BleepingComputer.com: Buffalo Drivestation 1TB External Drive TurboUSB Not Recognised

Any help anyone can offer would be truly appreciated.

Up until yesterday, my external HDD was working perfectly. However, now it is not being recognised by any computer I attach it to. Its light is on. Yet it does not show up in computer on Vista. And it does not show up in device manager either -- instead, I have a code 10 USB Mass Storage error.

I have trid to update drivers, yet windows tells me that drivers are up to date. I tried connecting to a computer which I haven't connected to before. The installing device driver software resulted in me receiving a USB SATA Bridge Device Driver Software was not successfully installed" message.

The device is a Buffalo Drivestation 1TB External Drive TurboUSB. It is about 3 years old. Is it completely dead?

This post has been edited by jj72: 10 February 2012 - 12:19 PM

Hello> i would try reinstalling your usb drives fist....updating them just looks for a new version, while all you may need is a fresh and clean copy of the drivers. I know personally Buffalo drives are hard to kill (like buffalo's), your chipset drivers might also need refreshing as well.

Buffalo may be a good brand but the EHDs are only as good as the hard drive inside.
Buffalo like any EHD not from a hard drive maker outs other brand drives, such as Western Digital, Seagate, etc. in their enclosures.

If it were mine I'd be thinking about opening it and pulling the drive to attach direct to the computer so I could run the drive makers diagnostics on it.

This post has been edited by rotor123: 10 February 2012 - 12:48 PM

Thanks very much for the reply Crashoverride420.

It did seem very strange that it stopped working all of a sudden. The device itself isn't making any noises and the light is on, so I imagine it would make sense that it is more a driver issue. I hope it is. However, would this really be the case if I get the same error on separate computers?

Please could you let me know how I should go about to reinstalling my USB drives and refreshing my chipset drivers?

Thanks for the reply rotor123.

How easy would removing the drive be. Am I right in thinking that I wouldn't be able to attach it to a laptop -- only a desktop? Also, how would I go about running the drive makers diagnostics?

I would not expect it to be drivers as the problem persists on multiple computers.

1. It could be a bad drive
2. It could be a bad cable
3. It could be the connection from the cable where it plugs into the EHD. EHD = External Hard Drive
4. It could be that the USB interface inside the case has gone bad.

search in Google for "Buffalo Drivestation 1TB Open" or "Buffalo Drivestation 1TB disassembly"

Yeah you'd need a desktop.

Once you know the brand of drive you go to their website and download their diagnostics.

Have you put your ear on the drive and then powered it up to see if you can hear it spin up? I have some EHDs and can hear them spin up that way.

Cheers
Roger

This post has been edited by rotor123: 10 February 2012 - 01:03 PM

That makes sense. Am I right in thinking that if it is the drive that is bad and corrupt, then there is no hope.

If it is a cable, connection, or USB interface problem, are my files still salvageable? If I take the drive itself out of the case, how would I go about connecting it to a laptop (I don't own a desktop PC).

Yes. The drive does seem to spin - as it normally did - when powering up. Its green light is on as normal and it is not making any unusual sounds. It is just not being recognised at all.

Quote

To use it with a laptop once you know the interface then you would get another External drive case and put your drive into it.

If the drive is bad then getting data back could get expensive. Note I said If & Could not is and will.

If the drive is good then easy to get stuff off of it, likley only a new case needed then.

First check the easy stuff, new cable then move on to opening it.

Cautions:
Avoid static electricity which can damage the drive or electronics.
Avoid impacts such as dropping the drive or knocking it over or off a table.
Always handle a bare drive gently. If putting it down gently, do not bang down or drop.

Thanks again.

I am now a little unsure as to whether or not the drive is spinning inside. When I plug it in, sometimes I think I can hear something, other times I think I hear nothing.

I will try a new USB cable, and then move on to opening the case. I am mostly interested in the data that is on the drive - I am fine replacing it with a new one as long as I get the data off this one.

The strangest thing has just happened. I unplugged the EHD last night (it had been plugged in since I had it). This afternoon, I decided to plug it back in just to ensure it was spinning when I powered it up. Not only was it spinning, but my computer has registered it and it is working just fine. Could this have simply been an issue of overheating/being on too long? Or is there a fair chance that the drive will malfunction again in the near future. Either way I am going to try and get another EHD to back up my stuff to asap.

I wouldn't trust it.

It is possible that it overheated, no way to tell. It is also possible that there is a electrical connection issue and moving things has made a temp connection.

FWIW My EHDs are on a separate power strip that plugs into the UPS and I use the power strips power switch to remove power after stopping them when I don't need them as powered up they are wearing. Same thing I do with the computer when I am done with it for the day. I shut it down and flick the switch on its power strip too. ATX power supplies are always on to a certain extent or the power switch through the motherboard would have no effect.

The first thing I would do is if you have the room copy the files you would hate to loose to the computer until you can copy the EHD to another one. Then if you want to use the current EHD, use it only for temp storage of things that if they go, no loss.

Good luck
Roger

I've managed to back everything up on the drive to a new 2TB EHD. It took a while (about 11 hours via TeraCopy), but it is a relief to have the files safely backed up.

I will follow your advice as regards to the unreliable EHD. I won't be saving anything new to that one. Thanks for your help.

Good to hear that You got everything off of the old EHD and copied to a new one.

I would put the old EHD on the shelf as a backup just in case. I had suggested to someone that She hold her failing hard drive that I had replaced for here and consider it a as of that date backup. It was failing but I was able to clone it to a new drive and the new drive magically would boot where her old one wouldn't.

Two weeks later her laptop was stolen from the car. I was able to copy her files off the old drive to a External drive so at least she had that.

Cheers
Roger