Seagate Travan 4

[Michaelthehibby]

Problem: my Seagate TR4 which was bought 4 years ago with a Gateway has stopped working. If it is connected to an IDE channel, my PC takes 2 or 3 minutes to boot as it tries to identify IDE devices; don't think there is a conflict between them but just writing this I guess I should check again.

It used to flash a green light on start-up and make a great racket when checking if a tape was present, and now it doesn't do that either.

Anyone else had a similar problem and worked out a solution? I've got some stuff on tape I'd like to get at and it would be nice to have some big back-up for my new PC that I'm building.

 

[dude56]

Try this...I work for a company that uses the TR-4 and many of them have failed. Mind you our machines are backing up data every day, something I think these units were not designed to do. Anyway, on some of the units I have replaced, if you remove the unit from your computer, have a look at the top of the unit. You will see a small black motor belt, (flat, no cogs on it), it is installed around one motor and one pulley. It may have come off. Simply re-install it. Also, have a look at the white plastic cog wheels, one of them may be broken, if so you either need to purchse a new one, good luck in finding one, or simlpy replace the drive. We have found that some of these drives last barely 2 years. Why aren't the cog wheels made of metal? Good question, it's part of the planned obsolescence I guess. Other than that if yours has lasted 4 years then you've done good!