My external hard drive stopped working...

[OklahomaTuba]

I mean, it comes on when I turn it on, but when I plug it into my computer, nothing happens.

Tried it on 3 different computers and several different USB 2.0 cords, so its the drive.

Now the question is, do I call the manufacturer (seagate) to see if they can fix it, or take it to some local place?

Any advice would be MUCH appreciated.

:)

[1stTimeCaller]

Any? ;)

[OklahomaTuba]

Well, relevant adivce would be nice.

[OKLA21FAN]

Well, relevant adivce would be nice.
get that pron off before taking it in to be serviced


just sayin

[TUSooner]

Ask your doctor if Cialis or Viagra is right for you.

[GrapevineSooner]

BTW, I voided the warranty on my Dlink wireless router Saturday night.

By slamming it on the back porch.

But back to the original question...

From which vendor was it purchased and how long ago?

[Ike]

most likely, its done. If it won't spin up, there could be a number of things wrong with it, but fixing it probably isn't worth it. unless you have the megamillions winning number on there. Disk drives go bad. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. If all you care about is the disk space, then buy a new one. It will be your cheapest option.

If you care about whats on there though:
You could send it back to seagates data recovery center, and ask them to examine it and pull off what data they can, but that'll run you a few hundred at least...maybe more depending on what kind of filesystem is on it.

Let this be a lesson. Always back stuff up to CD/DVD...something that doesn't have moving parts.

[sooner_born_1960]

I back my hard drive up to a notebook, using a fountain pen.

[Ike]

I back my hard drive up to a notebook, using a fountain pen.

In binary?

[GrapevineSooner]

Is it just a series of 1's and 0's that you write down?

[sooner_born_1960]

There are 10 types of people in the world. Those that understand binary numbers and those that don't.
Actually, in order to save space, I do it in hexadecimal.

[Vaevictis]

I mean, it comes on when I turn it on, but when I plug it into my computer, nothing happens.

Tried it on 3 different computers and several different USB 2.0 cords, so its the drive.

It may not be the drive. It may be the drive enclosure. It could be the power coupling or possibly the USB<->(S)ATA converter. The drive itself might be okay, and it might be as simple as opening the housing, disconnecting the drive, and reconnecting it in a different set of housing.

Note: The reason I bolded those words is because it might not be the case, and if you try what I suggested, it may be that all you have for your trouble is a torn apart external HDD with a voided warranty. But if retreiving the data is more important than warranty service, it may be something worth trying.


Now the question is, do I call the manufacturer (seagate) to see if they can fix it, or take it to some local place?

As a rule, manufacturers don't attempt to fix packaged components like a hard drive. They replace them. Don't expect anything else.

Unless you're talking one of those uber-expensive data recovery services.

My advice on that is: If you have to ask how much it would cost, then your data isn't important enough to even try.


Let this be a lesson. Always back stuff up to CD/DVD...something that doesn't have moving parts.

Even CD's/DVD's have issues -- scratching, ageing, etc.

The real issue is to always have your data in two places -- preferably in two places that are not the same place in the same place in the physical world. At a minimum, two places that are not electrically coupled.

[OklahomaTuba]

most likely, its done. If it won't spin up, there could be a number of things wrong with it, but fixing it probably isn't worth it. unless you have the megamillions winning number on there. Disk drives go bad. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. If all you care about is the disk space, then buy a new one. It will be your cheapest option.

If you care about whats on there though:
You could send it back to seagates data recovery center, and ask them to examine it and pull off what data they can, but that'll run you a few hundred at least...maybe more depending on what kind of filesystem is on it.

Let this be a lesson. Always back stuff up to CD/DVD...something that doesn't have moving parts.

Well, I was keeping all my graphics, photos and music on it. I think the photos are worth trying to save.

Its only about a year old, so I am going to do some serious bitching to seagate.

[OCUDad]

Vae may have put his finger on it -- it could be the enclosure. If the drive spins up but the computer doesn't recognize it, putting the drive in a new enclosure may solve the problem. There are computer repair shops who will do that for you for cheap. On the other hand, if it IS the drive, Ike is right -- you're gonna pay through the nose to get your data back.

[Vaevictis]

Its only about a year old, so I am going to do some serious bitching to seagate.

Unless it will make you feel better, don't bother. At best, they'll pretend to care. At worst, they'll give you worse service.

[Ike]

Well, I was keeping all my graphics, photos and music on it. I think the photos are worth trying to save.

Its only about a year old, so I am going to do some serious bitching to seagate.


Vae could be right here. and he is right about the backups being in more than one place, but for the average user CDs and DVDs are generally good enough. (though not always)....certainly for photos and music, I would think so though.


Drive lifetimes are hard to predict. some drives will last for what seems like forever, and some drives will go out fairly quickly....even drives made by a pretty good drivemaking company like seagate. If it's still under their warranty, which I think it should be (because I think about a year ago they instituted a 5-year warranty on their drives), then you can certainly get a new one from them, probably for free. If you don't mind the prospect of shelling out some cash, you can send the disk to their data recovery center. They'll take a look at it, diagnose the problem, and give you an estimate of how much it will cost to get the data back. if the problem is as simple as the one Vae described, it might not cost too much to have them do it. But I wouldn't know exactly how much...But you don't get charged until they actually take the files off the disk and give them to you...

[OklahomaTuba]

Thanks for the info. I will see what seagate says first and let them tell me what they think.