External hard drive problems - Page 2

ash75 · January 1st, 2016, 07:41 PM

Ok, for the moment I'm going with the Universal Adapter idea (if that fails I guess that will have the cable I need if i'm going to dismantle the drive and plug it in direct)

Got to wait a few days for the adapter to arrive, but will post back with the results.

Happy New Year to you all.

MOW · January 2nd, 2016, 01:24 AM

Befuddled,

I am facing the situation you described in post 6. My Seagate just quit working. I was probably @ 1.4 t/b capacity. The EHD is a bit under 3 yrs. old. The desktop XP would not recognize it, and my laptop/Vista would not either. (both R Gateways) Tried new cables to different ports on both computers. No go. Both computers freeze up with the USB cable inserted, then return to normal when HD cable unplugged.

From what I can understand, I am at the "remove from case" step and finding the cables or "caddie" to try. Please correct me if I am pointed in the wrong way.

I'm also waiting to hear back from Seagate, via email what might be the next step in hopes of recovering some of the date. (Main-stream movies, music, & porn in zips, rars, avi's, etc; are on the Ext. HD. I've tried their trouble shooting the best I can.

Any comments or help is greatly appreciated and anticipated.

**old alal** · January 2nd, 2016, 08:37 AM

MOW sounds like it.

Just for info. The adapter I have is from bipra. It is a usb2.0 to sata/ide adapter. Others are available(sounds like I am from the BBC) it seems more expensive than I remember paying, but it is still good value as you are able to attach most external drives.

I went out to look at a new (larger) drive yesterday, to back up what I already have. I might get an 8Tb one. Thats a lot of porn!

ash75 · January 7th, 2016, 05:07 PM

Well, it has been a bit of a mixed bag.

The adaptors arrived and I got the drive out of it's casing and wired it all up as instructed, but none of the 4 usb ports on my laptop would see beyond the USB adaptor needed (I checked all 4 ports with another hard drive and they all work, so it's not them.)

But bearing in mind Befuddled's comment about a tower pc being preferable to a laptop I took the drive into work (not risky as the system isn't monitored) and plugged it into the back of my pc there.

This time the pc could see the drive but didn't access it (it was originally passworded, but wouldn't this programme be outside the actual hard drive itself?), so I can only assume the damage is on the actual disk.

Again, I checked that it wasn't the pc itself by plugging in the hard drive I was going to download onto and it read it fine.

So, on the plus side I now have the cables to deal with the situation in the future, on the downside I've lost a small amount of porn, but nothing that was irreplaceable.

Thanks to everyone for their help and interest.

Hope 2016 is good for you all.

MOW · January 12th, 2016, 02:09 AM

I tried my new Newertech Universal Drive Adapter, & I can get the Adapter to power up, but I can't get to any of the files on the EHD on either the desktop or the laptop, each with XP & Vista OS's, respectively.

Tried different ports, tried re-booting with drive adapter in a port, just nothing works.

I'm at a loss for trouble shooting & recovery.

**lagerlout** · January 12th, 2016, 08:01 AM

Tried taking it out of its casing and using it as an internal drive ?

befuddled · January 15th, 2016, 05:22 AM

MOW - Sorry to be so slow in answering. My memory is lousy these days. I forgot to look in. Sorry.

Do you know if you encrypted the drive?

It might also be that the OS is, for security reasons, not permitting you access. You should perform all actions for accessing, copying/moving files logged in as an administrator.

lagerlout's suggestion is, in my opinion, the best way to do this sort of thing as it removes the possibility of a universal cable or dock being a weird. I've had one cable work fine on one system, but would not work on the other.

If the drive is not readable, there are several things that could be preventing this: the drive is encrypted, or you don't have permissions, or the cable is quirky or bad, the drive is bad.

It's really tough to troubleshoot like this. I'm sure I could solve it 30 minutes if I had it in my hands, but we'll have to do the best we can this way.

befuddled · January 15th, 2016, 05:24 AM

MOW - Also be very specific, as I can't see your screen. When you say you can't get at any of the files, do you mean you do not see the drive at all, or you see the drive but cannot see the files, or you can see the drive and files but cannot open them.

befuddled · January 15th, 2016, 05:25 AM

ash75 --
"This time the pc could see the drive but didn't access it (it was originally passworded, but wouldn't this programme be outside the actual hard drive itself?), so I can only assume the damage is on the actual disk."

Do you know if you encrypted the disk? Read my comment to MOW and do the same thing. Be very specific as to what you can do or not do, see or not see.

Sorry I took so long.

ash75 · January 15th, 2016, 08:23 PM

hi Befuddled,

I don't think it's an OS problem as the pc easily accessed the files on the other hard-drive I optimistically brought along to do any transfers; so I think 'permissions' aren't the problem.

However, I don't know if the problem hard-drive was encrypted or not; it was passworded, but I didn't think that was the same thing.

Could be wrong though (probably am)

January 2nd, 2016, 01:24 AM	#12
MOW Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Illinois Posts: 287 Thanks: 36,111 Thanked 9,220 Times in 276 Posts	Seagate Back U Plus 2 t/b external HD Befuddled, I am facing the situation you described in post 6. My Seagate just quit working. I was probably @ 1.4 t/b capacity. The EHD is a bit under 3 yrs. old. The desktop XP would not recognize it, and my laptop/Vista would not either. (both R Gateways) Tried new cables to different ports on both computers. No go. Both computers freeze up with the USB cable inserted, then return to normal when HD cable unplugged. From what I can understand, I am at the "remove from case" step and finding the cables or "caddie" to try. Please correct me if I am pointed in the wrong way. I'm also waiting to hear back from Seagate, via email what might be the next step in hopes of recovering some of the date. (Main-stream movies, music, & porn in zips, rars, avi's, etc; are on the Ext. HD. I've tried their trouble shooting the best I can. Any comments or help is greatly appreciated and anticipated.

January 2nd, 2016, 08:37 AM	#13
old alal Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: UK Posts: 3,197 Thanks: 22,904 Thanked 35,082 Times in 3,165 Posts	MOW sounds like it. Just for info. The adapter I have is from bipra. It is a usb2.0 to sata/ide adapter. Others are available(sounds like I am from the BBC) it seems more expensive than I remember paying, but it is still good value as you are able to attach most external drives. I went out to look at a new (larger) drive yesterday, to back up what I already have. I might get an 8Tb one. Thats a lot of porn! __________________ Old alal's First Rule Of Breasts To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. When you've seen one pair of breasts.........you want to see every pair of breasts!

January 12th, 2016, 02:09 AM	#15
MOW Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Illinois Posts: 287 Thanks: 36,111 Thanked 9,220 Times in 276 Posts	Seagate Ext.HD Salvage I tried my new Newertech Universal Drive Adapter, & I can get the Adapter to power up, but I can't get to any of the files on the EHD on either the desktop or the laptop, each with XP & Vista OS's, respectively. Tried different ports, tried re-booting with drive adapter in a port, just nothing works. I'm at a loss for trouble shooting & recovery.

January 12th, 2016, 08:01 AM	#16
lagerlout Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 4,505 Thanks: 31,568 Thanked 73,325 Times in 4,399 Posts	Tried taking it out of its casing and using it as an internal drive ? __________________ Nice girls are nice but BAD gals are much much better To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Please Pm me with any of my links that are not working. Please do not repost my links To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

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January 1st, 2016, 07:41 PM	#11
ash75 Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Suffolk Posts: 112 Thanks: 85 Thanked 1,457 Times in 105 Posts	Ok, for the moment I'm going with the Universal Adapter idea (if that fails I guess that will have the cable I need if i'm going to dismantle the drive and plug it in direct) Got to wait a few days for the adapter to arrive, but will post back with the results. Happy New Year to you all.

January 7th, 2016, 05:07 PM	#14
ash75 Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Suffolk Posts: 112 Thanks: 85 Thanked 1,457 Times in 105 Posts	Well, it has been a bit of a mixed bag. The adaptors arrived and I got the drive out of it's casing and wired it all up as instructed, but none of the 4 usb ports on my laptop would see beyond the USB adaptor needed (I checked all 4 ports with another hard drive and they all work, so it's not them.) But bearing in mind Befuddled's comment about a tower pc being preferable to a laptop I took the drive into work (not risky as the system isn't monitored) and plugged it into the back of my pc there. This time the pc could see the drive but didn't access it (it was originally passworded, but wouldn't this programme be outside the actual hard drive itself?), so I can only assume the damage is on the actual disk. Again, I checked that it wasn't the pc itself by plugging in the hard drive I was going to download onto and it read it fine. So, on the plus side I now have the cables to deal with the situation in the future, on the downside I've lost a small amount of porn, but nothing that was irreplaceable. Thanks to everyone for their help and interest. Hope 2016 is good for you all.

January 15th, 2016, 05:22 AM	#17
befuddled Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Roaming the Cosmos in search of life-filled planets to consume. Posts: 170 Thanks: 608 Thanked 1,076 Times in 168 Posts	MOW - Sorry to be so slow in answering. My memory is lousy these days. I forgot to look in. Sorry. Do you know if you encrypted the drive? It might also be that the OS is, for security reasons, not permitting you access. You should perform all actions for accessing, copying/moving files logged in as an administrator. lagerlout's suggestion is, in my opinion, the best way to do this sort of thing as it removes the possibility of a universal cable or dock being a weird. I've had one cable work fine on one system, but would not work on the other. If the drive is not readable, there are several things that could be preventing this: the drive is encrypted, or you don't have permissions, or the cable is quirky or bad, the drive is bad. It's really tough to troubleshoot like this. I'm sure I could solve it 30 minutes if I had it in my hands, but we'll have to do the best we can this way.

January 15th, 2016, 05:24 AM	#18
befuddled Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Roaming the Cosmos in search of life-filled planets to consume. Posts: 170 Thanks: 608 Thanked 1,076 Times in 168 Posts	MOW - Also be very specific, as I can't see your screen. When you say you can't get at any of the files, do you mean you do not see the drive at all, or you see the drive but cannot see the files, or you can see the drive and files but cannot open them.

January 15th, 2016, 05:25 AM	#19
befuddled Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Roaming the Cosmos in search of life-filled planets to consume. Posts: 170 Thanks: 608 Thanked 1,076 Times in 168 Posts	ash75 -- "This time the pc could see the drive but didn't access it (it was originally passworded, but wouldn't this programme be outside the actual hard drive itself?), so I can only assume the damage is on the actual disk." Do you know if you encrypted the disk? Read my comment to MOW and do the same thing. Be very specific as to what you can do or not do, see or not see. Sorry I took so long.

January 15th, 2016, 08:23 PM	#20
ash75 Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Suffolk Posts: 112 Thanks: 85 Thanked 1,457 Times in 105 Posts	hi Befuddled, I don't think it's an OS problem as the pc easily accessed the files on the other hard-drive I optimistically brought along to do any transfers; so I think 'permissions' aren't the problem. However, I don't know if the problem hard-drive was encrypted or not; it was passworded, but I didn't think that was the same thing. Could be wrong though (probably am)