Seagate portable hard drive not being recognised and making beeping sound

[Arthur_15]

Had this same issue. Took apart the hd casing, turned out the arm was stuck. Most likely from being dropped, it jammed up somehow. Was able to get the arm moving again but the hd rate itself runs a bit slow. Warranty is still covered so plan to get it swapped out. Hope this helped a little.

true , i had the same problem and i fixed the arm and everything is running like a charm !! 😉

 

[Arthur_15]

Had this same issue. Took apart the hd casing, turned out the arm was stuck. Most likely from being dropped, it jammed up somehow. Was able to get the arm moving again but the hd rate itself runs a bit slow. Warranty is still covered so plan to get it swapped out. Hope this helped a little.

but i'm wondering how the warranty is still covering your product ??

 

[KHECH26]

I had the same problem (albeit almost 5 yrs after this question was posted) and I found my own solution (which might apply to others).

I had read that oftentimes if the power supply to the external HD is inadequate, there can be detection issues accompanied by strange sounds. In my case, I heard a "chirping" noise coming from the HD. Normally I connect it to a Targus 4-port USB hub (along with 3 other devices).

When I tried connecting directly to my laptop rather than to the Targus USB hub, the noises and detection issues were resolved. I believe the targus hub, in splitting power among 4 devices, was providing inadequate supply to the HD to operate and be recognized properly. I'll let you know if this solves the problem permanently or whether this was just a lucky break for the time being.

Best,
KE

 

[sactozeke]

I just purchased a 1TB Seagate Backup Plus Drive two days ago. I plugged it into my desktop sometime late last night. Had no problems with it being recognized. I then proceeded to copy over a 38.5GB folder and at some point during the copy process (or after copying had completed) It started beeping. Although I had been sitting right there at my computer, I was watching some BrEXIT videos on YouTube and had my headphones on, so I don't know how long it had been beeping. The folder appears to have copied over without error and I have the drive plugged into a powered USB hub. Now every time I plug it back into it beeps.. Gonna try and do some troubleshooting to determine if the beeps happen across the board or if for some reason it's isolated to that hub. Fortunately I did register the driver with Seagate the same night I purchased it. This is the first Seagate HDD that I've had in a long time. So if this turns out to be something (or anything) to do with the drive itself, then that'll be it for myself and Segate. If I discover anything worth sharing during my troubleshooting efforts I'll come back and provide an update.


UPDATE: As many of you said, it was an issue with the power to the drive. To be honest, I have too many external USB drives connect. Reason being is that 3 of the SATA ports on the mobo are broke. My solution was to grab a couple of the NXT USB expanders (plug into the USB head on the mobo). This did the trick. But now with at least 7 HDD plugged into those NXTs and the other various ports I have a USB HDD plugged into, it's ended up drawing too much power on some of those ports.

Using a tool like USBtree . You'll be able to see how much power each individual USB pot is actually drawing (there's quite a bit more that USBtree can tell you;l ie. what devices are plugged into which ports) . This is helpful, if your in a situation like mine, are experiencing some of the same symptoms/problems that I was, or what to simply know which USB ports provides the most electrical power to devices plugged into it (which would be good to know if you have a high draw device/peripheral (or an older USB peripheral..or can't find the AC adapter for a device, or have the need to daisy chain a a bunch of external USB HDDs together.

NOTE: from both a feature viewpoint and from a UI/usability point of view USBtree takes a bit of figuring out.....it's not the most intuitive app/utility that I've ever used. In fact, it probably was one of the least friendly/intuitive. However, in the end it did tell met what I needed to know and had the information that I was looking for find.

-- I was also able to determine that one of my older 2.5" external USB HDD what I thought had started making the 'click of death' actually wasn't. Just as with that [then] new Seagate portable 1TB external HDD, the problem actually had something to do with the power draw on the USB port not being sufficient to meet the demand being placed on it.

 

[KHECH26]

I had the same problem (albeit almost 5 yrs after this question was posted) and I found my own solution (which might apply to others).

I had read that oftentimes if the power supply to the external HD is inadequate, there can be detection issues accompanied by strange sounds. In my case, I heard a "chirping" noise coming from the HD. Normally I connect it to a Targus 4-port USB hub (along with 3 other devices).

When I tried connecting directly to my laptop rather than to the Targus USB hub, the noises and detection issues were resolved. I believe the targus hub, in splitting power among 4 devices, was providing inadequate supply to the HD to operate and be recognized properly. I'll let you know if this solves the problem permanently or whether this was just a lucky break for the time being.

Best,
KE

I believe this has resolved my issue.

 

[hoover1979]

I have this beeping issue on my Seagate 2Tb External HDD (Funny it is also a Seagate). It is connected to a USB3.0 port and the sound is driving me nuts, it seems like every week it is getting louder and more persistent, it seems to beep every .5 - 2 seconds now.

The sound is from my Seagate 2Tb External HDD. It is dying!

I wonder if it is a mechanical flaw as reading this thread, Seagate comes up very often. If I had a free 2 Tb on an internal HDD I would copy the whole thing across to internal and disconnect this external to save my ears.

EDIT: The Seagate External HDD has officially snuffed it. Windows states that the drive needs to be formatted when I plug it in and Windows goes berserk while it is plugged in causing almost every program to get the Windows error saying it has stopped responding and the process must be ended, but the process will not end. This HDD is also the reason why my machine would not shut down, restart or log off as it caused Windows to perma-hang trying to log out or shut down. Disconnecting the HDD makes my OS purr like a kitten. Now I have to find out if a Data Recovery center can recover as much (if any) of the 1.8Tb of data from the now defunct HDD, plus purchase a new 2Tb external HDD (This time NOT Seagate!!!).

 

[yehya_]

I had the same issue. It seems seagate hard drives are just worst out there.. The issue actually is its the circular disk in the hard drive that gets stuck somehow.. So I opened up my hard drive (my warranty was already expired, and didn't had any other option), but I accidentally damaged the read/write heads.. but then I banged it a bit moderately (although frustratingly), and when I hopelessly re-assembled the hard drive the circular disk started to spin again just fine, but I had already damaged the read/write heads, so it didn't worked.. Now I'm looking for their replacements..
So my sincere suggestion to you is to open only the external case of the hard drive (not the actual hard drive) and moderately bang the lower side of it several times.. also make sure that the usb to hard drive connector is properly inserted in the hard drive (press it inwards to be sure).. if you are lucky it might work just fine for you.. otherwise if you still have the warranty in place, say good bye to your data and just order a replacement for your drive.. thats the safest option.. Hope my experience will help you..
Regards.
[Note- Opening only external case of the hard drive DOES NOT void your warranty]

 

[joydelrosario]

Hello,
I have a seagate portable 500gb hard drive, and yesterday I plugged it in, and it started beeping at me for about a minute or 2. The drive dont sound like its working, normally you can feel its working, there is nothing. I have tried a different USB cable, and have tried other computers. Its is not being recognised in my computer, or under disk management. The HDD is only a couple of months old, yet I have been told Seagate will charge me in the region of $3000 to recover the data, if I go local, (am in the UK) I can get it done for around £70, but then me warranty is void. Is there any way of getting the data off, or even getting the Hard drive working again?

 

[Raluca - Elena]

Hi.. I have the same problem . Is there any chance I can get my files back. They are very important. Please help me

 

[hoover1979]

if it is the motor that went the way of the dodo, you can take the Dead HDD, along with a new HDD of same or larger size, to a data recovery center. it is not cheap but they can get the files off of the old one and transfer them to the new one. A friend of mine had an external HDD die and she was in a panic as it had thousands of photos she took from overseas trips that she had not backed up elsewhere. they were able to recover 90% of the HDD and thankfully, for her 100% of her photos.

 

[pcfutur]

The fucking man.
If you hear only a beep is the power supply!!!. Thanks a lot for this.

 

[Joleen_1]

Hello,
I have a seagate portable 500gb hard drive, and yesterday I plugged it in, and it started beeping at me for about a minute or 2. The drive dont sound like its working, normally you can feel its working, there is nothing. I have tried a different USB cable, and have tried other computers. Its is not being recognised in my computer, or under disk management. The HDD is only a couple of months old, yet I have been told Seagate will charge me in the region of $3000 to recover the data, if I go local, (am in the UK) I can get it done for around £70, but then me warranty is void. Is there any way of getting the data off, or even getting the Hard drive working again?

 

[percy305y]

Had this same issue. Took apart the hd casing, turned out the arm was stuck. Most likely from being dropped, it jammed up somehow. Was able to get the arm moving again but the hd rate itself runs a bit slow. Warranty is still covered so plan to get it swapped out. Hope this helped a little.

thanks fam. it worked for me. just shook it a bit and its was working again.

 

[ssd.manojtyagi]

I know solution will sound a bit stupid but it worked for me so i thought i would share it.
I had the same problem with my seagate 1tb. I look for the solutions online. After watching a video on youtube i found out that its just because the head of the disk is stuck. And in that video he actually open the hard disk and moves the head and it start to work. But he also warns about if you actually open the hard disk it becomes useless and it will lose the warranty too.
So instead of opening it i just banged it in my hand from all corners and it worked.
Try this before actually opening it or going to some professional.
And good luck.

 

[ardencarling]

The symptoms sound like a power issue. It may be that the USB port is unable to provide enough current to spin up the drive. USB 2.0 ports are current limited to 500mA whereas USB 3.0 can provide 900mA. A typical 2.5" drive requires about 850mA during spin up.

If a USB 3.0 port is not available, then try a USB Y-cable. This will pick up power from two USB ports. Alternatively, try a powered USB hub.

Alternatively, it could be that the drive has a seized spindle motor or a stiction fault (heads stuck to platters). This often happens if the drive has been bumped or dropped. Stiction can sometimes be overcome with a little "percussive maintenance", but there are significant risks.

I was having the same symptoms and I tried a different USB port (I had been using the passthrough port on my keyboard). Problem solved, thank you!