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Community Newsletter: Q&A: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding
- 1/31/08 9:51 PM
Bad external drive
by Heavener - 2/1/08 4:20 PM In reply to: Go for the simple fix by ChanningI, too, had WD and Seagate external drives fail. In both cases, the drive overheated (and the Seagate had been inside the tower without any problem). I think it has something to do with the external enclosure, so now I run with the top removed and haven't had any problem.
External Hard Drives
by darrenforster99 - 1/25/08 10:55 PM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Dear Helene,
I don't exactly know how the pre-built external hard drives work, but I'm guessing that inside the case they are probably the same as the ones your can build at home. If you open the case you will probably just find either a Western Digital SATA, 3.5" IDE or 2.5" IDE hard drive under there. (SATA has a small thin cable with small black plastic connectors on the hard drive end, and IDE has a ribbon cable with a seperate molex connector for the power). If it is connected in this way then you can easily get a new external case for it, instead of buying a new external hard drive get an external case, make sure you get the right one for the connector - take the hard drive to a decent computer shop or computer fair if your not sure, if there a good computer store they will set it up for you, many of them in the UK do this free of charge if your buying the case from them, best bet for this type of service is to go to a small computer store not somewhere like PC World.
If the drive is connected in any other way then you probably aren't going to be able to fix it, in future though I would suggest instead of buying an external hard drive, buy an external case for an IDE or SATA hard drive and then buy either a SATA hard drive or IDE hard drive to go into it. SATA is recommended over IDE as it is far faster. They are really easy to fit together as all the cables are different sizes so they easily go together, although remember about size as well - if it's a 2.5" case you need to get a 2.5" (laptop) drive, 3.5" needs a 3.5" drive - 2.5" cases are a lot more slimmer and look nicer than the 3.5" ones but 2.5" drives are quite a lot more expensive than 3.5". I'd recommend a 3.5", also 3.5" drives can be plugged into the IDE cable on a normal computer. The handy thing with doing a build your own is that it is quite considerably cheaper (at a computer fair an external case in the UK is about £10 and a hard drive to go in it about £30 for 200Gb where as an all in one is about £80-£90) and also if in the future anything goes wrong you can just dismantle it and replace the component that's gone easily and cheaply, or if in the future you want to upgrade to a bigger hard drive you only need to dismantle it and replace the old hard drive. You also get to choose which hard drive to put in - Seagate are really good as they come with a 3 year warranty and are quite fast drives.
Hello fine friend!
by fanten30 - 1/25/08 11:15 PM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I am thinking you either had a spill on or near the keyboard which may need to be replaced unless you have another keyboard you can input into the computer somehow by asking a computer speacialist to help you with to save you alot of money. When a keyboard has trouble it messes with the information throughout the entire computer scrambling weird information around in which the dirty components that are blocked are trapping good information which needs to be travelling into the main motherboard of the computer. If not you'll have to open this baby up and cover it up then go get some component cleaner for computers and when you get home make sure you clean under where all the keys are well at least twice letting the board dry in intervals and then when it is dry the second time you should have evrything perfect and dandy and if not your keyboard is fried and possibly ruined other components inside of your computer, but I hope and pray you will have it up and running after the cleaning for I had bad remotes and cleaned them with windex under the rubber button part in this way and they are back to perfect again! P.S. Don't lose the screws! Get some duct tape to put them on and they are sure to stay put. Good Luck and God Bless You my friend, Shawn
Do not attempt yourself...
by Jkawaii - 1/25/08 11:24 PM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Pay a data recovery company to retrieve your files.
External hard drive problem
by Karridog - 1/25/08 11:33 PM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Very soon I will be purchasing a hard drive like yours. Don't allow that company to ignore your situation. You have to continue making that company understand your problem until they do something about it. Call your Better Business Bureau and explain to them how that company is ignoring. Also, contact the BBB in their state or city. I don't know where you live, but we have a consumer protection agency here in Fairfax County. The county will not let that company get way with cheating you. Telephone your county office and they may be able to help you. Save all of your receipts and document every contact that you have with that company. Don't give up. Go to www.ask.com and ask them what you should do. You just might get some free legal advice. Also contact the ACLU. If they cannot help you they will find someone who can. You will get plenty of advice. I'm 73 years of age and I have had some experiences like you are having. Send them letters. Call them on the phone. Make them get tired hearing from you. You can write to me if you need some moral support. kimbadog99@yahoo.com
mbadog99@yahoo.com
'bring it back and ask for your money back'
by anton.vanwamelen - 1/25/08 11:42 PM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Most of the times and we think that Western Digital is no exception will gladly replace your malfunctioning HD. Please go the store and get it from there or otherwise you bought it on the net tru a store the same thing. Otherwise you go on the net and go to the Western Digital website, search for help. Reading your story you did that before, but to no avail. Neverthelesss, you must seek and ask for a Repairnumber on the repairsite of the drive and send the stuff to them, write that number on front of the package (you are entitled for that with the receipt note of the store where you bought it). They will notify what's the matter with it.
You have options
by davedave308 - 1/26/08 12:55 AM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I've never replied to a question here before, but I think I can help.
First, I haven't had trouble with Western Digital before, however sometimes you just have to be persistent. Always be nice, but be insistent, and if you get what you want, be appreciative.
Next, since you state that the power switch is broken I'll assume that the drive itself is okay. Although I'm sure I could repair the switch, that type of repair work is not something just anyone wants or is able to do. I doubt most retailers would try to fix it.
To re-use the drive: The drive can be removed from it's case and either placed in another external hard drive bay or installed inside your computer.
To re-use it in another external bay, you'll need a bay made for either PATA or SATA. If you're comfortable removing the drive from the case, you can identify the type by looking at the connections to the drive itself. The PATA (an older type some will still call ATA, IDE, or EIDE) drives have a wide connection (about 2 inches) for the data and a large white connector (with only 4 wires) for power. SATA (a newer and faster connection) drives usually have a black power connection and a smaller connector (about 1/2 inch wide) for data. Most external bays plug into the computer using USB but firewire (aka IEEE 1394) is also available. Be sure to choose the one you prefer/need. Don't buy a firewire bay if you don't have any firewire ports on your computer - that's why most enclosures use USB.
If you want to re-use the drive in your computer, you'll have to make sure the drive can plug in to your computer's internal ports. The question again is whether the drive uses SATA or PATA and also whether your computer has SATA or PATA. A newer computer will probably have only SATA, while slightly older ones will have both and even older computers will have only PATA. You can add SATA or PATA to a PC by adding a card but that'll cost about $30 to $40.
If you use either of the options above, you'll have access to your data. If you aren't compfortable doing the work yourself find someone who's preferably in the computer business and hire them to do this for you. If that isn't an option, find someone who's built their own computer before as they're likely to have the skills and knowledge to do this for you. When hiring someone for this type of work, stress that you don't want to lose the data! Some "computer guys" can be careless with their customer's data and it always pains me to hear about lost data, whether it be pictures, financial documents, business records or whatever.
I've probably included more detail than you need yourself, but perhaps someone else will benefit from the info as well. If you have any further questions, please ask. Many of the responses I read week to week here are very good. I hope I've been as helpful.
Re: External Hard Drive
by typhoon56 - 1/26/08 1:39 AM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This leaves you with a dilema. If someone opens the casing they invalidate the warranty, however, the data appears more inportant. Any competent computer engineer should be able to remove the drive from the casing and simply replace the casing with a generic one. In the UK, Maplin's stock the boxes in order that you can make an external hard drive from an ordinary HD and a generic box. In the States I am guessing possibly Radio Shack (Tandy in England) or some such company should be able to supply the casing. You need not then need to buy another EHD. In all honesty a competent amateur should be able to do it. I have a friend who regularly builds EHD's from the two seperate parts. A better solution, if you know a competent technician, is to get them to replace the switch or switches. It's not Rocket Science and shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes. My friend replaced my son's soft switch on his P.C. in about that time. Hope that helps. I.P.S.
Not too concerned with warranty?
by OttifantSir - 1/26/08 3:09 AM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you're not, then it's quite possible to do as you said: Remove the harddrive from the casing and either insert it into your computer or buy a new DIY-casing. This will, however negate any warranty on the drive.
There is one hurdle I see in this: Backup. If this is a drive with a button dedicated to backup, it most likely contains some firmware that may or may not be supported by another casing, because the firmware might be dual; A portion in a chip in the casing, and a portion on the drive itself.
Cheapest bet though, is to try. Datarecovery costs a fortune.
DO NOT GIVE UIP
by Hank Wells - 1/26/08 3:23 AM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi,
I had problems with WD before and they take ages to answer any emails, even weeks.
Keep sending emails and inform them that you are also sending reports of the progress from them to you to a well known web site. They don't want bad publicity as they are no longer the fastest cheapest Hard Drive manufactor also there have to complete with SSD disks.
Remember to change the title of the email slightly "My Problem" to "I have a problem", and so on. If they can flob you off they save money and that is good for Western Digital but not for you. Tell them you are also going to write to PC magazines asking for help as they are not helping you and requesting that the magazine publish it as a warning to other readers about this product.
WD external drive
by sheldontraceySWT123 - 1/26/08 4:39 AM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If you can take the drive out of the case, hook it up internally. All an external drive is, is a internal drive put into a external case.
Then transfer your information.
I never buy WD products.
External Hard Drive Failure
by waytron - 1/26/08 4:46 AM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Some companies can take a week or more (if ever) to reply to an email, I would suggest maybe giving Western Digital a phone call at 1 (800) 275-4932.
Unfortunately, I am seeing a far greater failure rate with external hard drives than I ever have with internal hard drives. Whether is it due to the fact that they are portable and more likely to be bumped and dropped or improperly cooled or even unplugging while still writing, who knows. But, they can fail at any time for whatever reason and therefore should never contain your only copy of data. I am always amazed at how much faith most of us seem to have in hard drives. These are mechanical devices spinning at speeds of up to 10,000 RPM and they WILL fail and it is just a matter of WHEN. Hard drives are like tires on a car, they are subject to daily wear and tear, if you replace them every few years, odds are that you will probably never experience a blow out, but they could fail at any time and the longer you continue to use them the greater the likelihood of a problem. Sorry for the speech, but I see roughly 1 or 2 clients per week that lose everything to hard drive failures, and it could have been prevented so easily. I look at them and want to say. What were you thinking, you had 10 years of family photos, thousands of dollars in music and your accounting data for your business on an $80 spinning disk and never thought that it might fail? Enough said about that. Back to your problem Helene, I am not exactly sure why you want to transfer the backup data from this damaged External Drive to a new one. It is a backup, right? I am assuming that your original data is still on your computer? So all you need to do is just purchase a new External hard drive and backup again to that one. But if for some reason, this data is your only copy and you removed the original from your computer then this is what you want to do: First if this data is really important to you, I would suggest that you might want to consider handing this project over to a professional. But if that is not an option and you want to move forward and give it a try yourself, that is fine. It would be helpful to have the exact model number of your drive. NOTE: You may go to all this trouble and expense and find that in the end it was the hard drive that failed and not just the external casing or buttons.
1. Before you go to the trouble of removing the drive from the casing, double check all wiring and plugs to make sure everything is installed correctly. Try plugging the drive into different USB port. If it still does not work, you might even want to try a new power supply (if it uses one). You may be able to get one from your local Radio Shack Store. If you really turn on the charm, you might even get the salesman to try it for you at the store without actually having to purchase one. Depending on where you purchased this drive, you might want to take it back to them and see what they say before moving on.
2. You can purchase just a new drive casing for about $30, but you will first need to know what kind of hard drive is inside of your Western Digital model. It could be using either a PATA (IDE) or SATA type drive interface and it could be either a 2.5(Laptop size) or 3.5(Desktop size) drive. In this case, seeing as you said that this is a 200gig drive, it would most likely be a 3.5 drive, but you will still need to know what kind of interface is required. You may be able to get this information online or even from the original box. If not, you will need to open up the casing and take a look. A few external casings now accept both types of drives like this one from Masscool http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1945393&Sku=S457-1104 but most of them will accept one or the other. If the hard drive has a 40 pin connector, it is and IDE (PATA) drive. If you are confused, you can go to google.com and search for some photos of the drive connections to determine what type you have.
3. Once you have the correct new drive casing, you can simply remove the old drive from the Western Digital case and install it into the new case. Each case comes apart differently so without the actual model numbers, you are on your own here. But you may be able to find some instructions online for your specific models.
4. If the drive is OK, it should work as soon as you plug it in. Now plug in both your New External Drive and your Old drive (in a new case) into your computer and simply copy the contents from one to the other.
5. If all goes well, you will now have 2 working USB hard drives. I would use both of them and rotate using them so you always have 2 full backups.
Good Luck!
Dana
Wayland Computer
Broken Drive
by Robinpow - 1/26/08 4:50 AM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You have a couple choices... If you live close to a city there should be an electronic shop in the yellow pages that can fix your drive. If you can't find anyone to fix it, there are several services that can recover your data, but it won't be cheap.
Over the past 20 years, the world of computers has changed greatly. However the old saying, "There are two kinds of people, one that has lost data and one that will loose data". Back in the ole days of floppy disks it was standard practice to keep TWO back ups.
While the hard drives of today are much more dependable, they can still fail. I still keep at least two backups of almost everything. Important non replaceable like digital photos, legal documents and such I do a third back up to DVD and keep it at a family members home.
HP Desjet D1420
by nelpasa - 1/26/08 5:11 AM In reply to: Help! My external hard drive isn't responding by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Every time I refill my cartridges I get a message telling me that there is a problem with the cartridge. Is there a way to bypass this artificial malfunction, to make me buy another unit?
Wrong Thread
by Launchpad_72 - 1/26/08 5:32 AM In reply to: HP Desjet D1420 by nelpasaUh, I think you have the wrong thread. In answer to your question though, they're specifically designed to PREVENT refills, since the ink is where they make their money. You're better off buying re-manufactured or generic cartridges.
-Launchpad_72
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