

Hi all,

Today my Seagate Expansion 3TB (Model SRD00F2) stopped working. That is, I tried to access a folder on the drive, no luck. Little blue light not lit, conclusion: Fail.

I unplugged it from the power supply and USB 3 port, waited for a bit and plugged it back in. As the normal HD-spinning up sound started my face was all . Not for long however. The normal sound stops after approx 1 sec. and it sounds like the drive just has a hard time spinning up, it makes some stuttery noises (lower than normal spinup). No blue light. Face:

So, now I'm contemplating taking the HDD out of the casing and plugging it directly into the PC trough SATA. Just thought I would check here first to see if anyone has any experience with this particular issue, a clue about what exactly is going on or any generally interesting comment.

The drive is about 2 to 3 years old, it is my main external, has been mostly on for that time (but not a lot of read/write) and has a buttload of important shit on there that I (but of course) did not back up. I did back up other important shit.... on that drive...

Thank you all so much.

 

[The_Man12]

Hm... Maybe the HDD isn't getting enough power? I would try getting it out of the case and plugging it in internally to a desktop computer.

 

[kGius]

Weirdest thing... working today. Backup running. omg.

 

[The_Man12]

Ok that's weird. I wouldn't trust that drive very much anymore since it's cutting in and out. You can try getting it out of the case and plugging it internally, this would allow you to run more tests on it.

Either way, download CrystalDiskInfo and see if there's anything wrong with the drive. This program shows you its S.M.A.R.T data so if something is going on with the drive it could help you diagnose what's wrong. I would get it out of its case anyway.

 

[kGius]

Ok that's weird. I wouldn't trust that drive very much anymore since it's cutting in and out. You can try getting it out of the case and plugging it internally, this would allow you to run more tests on it.

Either way, download CrystalDiskInfo and see if there's anything wrong with the drive. This program shows you its S.M.A.R.T data so if something is going on with the drive it could help you diagnose what's wrong. I would get it out of its case anyway.

Good tip, will get the prog. I def don't trust the drive at this point so everything has been backed up. I am however now also considering the option something went wrong on the PC's side as it had been running for a long time (about 3 days, hot weather - major animation rendering) and after a reboot things are working right.

Will analyse the drive tomorrow and post an update for reference to others facing similar issues.

 

[The_Man12]

Okay, if the drive is in "Good" state in CrystalDisk, then I would say everything is fine, if the drive is still cutting in and out though, I would try plugging it in internally, maybe the little case went bad.