[SOLVED] Seagate External Hard Drive not working - Tried to Troubleshoot - No Luck - Can you help?

[amitj92]

I have an external hard drive, Model # SDR00F1, from Seagate that I was using, and it suddenly stopped working. I transferred data to it and it went to the drive at a good rate (20 MB/sec). After a little bit, the drive started lagging and I couldn't open anything on the drive. I removed the drive from the USB and re-plugged it. I couldn't see the drive. I tried different computers to see if it would pick up but didn't.

I then took the actual hard drive (ST5000LM000) out from the external hard drive housing and tried to connect it through A SATA adapter I bought from AMAZON but it still didn't connect. I then tried connecting directly to the SATA in my PC and it still didn't pick up.

In all the things that I have tried, I can feed the disk spinning but nothing gets picked up on the computer.

What else could I try? I have family pictures on this from the last 15 years and I don’t want to lose them.

 

[DSzymborski]

If you can't get it to read in Windows, any software like Recuva/EaseUS, or in BIOS, your only option is professional data recovery. To do this properly is expensive as it requires a professional-level clean room environment, specialized equipment, and specialized knowledge.

The unfortunate truth, especially unfortunate in your case, is that failure to properly maintain your PC -- and backing up important data is one of the most basic and most crucial upkeep tasks -- can be very expensive. It's no different than failing to change the filter in your furnace or the oil in your car, both of which can have consequences that cost many thousands of dollars. I wish I had happier news for you, but it's extremely unlikely that there are any easy fixes remaining.

 

[amitj92]

If you can't get it to read in Windows, any software like Recuva/EaseUS, or in BIOS, your only option is professional data recovery. To do this properly is expensive as it requires a professional-level clean room environment, specialized equipment, and specialized knowledge.

The unfortunate truth, especially unfortunate in your case, is that failure to properly maintain your PC -- and backing up important data is one of the most basic and most crucial upkeep tasks -- can be very expensive. It's no different than failing to change the filter in your furnace or the oil in your car, both of which can have consequences that cost many thousands of dollars. I wish I had happier news for you, but it's extremely unlikely that there are any easy fixes remaining.

Thanks for your time. Just wondering what maintenance could I have done? Are you referring to just having another backup of the data? Would replacing the board of the hard drive might help?

 

[DSzymborski]

Thanks for your time. Just wondering what maintenance could I have done? Are you referring to just having another backup of the data? Would replacing the board of the hard drive might help?

Regular backups are crucial for any important data. Ideally in multiple places. There's an old 321 rule: at least three copies of data in at least two physical locations and at least one copy off-site. It's simply a basic part of PC ownership.

If this data is important, any kind of tinkering drastically increases the chances of it becoming unrecoverable. When the data is crucial, the best bet is to go straight to data recovery at this point. Whether being out a good chunk of money is a tougher lesson than losing the files forever is a value judgment that you must make for yourself.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for your time. Just wondering what maintenance could I have done? Are you referring to just having another backup of the data? Would replacing the board of the hard drive might help?

Replacing the board requires deep investigation first.

With some recent hard drives, the PCB and components is intrinsically linked tot he drive.

Sometimes just the BIOS chip on it, sometimes other components on the board, sometimes the specific firmware level.

Any 'after the fail fix' is, at best, secondary to having a good backup routine.

Right now, if any of the drives in any of my house systems were to die....the only thing I need to do it put in a new drive of applicable size and recover the data from last nights backup.

Just about every day, we see here people trying to "repair" a storage device.
It often ends badly.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

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