External Drive not appearing

LordRendar

LordRendar

I have a 1Tb external drive (the prdoucer is CnMemory) I use for storing pictures and movies. Worked like a charm,didnt make no sound but after booting up my pc today the external drive is gone and the disk is making a slightly audible highpitched continious beep.

I tried changing USB ports,turning the Drive on and off,but nothing happens.
I also dont hear the sound one gets when one inserts something into an USB port.

Any advice?
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
LordRendar said:
I have a 1Tb external drive (the prdoucer is CnMemory) I use for storing pictures and movies. Worked like a charm,didnt make no sound but after booting up my pc today the external drive is gone and the disk is making a slightly audible highpitched continious beep.

I tried changing USB ports,turning the Drive on and off,but nothing happens.
I also dont hear the sound one gets when one inserts something into an USB port.

Any advice?
Click to expand...
Try a different USB cable.

If that doesn't work,

Try plugging it into a different computer. If it works there, your computer's USB controller's on the fritz.

If it still doesn't work, the drive is probably dead.

You might can try more if you're feeling brave, cracking open the case and removing the drive from the USB interface (a lot of these are actually SATA drives plugged into a USB hosting adapter) and see if you can hook it directly to your computer.

If that doesn't work, you're probably looking at ~$500 data recovery.

I feel your pain about lost photos and movies. In the future, I suggest you stick to mainstream brands. If you absolutely want the best, go Hitachi.
 
ncts_dodge_man

ncts_dodge_man

Having almost gotten burned on a dead drive before, I'll just add this - if it's extremely important to not lose, don't just leave it with no or only one backup - have multiple backups.

I've gotten to the point that I have 4 different copies of my very important photos (ex: my son from when he was born through today now that he's 6 and has pictures of him with my grandpa who passed away a few years ago) - a copy sits on my networked external HD, a copy on my box.com account (I was lucky and got free 50GB storage with them back when they offered it a few years ago), and two copies reside on my PC (one in pictures and one in my box sync folder).

I set up replication between my PC, the external HD and the Box sync folder, and then use the Box sync program to copy them out to box.

I would echo Gas's comments to try it in multiple PCs/cables/etc though - you might luck out that it could be something simple.
 
LordRendar

LordRendar

Ok. The most important pictures are on facebook anyway, but a lot of my vacation pics are gone.
Tried various USB ports, which function with other USB devices,just not with that one.
Will buy a new USB cable tomorrow and try that.

Thanks for the advice.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

There is a very slim chance that it may just have gotten weak and need more USB power than usual now in order to function.
If so, a double-headed cable will give it extra juice.
y_cable_6._extra-power--male-mini-usb-to-2-male-usb.jpg


Otherwise, it's time to disassemble the unit and hope the drive is OK and it's only the interface that went bad.

--Patrick
 
LordRendar

LordRendar

Dissasembled drive, stuck it into my pc,works again.
Copied most important things onto a new external drive and many of my favorite pics are on photobucket now.
thanks guys.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Now remember to make that second copy somewhere else, so you're not reopening this thread again next year.

--Patrick
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

FYI mechanical hard drives/flash drives are only expected to retain their information for about 5-10 years.
Optical media (CD/DVD) is expected to retain data for 25-50 years.
MO (Magneto-Optical) drives can last longer, but they are vulnerable to physical impact jangling the data, and most of the manufacturers have ceased production.
Physical printouts can last for hundreds of years, but the data density is very low.

So remember to copy your stuff to new media once in a while, just to keep it fresh.

--Patrick
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Heh, I have a magnetic hard drive which has survived more-or-less continual operation since the 90s. I just so happened to browse through it the other week.

It's crazy what I was willing to put up with quality-wise in porn, back then.
 
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