external hard drive problem

[jcwilliams]

I have a Seagate free agent go 500gb that just quit working. I was trying to watch a movie off of it so I decided to plug it into my ps3. It didn't work. Said it was a unknown device. So I plugged it back into my laptop to do some more transferring and now all it does is blink. It don't show up on my computer now. It does make a noise when plugging it on but that's it.
I'm assuming it could be in some sort of fail safe mode but all I know is that my wife is going to kill me if I can't get the pics off of it!

Please help.
Thanks

 

[niXerKG]

If it's any sort of clicking sound you probably have an HD failure.

The GO drives aren't great for streaming movies either. Slow RPM which mean read speeds aren't that great and terrible heat management. I use them mostly for back-ups but not an active drive.

If it is a hard drive failure, there is still a chance you could salvage things by either using a Linux Live CD to access it, installing it into a computer and hoping it can be read or the last resort AND EXPENSIVE option of taking it to a hard drive recovery specialist but that's $1000 minimum up to $5000.

 

[jcwilliams]

Not what I wanted to hear lol. I read about it and they said it could be a power issue like the USB isn't providing enough power so I bought a y cable that I'm going to try. If that don't work I know a guy that's good with Linux.

 

[jcwilliams]

Update... Y cable didn't work. So we are going to try Linux on Monday.

 

[niXerKG]

Good luck, you can also try the freezer trick. Stick it in a freezer for a bit, until it's cold but not frozen and see if you can recover stuff.

Just beware each time you start it up and get it turning, you run the risk of corrupting more data.

 

[jcwilliams]

Good luck, you can also try the freezer trick. Stick it in a freezer for a bit, until it's cold but not frozen and see if you can recover stuff.

Just beware each time you start it up and get it turning, you run the risk of corrupting more data.

What's putting it in the freezer do? Lol

 

[jcwilliams]

What it's actually doing is being recognized as a completely different device. It'll install the driver for a different device but that's it...

 

[jcwilliams]

Well Linux didn't work

 

[niXerKG]

What's putting it in the freezer do? Lol

Sorry that's if you have a clicky hard drive.

What it's actually doing is being recognized as a completely different device. It'll install the driver for a different device but that's it...

That's odd, sounds like a corrupted board inside or something. You could maybe check Seagate's website for some diagnostic tools, might be able to fix it that way.

Well Linux didn't work

A linux live CD didn't work at all?

Can you remove the hard drive from it's enclosure and hook it up directly to a computer?

 

[jcwilliams]

I removed it from the enclosure and put it in a new one and got it to connect but it still don't come up one "my computer". Seagate manager is seeing the drive as a 2tb buts only a 500gb drive...I tried to format it but it failed also. I'm screwed

 

[niXerKG]

I removed it from the enclosure and put it in a new one and got it to connect but it still don't come up one "my computer". Seagate manager is seeing the drive as a 2tb buts only a 500gb drive...I tried to format it but it failed also. I'm screwed

If you were trying to recover files, why would you even think of reformatting it?

 

[dasmueller]

I was able to get some old pics off a camera SD card about a yr ago using some free software called Recuva. Might be worth a look.

 

[jcwilliams]

If you were trying to recover files, why would you even think of reformatting it?

True I wasn't thinking. But it failed anyways.

 

[jcwilliams]

I was able to get some old pics off a camera SD card about a yr ago using some free software called Recuva. Might be worth a look.

I tried recuva and it just sat at 0% for like 12 hrs didn't do anything...