SeaGate External HD Problem!
polycounter lvl 18
Normaly i would think that the HD is just giving up but, when i go to view the HD on my devices panel it says that it is working properly. This is not what i am seeing.
I can populate the amount of space on the drive and everything else i just cannot view the contents of my drive.
It starts getting wonky, it will prevent me from viewing any of my files what so ever.
I restarted with the external still on and got this message at log-on screen:
The drive is not ready for use, it's door maybe open. Please check drive \device\Harddisk1\DR4 and make sure that a disk is inserted and that the drive door is closed.
Anyone know of a solution or have had this problem before the HD size is 240GB <- 250 but formated for both PC's and Mac's.
Thank you!
I can populate the amount of space on the drive and everything else i just cannot view the contents of my drive.
It starts getting wonky, it will prevent me from viewing any of my files what so ever.
I restarted with the external still on and got this message at log-on screen:
The drive is not ready for use, it's door maybe open. Please check drive \device\Harddisk1\DR4 and make sure that a disk is inserted and that the drive door is closed.
Anyone know of a solution or have had this problem before the HD size is 240GB <- 250 but formated for both PC's and Mac's.
Thank you!
Replies
My 2 home PCs will randomly drop the firewire connection and my laptop won't detect the hard drive the first time you plug it in while at work our Apple Xserve G5 has a firewire drive hooked up to it 24/7, no problems whatsoever.
http://geek.pricegrabber.com/search_techspecs_full.php/masterid=1063045
This is my exact drive.
I hope that is my current problem but i have filled this HD to the point it has only 2.6gb left. I was about to make backups and the data on here for the most part is not replaceable.
Keep the information coming, thanx Justin hope you can give more advice.
I am on the main homepages online tools section scanning for problems. It says even on their it is working properly no errors now i am scanning throughly with a complete scan that will take about 5 hours. I will wait.
Here is my log for the first test:
SeaTools Online 90 Second Surface Scan
Started at 3:32:11 PM on 0/22/2006.
Scanning drive: Intel(R) 82801GB USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 27CC : SEAGATE ST3250823A USB Device
Serial Number:
Capacity: 250.06 GB
Scan complete. No errors were found.
If the seagate scan returned no errors then it's the units housing, either the PSU or the 'card' inside that the drive connects to is buggered. If it's the card casing the problems then you're stuffed, if it's the PSU you should be able to get a replacement. Check the power supply, unplug, replug it in.
I just had a friend *seriously* fecked up the butt last week by one of those LiCie externals - he very nearly lost 6 months or so of current print jobs he was working on. They're apparently notoriously bad for misbehaving because of some odd issue with the power supply unit.
Started at 3:33:58 PM on 0/22/2006.
Scanning drive: Intel(R) 82801GB USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 27CC : SEAGATE ST3250823A USB Device
Serial Number:
Capacity: 250.06 GB
- An error was encountered reading sector 32781.
- An error was encountered reading sector 483340069.
Errors were found during the scan.
SeaTools has found errors on drive SEAGATE ST3250823A USB Device. One or more sectors on the drive are unreadable. As a precaution against data loss, you should back up any important data on the drive as soon as possible.
But i can not get to reading the folders or viewing any contents on the drive.
DO i have to pay a large amount of money now to get the information back?
A Differernt scan here:
Results for volume P: ()
Volume Label:
Volume Size: 0 bytes
The file system contains errors that need to be repaired.
I do not know how this can happen when i last turned the HD on it was fine i placed new contents and shut down properly.
How does it just malfunction it is new not even 6 to 7 months old.
I'm i screwed? What are my options? Assistance would be gratefully apprechiated!
- there's a software called easyrecovery by ontrack, that does a very good job of rescuing data even from physically damaged drives. they probably still have the downloadable eval version
- you could try some linux bootable cd distro and see if it reads the filesystem of your disk. not necessarily is your disk damaged physically, maybe one of the system files has been destroyed and windows now has a hard time recognizing the contents of say, your directory structure.
other operating systems might be less picky/offer tools to fix this. that probably won't be pretty if you happen to have NTFS on that disk, tohugh
I will give the easy recovery a go and try to see it i can recover any files. I hope i can i know just the folder to grab stuff from. If i can get all of that i will be content to not having the rest.
The sectors that have errors on them i hope are minor, any idea how this can happen to a possible 3 month old drive?
Three-Times already i have had drives drop on me. I understand one is old ok but this one's too new to be screwed up.
I hope i can come back with good results but thank you all for helping.
If anyone else can contribute some assitance i will utilise it to the fullest extent possible.
I will not freeze the drive just yet to get content as i have read on some site to freeze it over night and grab what i can...
Are their any tools out their that can scan or even fix these errors?
Are sector errors permanent? as in disk damage or content damage? such as corrupt data <- incomplete drag drop task?
To be continued.....
FAT32 can become unstable above 32GB. This is why Disk Management in 2k/XP won't let you create a FAT32 partition >32GB.
Don't run any more utilities or scanners on the drive, just connect it internally to bypass USB and the enclosure's controller, then see if you can read it. If you can it's most likely a problem with the enclosure or USB hardware. If you can't, get a data recovery utility to pull the data from the drive. There's a good eval version for FAT32 here: www.ontrack.com This version won't do the recovery but it will scan and let you know if it can be done.
Incidently, he has a G4 and G3, the G4 wouldn't see the drive like that but the G3 would. If you have access to more than one Mac (and OS I presume) try it on those as well.
That thing is amazing even showed me deleted information.
BIG thanx for the help thomasp thank you for pointing it out.
Yes mop:
Now that i think of it, well at the time i didn't think much of it but i did see it drop once. But i had it in the protective carrying case i have carpet and it was a very short drop not even 1 foot. The drive looks strong to handle little nicks not that i want to have it banged up. I had just come home and i placed the case on my bed and then tried to clean up i turn my back and i heard a small bonk. That little bonk destroyed my drive then these things suck.
Sledgy: Im going to try that with the other drive i still have laying here from a previous malfunction:) thanx. I didnt know about that FAT32 issue but doesnt FAT32 support huge file sizes or was that NTFS I forget?
Kat: I do have access to a school full of Mac's that was going to be my second attempt and after carful thinking and the last seagate scan i decided to stop turning it on all together to prevent further damage until i found a working solution.
Everyone go get your self this OnTrack Easy Recovery even if you want to test to see if deleted information is still on your drive that you thought was deleted might not be and for a precaution in case of drive failure you have the tool.
BIG THANX TO THE BIG GREEN!
This place is my safe haven!
Im so happy to say i got the Hard Drive working again.
I guess i screwed up the system information some how and got wonky.
Kick ass i must say thank you for all the replies and information that has helped me.
The weird part was i formated it 3 times yesterday after backing everything up onto different drives.
First was Fat32 the volume was too big, then ntfs under computer management tool, didnt work i managed to view it under my computer were it would get wonky and right clicked format to ntfs and it works perfectly.
Have a good day!
I would say be very careful around USB external HD. Theyre great for transferring large files quickly. But back things up at least once a week if youre using it on a regular bases over once a day. And don't store things on it permanently, I would be very concerned if I where you if you do.
If your using a 2.5 HD in a external USB or a portable PC I highly recommend you get 2.5 to 3.5 converter peice just in case. Might cost you a lot but Belkin thinks is starting price is 27.99, newegg is kinda of cheap.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812116211
I glad you where able to recover your stuff.