Has my external HDD packed up?

[devonutopia]

I have a small external HDD to save room on my desktop machine.

Came off Ebay and I suspect is Euro as uses a 2 pin plug & convertor. Went to use it this evening and it threw a bit of a wobbly and now the green light on it is "on" but it's fluctuating rhythmically - going brighter for a flicker every 1 second or so, and it won't access anything on it. An error came up talking up an I/O device error. (I also as a test removed it from a USB hub and put it in an actual USB port in the back of the tower)

The drive is a Western Digital 160gig. Any ideas before I rip the casing off and review the actual HDD inside it?

[devonutopia]

OK - I have tried it in the USB at the front, and this time the F: symbol doesn't even come up in my computer, and it first comes with an "unknown device" in the USB root directory and I can't update the driver or anything (XP = "plug & play" so no drivers ) Going to switch it off and let it cool down until tomorrow.

[Wardy]

If it's just a straightforward 'drive in a case' job J, I'd be inclined to remove the drive and try it straight into a desktop machine if you can.

Steve

[devonutopia]

It is just that.

[Aspman]

If it's just a straightforward 'drive in a case' job J, I'd be inclined to remove the drive and try it straight into a desktop machine if you can.

Steve

you'll be able to pick up a new enclosure for it from Ebuyer cheaply enough if it turns out to be the usb/power that is fubar.

If you crack the case, take a note of the drive that is in it and visit the manufacturers website. Most of them have free downloadable testing tools to analyse the drive.

[philc]

Western Digital. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

They also have an online warranty checker, so you can get a free replacement under warranty. Sounds like you may need it........

Phil

[sheep_go_baa]

Is there a setting on the hard drive caddy for the votage settings: IIRC europe and UK are on different amounts.

[150HP&counting]

If it's just a straightforward 'drive in a case' job J, I'd be inclined to remove the drive and try it straight into a desktop machine if you can.

Steve

agreed! the controller cards are usually a bit on the iffy side in these type of externals i have found in the past. As wardy suggests a connection direct would be a logical step in seeing if the disk is ok, and whether it the controller

[anonymouse]

... as for 'cracking it open' - if it's anything like the Freecom USB drives then you'll find they're virtually impossible to disassemble.

[gadgetman]

Is there a setting on the hard drive caddy for the votage settings: IIRC europe and UK are on different amounts.

Europe's been on 230v for some time now

[Aspman]

... as for 'cracking it open' - if it's anything like the Freecom USB drives then you'll find they're virtually impossible to disassemble.

Yup the case will probably be trash after it's been broken open but replacement caddies from Ebuyer are pretty cheap.

[cheezemonkhai]

Europe's been on 230v for some time now

Specifically 230V with a tollerance of -5% to +10% eg 220-250V

[devonutopia]

OK - little update. I was in one of "those moods" now - proper up for some destruction with the aim of getting something broken working again. So I attacked the case of my external HDD and opened up it's guts. Had a poke around the various boards & tried to check everything was OK. Thought no harm in trying to power it up and blow me, it bloody works now! So now, it will operate as per below. The casing isn't really in any fit state to go back around it!

[devonutopia]

OK - Now found out it's not fully working....

Boots up, and I get an image of everything on F: but when I go to drag & drop anything off it, or put anything on to it, it says "cannot copy file - ensure file name & directory is correct"

Any other thoughts? It looks easy enough to rip out the drive and attempt to plumb it into my PC?

I should also add it "tried" to copy one file and got about 1/3 through before coming up with error. My suspicions lie somewhere in that circuitry and not in the drive itself.

Edited 26 July, 2009 by devonutopia

[Wardy]

Yep, certainly looks like a standard WD IDE drive that. I'd try hooking it up directly to your PC and see how you go. Or pick up another cheap IDE external enclosure.

Steve

[devonutopia]

Not bothered about the enclosure but am bothered about the 3+ years of backed up "BRISKODA" archives that I would sooner not lose. Once I get this working I'm creating a CD library of it all!

[cheezemonkhai]

Check the jumper on the drive is set to Master (Only drive) not master with slave.

[Skoda-Msport]

Get yourself a copy of "Hirens 9.9" and then bootup from it, go to Harddisk Tools and run the western digital basic and advanced test. It sounds like thedrive could be faulty or there could be some file corruption on the drive. If you cant copy the contents of the drive in windows use Hirens CD again then bootup with the "Mini XP" option, its basically an emulation of windows which runs from the CD, once that starts up there is a program there called "unstoppable copier" select your source drive as he western digital and the destination as your other HDD, then click copy.

The program should then copy the entire contents of the drive. If there are some bad corruptions on the drive you might have to run a chkdsk /p then a chkdsk /r from the recovery console on the XP CD.

Hope that helps

[Wardy]

Looks handy that - always worth having in the toolbox

Steve

[devonutopia]

I need to find a jumper to set this drive to slave, then I will attempt to plug it in,

Will follow the above guide if it still has issues.

[cheezemonkhai]

If it's a WD and has no jumpers at all on it then that could actually be the issue.

From my experience the WD IDE drives *need* a jumper or they can just go mad as you describe.

Pop a jumper on in the caddy telling the drive it's master - only device and then see if you can get your data again.

[devonutopia]

May have never needed a jumper being an external HDD. I might have to go out and buy one. One of those things I never seem to have hanging around.

[Wardy]

It's an IDE drive, so it will have jumpers. Seems crazy having to go and buy one Jason, but equally posting you one is just as daft!

Steve

[cheezemonkhai]

The drive is not an external, it's an IDE device and as such it needs a jumper to tell it what it is.

Since it's the only device and hanging off a short IDE cable to a IDE--> USB bridge chip you need to tell it that it is master without a slave. (most are happy with master/slave/CS, but WD seem to have master, master no slave, slave and CS)

Some drives will default to master or slave without a jumper and others will just have a floating voltage which means it will change. Potentially a new drive could float high enough to be master then over time drop such that it randomly becomes a slave.

If you have a look in your PC case you'll probably find one on a board that is left open which you could pinch for a few minutes to test the theory.

[devonutopia]

If one drive has a jumper on master, and the other drive has no jumper at all, will the computer still read and boot from the master and treat the other as a slave by default?