External HDD problem.

quattrojames

quattrojames

Messages
1,274
I've got a Lacie 500GB external HDD with all my ipod library and lots of photo's on. It's quite an old thing, but works(ed) fine.

Looks like this:

mg_3739.jpg


Anyway over the weekend it got 'toddlered', I'm not sure if it was dropped or what as my wife was in charge, but the plug at the HDD end of the USB cable seems a bit slack now. Since then the PC can't read it, and it chunters and click's away to itself randomly. I've stripped it down (to a point) and have taken the drive part away from the PCB as shown below.

HDD.jpg


I've not faffed too much with the PCB as I do want to be able to recover the data on there.

So the question is do I pick up a matching HDD cheap from ebay and hope that I can swap my existing drive into the new frame/pcb (are they compatible assuming it's the same model?) - or should I leave well alone and take it in somewhere?!
 
Quickest simplest way forward would be to take the drive out of the case and try it (as slave) in a PC (or using a USB-PATA/SATA adaptor to see if the drive survived) - if you've not got one hanging around try a nerdy pal - they're bound to have one/some to try.

All the PCB will be is a USB-PATA/SATA interface (with a power supply) and as you've discovered, you paid LaCie prices for a Seagate drive :)
 
You'd have to check but you might be able to get away with just a USB to IDE cable with a PSU...if you want to try that route you can borrow mine unless the idea gets kiboshed in the mean time.

Oh...seems I must be that nerdy pal. :lol:
 
or for £8 you can own your own. ;) :lol:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-IDE-SATA-SATA-3-5-2-5-Adapter-Cable-KIT-UK-/170547074987?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item27b565d7ab#ht_2874wt_1140" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-IDE-SATA- ... 874wt_1140</a><!-- m -->
 
I'd be concerned about the clicking that it's doing.

It could be as simple as that slack board is disconnecting the interface from the drive, or something mechanical broken with the disk.

Do some read tests on the drive, remember to flush your memory buffers prior as you cannot be certain that it's reading data from the disk (when you try second reads, and depends if this is necessary due to amount of data on disk and amount of RAM you have).

Before spending money on any components do as said above, eliminate the caddy from being at fault by plugging the disk directly into the computer and do some read/write tests.
 
hunnymonster said:
Quickest simplest way forward would be to take the drive out of the case and try it (as slave) in a PC (or using a USB-PATA/SATA adaptor to see if the drive survived) - if you've not got one hanging around try a nerdy pal - they're bound to have one/some to try.

All the PCB will be is a USB-PATA/SATA interface (with a power supply) and as you've discovered, you paid LaCie prices for a Seagate drive :)
Click to expand...

At first I was a bit :? with that but having read on I see what you mean.

I bought this a while ago as I said, I take it a Seagate drive at Lacie prices isn't a good thing? :lol:

antdad said:
or for £8 you can own your own. ;) :lol:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-IDE-SATA-SATA-3-5-2-5-Adapter-Cable-KIT-UK-/170547074987?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item27b565d7ab#ht_2874wt_1140" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-2-0-IDE-SATA- ... 874wt_1140</a><!-- m -->
Click to expand...

Nice link, thanks Tony. Depending on what happens with the below test I'll do that. I don't have the space on my laptop HD to transfer it all onto there, but I guess if I bought a new HDD I could transfer it from the old HDD through the laptop onto the new HDD?
 
eneville said:
Do some read tests on the drive, remember to flush your memory buffers prior as you cannot be certain that it's reading data from the disk (when you try second reads, and depends if this is necessary due to amount of data on disk and amount of RAM you have).

Before spending money on any components do as said above, eliminate the caddy from being at fault by plugging the disk directly into the computer and do some read/write tests.
Click to expand...

I'm more than happy to do that, only problem being I haven't much idea what you're talking about! Excuse my ignorance :roll:

Can you simplify at all? Even a little bit? ;)
 
quattrojames said:
I bought this a while ago as I said, I take it a Seagate drive at Lacie prices isn't a good thing? :lol:
Click to expand...

A bit like buying a Bang & Olufsen TV for £3k and discovering it's a Ferguson (available with not the B&O label) for £300 :)


quattrojames said:
I guess if I bought a new HDD I could transfer it from the old HDD through the laptop onto the new HDD?
Click to expand...

Exactly. (I have one exactly like the one Antdad linked to - it's saved lives - well livelihoods)
 
There are two likely scenarios, one of which isn't disastrous, the other of which is.

Lacie external drives are susceptible to problems with their power supplies. They use a couple of capacitors that are underrated and break down. The symptom is that the drive won't start and clicks continuously. There are three options in this case:

1. Replace the power supply (easy if you have more than one, really rather awkward if you don't).
2. Crack open the power supply and check the capacitors for their tops bulging (or maybe even split). If they are, the capacitors can be replaced with higher-rated ones, but they're difficult to source (I had to get some from Hong Kong).
3. Remove the drive from the case and connect it to a PC, either directly or indirectly, as already suggested. This is the easiest way to get the data off.

I've had six Lacie external drives and have had four power supplies fail in exactly the same way. I don't buy them anymore...

I've also had two Seagate external drives fail completely after small drops. The first, a fall of about 2 feet onto carpet, the second was a drive that stands vertically that toppled over sideways; hardly a drop at all. In both cases, the drives suffered catastrophic failure. Symptomatically, both drives clicked continuously and were not accessible from a PC or Mac. If the data was important, I could have sent the drives away to a data recovery company, by we're talking serious money.

If you're lucky, it's a PSU failure, or a bad connection caused by a tug of some description. In which case, removing the drive and connecting it via alternate means may get you out of trouble. My suspicion is the latter, however.
 
If the drive was powered and running when it dropped it is most likely the drive, the read/write head would bounce off the platter and this is often fatal. Data can be recovered but nearly always requires a specialist to do it. If it was not powered or the O/S had powered it down the heads would be in park and I think you have a chance, it could be the cable has caused the connection in the PCB to break so you could remove the drive and as suggested try it as a secondary drive.

It looks like a 7200 RPM Seagate Barracuda so it may be SATA and not IDE, either way got it connected to a PC to eliminate the PCB doing the SATA,IDE conversion to USB. If you get access to it, copy the data off it first then worry about doing any tests to see if it is OK.

I don't think LaCie does drives themselves and Seagate Barracudas are not that bad, I tend to use Western Digital but each to their own. It is much cheaper to buy an enclosure and a drive and make an external backup drive yourself. Even empty NAS boxes with space for two drives to run RAID O are cheap these days.

Just hope the data can be saved, I have a backup of my backup, one of which is kept in work just in case.
 
Audiolab said:
<snip> It is much cheaper to buy an enclosure and a drive and make an external backup drive yourself.
Click to expand...

Actually, my recent experience suggests that, due to one of those odd pricing anomalies, external drives are barely more expensive than the bare drives contained within. Indeed, the most recent 2TB Western Digital Elements external drive that I bought was £74.99 but £79.99 for the bare drive!
 
OK so the consensus seems to be to get a cable and see if I can access the data on the drive and go from there. If I can, then I can consider what drive to replace it with and transfer the data across.

If, worst case. this drive is knackered and I have to send it off for data recovery, does anyone have a ball park cost to recover maybe 100gb of data?
 
I agree with HM, in my experience it usually is a couple of thousand, dependent on how hard you want them to try. In one extreme case the drive was sent back to the vendor who either replaced the read heads or moved the platters into a new drive (not sure which) there was some lost data where the head struck the platter but I know this was not cheap.

For sub 2TB portable drives the drives alone are cheaper but as you say not by a great deal. The NAS box will give redundancy through running RAID and also be out of the way so no chance to knock it off the table but it is not potable so it comes down to your needs.

Sorry to say it but if it is your photos and prawn videos it is not worth the cost to send it for data recovery. Was it powered when dropped?
 
Audiolab said:
Sorry to say it but if it is your photos and prawn videos it is not worth the cost to send it for data recovery. Was it powered when dropped?
Click to expand...

It's photo's and music, valuable to me but I'm not going to be paying £000's to get them back.

I don't know what happened to it. I was at work, and wife and daughter were at home, daughter is approaching 3 and at that 'experimental' (?) age and pushing wife to the edge and beyond. When I got home I was told that daughter had been "playing" with the cables, but I'm not aware that it had actually been dropped as such. I've asked question since but it's obviously my fault for leaving it there :roll:

Cable ordered, thanks everyone for your help.

Back up lesson learnt, and fingers crossed.
 
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