Thread: Issues with an External HDD

Ok. So, I've been having some problems with my USB ports working, and I finally got THAT figured out, it ws a 32bit libusb driver, I uninstalled, and everything worked perfectly. Now, however, I have one of my Seagate Expansion HDDs is not working, a 2TB. It shows up in diskpart, and even says it is online. However, I am unable to access the drive, as it does not show in My Computer. This is my Movies drive, and I have 965GB of movies on there. I don't really feel like losing this. Any help? The green light on the front is also pulsing. I really need help fixing this. I'll check back when I get home from work. Thanks.

i'm not sure whether it will help or not...but you can go to disk management and see if its dynamic or not.

Silly suggestion but within the my computer screen have you tried right clicking and refresh? Sometimes drives don't show up untill thats been done

Often, the interface in the enclosure of the external drive will fail. They use cheap USB chips and interfaces to keep the price low. Bear in mind that those two things are between your system and the drive that your movies are on. So just because you can't access the drive does not mean the drive itself is bad/has failed.

Many, many people assume them not being able to access an external drive means their data is lost, and they throw away a perfectly good HD in an external enclosure that has failed. This happens a lot, and they often get bad advice about it when asking on forums and that doesn't help. If they had removed the drive and simply placed it another enclosure they would have been right as rain. Before you write this HD off, remove the hard drive from the enclosure, and put it in a PC and test it. Now this voids the warranty, but if the data(movies) means more than the money, you should try this.

Of course troubleshoot the normal drive mounting issues on the OS first, before doing this. Like checking in Disc Management, checking event logs and look for drive errors, etc. Since you know you had USB issues you should check into the possibilities of the OS first. Try booting into safe mode too, see if the external is visible.

Also check the manufacturer's website for the meaning of the pulsing light on the front.

It's also possible that the usb port has problems (you could test another port) or maybe the power requirement of HD exceeds the capacity of the usb port.

Some good advice from Flagg. I've had this issue with many of the cheaper external drives I've purchase from eBay or other shady vendors. The drives are usually fine, but the enclosure are cheap and not designed to fit a 3.5 HDD properly.

The last one I purchased was a ROCK enclosure with a 1 TB WD drive. The HDD, itself, did not dock properly with the SATA interface because there was half a centimeter of wiggle room behind the drive. Every time I moved the external, it simply slipped out. I didn't find this out until I opened the enclosure. Easy fix was to cut out a piece of cardboard to prevent the HDD from moving.

If worse comes to worse, and you have to open the enclosure, maybe check to see if the drive is properly docked. Then if that fails, connect it internally like Flagg suggested.

When an HDD fails, you usually hear clicking sounds or no sound at all. It also tends to show some earlier signs before completely dying. If you haven't noticed any issues before this incident, there's a good chance your drive is still working. Anyways, good luck. Hopefully you could recover your movies.

Originally Posted by subkar09

i'm not sure whether it will help or not...but you can go to disk management and see if its dynamic or not.

Dynamic or basic, you mean? If yes, then Basic. Outside of that, I'm too high right now to know what I'm looking for, please explain. Thank you.

Originally Posted by staffrodore

Silly suggestion but within the my computer screen have you tried right clicking and refresh? Sometimes drives don't show up untill thats been done

Done it. No dice, Sally.

LOL <3

Originally Posted by Flagg

Often, the interface in the enclosure of the external drive will fail. They use cheap USB chips and interfaces to keep the price low. Bear in mind that those two things are between your system and the drive that your movies are on. So just because you can't access the drive does not mean the drive itself is bad/has failed.

Many, many people assume them not being able to access an external drive means their data is lost, and they throw away a perfectly good HD in an external enclosure that has failed. This happens a lot, and they often get bad advice about it when asking on forums and that doesn't help. If they had removed the drive and simply placed it another enclosure they would have been right as rain. Before you write this HD off, remove the hard drive from the enclosure, and put it in a PC and test it. Now this voids the warranty, but if the data(movies) means more than the money, you should try this.

Of course troubleshoot the normal drive mounting issues on the OS first, before doing this. Like checking in Disc Management, checking event logs and look for drive errors, etc. Since you know you had USB issues you should check into the possibilities of the OS first. Try booting into safe mode too, see if the external is visible.

Also check the manufacturer's website for the meaning of the pulsing light on the front.

You have my attention........ HAHA I've actually been thinking about that. I don't care about the money, It's the 3rd or 4th one, I don't even remember at this points, and it's the first one that hasn't clicked insanely. I just wanna access it, and I've heard about the enclosures going bad. I may just do the internal. LOL

Originally Posted by Ciosade

It's also possible that the usb port has problems (you could test another port) or maybe the power requirement of HD exceeds the capacity of the usb port.

Nope,all ports work fine, Port problem solved.

Originally Posted by el2em

Some good advice from Flagg. I've had this issue with many of the cheaper external drives I've purchase from eBay or other shady vendors. The drives are usually fine, but the enclosure are cheap and not designed to fit a 3.5 HDD properly.

The last one I purchased was a ROCK enclosure with a 1 TB WD drive. The HDD, itself, did not dock properly with the SATA interface because there was half a centimeter of wiggle room behind the drive. Every time I moved the external, it simply slipped out. I didn't find this out until I opened the enclosure. Easy fix was to cut out a piece of cardboard to prevent the HDD from moving.

If worse comes to worse, and you have to open the enclosure, maybe check to see if the drive is properly docked. Then if that fails, connect it internally like Flagg suggested.

When an HDD fails, you usually hear clicking sounds or no sound at all. It also tends to show some earlier signs before completely dying. If you haven't noticed any issues before this incident, there's a good chance your drive is still working. Anyways, good luck. Hopefully you could recover your movies.

Yezzir, thank you.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

LAZX6RRider has this issue been resolved?

As I am fixing a lot of external hdd you have to take of the hdd from the case and to put it on another to ensure that the disk is ok then if the disk works and is recognized take your dc adapter from your case and test it with a voltmeter! in most cases the adapter is fault! thats all from me for any instraction send me pm!