BleepingComputer.com: Dead External HD questions

Good morning everyone.

Uncle Timmy brought over his seemingly dead Seagate FreeAgent Go (320 GB).

Initially he told me that he thought it might be infected because he recently had lent it to a friend to copy some photos over to it but once he got it back it doesn't seem to power up.

I don't have any experience with Externals so I plugged it into two of my computers (a Vista machine as well as the old trusty XP) just to see what I could see.

Once it's plugged in I get the usual 'looking for device driver' and then a message that some Initio default controller has been installed - yea! - and then when I go to look for the drive...waa waa it's not there


Same process occurred on both machines, and once that part is completed the lights on the drive flash rapidly.


The drive is about two years old (what is the MTBF on these things anyway?) and, of course, houses 'years and years of valued photos'.

I did some searching around, here and at the Seagate Forums....but I'm not sure how to move forward on everything I've read.



So, I guess the basic rub here is, as I begin the attempt to recover the photos/files on the drive, where do I start, what should I be looking for, what are things I should avoid, etc.

I do have a USB to IDE / SATA Drive adapter somewhere around here (if needed).

Any insight / direction / comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone,

Winterland

The drive may be the problem...the enclosure may be the problem.

I would remove the drive from the enclosure...and attach it directly to the motherboard...and then boot/check Disk Management to see if it is detected.

Louis

Thank you, for the info and quick response.


I'll start there and see what happens.


Onward,

Winterland

Oh my, getting that case open was way more difficult that I imagined.


I've got the hard drive in hand, pulled from the enclosure as well as the light metal cage surrounding it but I'm not sure where to hook up my adapter.


I also looked for some photos online but couldn't see anything obvious.


Next step?

Thanks,

Winterland

OK, I'm lost.

I've been reading a million posts over at the Seagate Forums (boy, after awhile you'd think every Seagate FreeAgent Go ever sold has up & died) and also searching for photos/how-to's on how to get my SATA cable tied into this drive...

Idea, photos, sites?


Thanks,

Winterland

You can use Google...to see such things.

What is your system manufacturer and model...or the motherboard manufacturer and model? That's what is needed...before worrying about connecting anything.

http://www.directron.com/patasata.html , Figures 1 and 2 show SATA connectors and cables, as they differentiate from PATA cables/connectors.

Louis

Louis, thanks for the assistance and the link.


I think what I'm not stating clearly enough (esp. when I reread my last post) is I can't see anywhere to physically attach the IDE/Sata adapter to the External Hard Drive (the Seagate FreeAgent Go) that I just pulled out of it's case.

Just to try and give as much info as possible, I'm using a Cables To Go USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA drive adapter.



I know how & where to tie it into my desktop but the External Hard Drive (which is a Momentus 5400) only has a circuit board on the front of it, where the mini USB port is.

Does that make sense?


I'd be glad to try & upload a photo(s) if you think it would help.


That's what I was attempting to Google earlier. I found any number of photos of the drive itself and a couple of how-to's on YouTube (about recovering data from a dead drive) that were helpful but alas, without that first step - attaching the adapter to the External HD itself - I'm stuck and I feel like I'm missing something really obvious but, for the life of me, cannot figure it out.


Again, I really do appreciate the help.

Winterland

Momentus 5400 is a Seagate hard drive.

Please post a photo of the drive, as an attachment to your next reply.

Louis

If the drive has 2 rows of about 20ish pins sticking out then it is an IDE drive, if not it is a SATA drive. You stated that you had a USB to IDE/SATA connector, I would just use that instead of connecting it to your motherboard, so boot into your windows, then attach your connecter to your computer, plug in the power (make sure to not put the power connector in backwards or you will fry both the drive and the connector) then plug in your hard drive. Give it about 30 seconds and it should come up with an autoplay window, if not check your My Computer. If that doesn't work go to your device manager and scan for new hardware changes.

Click Start
Right click on my computer
click propertys
Either go to Device Manager or the hardware tab and click Device Manager.
Click on any of the devices listed
There will be a button on the top that says scan for new hardware changes
after that scans recheck your my computer, if its not their the drive is probably toast.

One last step after that is to put it into your computer, so power down and remove the cables from the hard drive you are using, then connect the cables to the one you are testing, then boot into and run HDD Regenerator by Dmitir Primochenko.

If that scan doesn't go threw its most likely toast. If you want to continue working with it you could boot into a live CD and try to mount it, but other than that you have pretty much ran out of options, other than sending it in to get a 1000-5000 dollar data retrieval.

@Chase: thanks for the help and the reminders of what to look out for, although as you might can tell, I'm having trouble getting out of the gate. I hope to be able to use all that information soon, I'll let you know.


Louis - thanks for taking the time. I know you requested attached photos, and I've attached items before (logs when I was having malware issues) but I'm not seeing the Browse or Clear Section buttons or even the Attachments Menu, is that allowed in these Forums?

I'll wait for your reply and while I'm waiting, try to get the Photobucket thing going - which I haven't done yet but should be able to figure out tonight.

Winterland

First attempt

http://s1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg562/Winterland1965/?action=view&current=TopView.jpg

Round Two:

http://s1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg562/Winterland1965/?action=view&current=SideView.jpg

http://s1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg562/Winterland1965/?action=view&current=FrontView.jpg

http://s1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg562/Winterland1965/?action=view&current=Bottom.jpg

http://s1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg562/Winterland1965/?action=view&current=BackView.jpg


Winterland

Winterland, on 16 January 2012 - 07:46 AM, said:

The circuit board "where the mini USB port is" is an adapter which is plugged into the port(s) of the hard drive. You will need to remove that adapter (unplug it). It may be quite a snug (tight) fit. Don't move it UP/DOWN ... instead "wiggle" it side to side in an effort to loosen it and pull it out/off. As a last resort a small blade screwdriver can be used to gently pry the adapter away and out from the hard drive. When you have removed the adapter, you will see the hard drive ports (power and data).

Well done, thanks .

The bottom end of that drive...doesn't resemble anything I've ever seen first-hand.

That piece jutting out...is it connected to the main body of the drive in a removeable manner...or is it all one piece?

You might take a look at .

Louis

AustrAlien - Thank You! I thought I was going crazy.

I don't mind being a noob, but I was starting to feel uber-noobish and was not fond of the feeling.

And thank you for the advice on how to go about removing that circuit board.


Louis, you've been so patient with me, thank you as well.

As for the piece jutting out, I'm assuming you mean the circuit board where the mini-USB port is that the AustrAlien referred to.

As for it being removable...well, I guess that what I'm going to find out.

Thanks for the YouTube clip as well. That's the same one I started with (and was extremely helpful in helping me figure out how to get open that case!) but at no time did he mention removing the circuit board so that's when I starting thinking, 'hmmm, what am I missing?'.


Okay, well, the next step is trying to get that board off and tying this HD in and pulling off the files / photos.

I'll give you updates as I get them.

Allow me to >bow< as I exit the room.

Winterland