Seagate sudden death syndrome..........

Mighty Boosh · Sep 29, 2012, 08:52 PM

Hi all,

I have a fairly old Seagate 500GB IDE drive in an external USB caddy which I have been using without any problem now for some time. The drive has shown no sign of failure whatsoever but today for some reason it just died. The first thing I suspected was the USB caddy's pcb failure so I put another disc in and it works fine so its deffinately not the caddy.

As for the disc, when it first stopped working it wasnt spinning up, however it now seems to spin up just fine. Trouble is Windows (7 Ultimate x64) isnt seeing it in either My Computer or My Computer/Manage/Disk Management or System/Device manager/Disk Drives. Its deffinately connected and deffinately spinning up. I am hearing no strange noises atm although there were a few clicks and whirs earlier.

I am not too bothered about the cost of replacing the drive but I have a folder on it with all of my work invoices etc on it which I cant afford to lose.

I know, back up back up but like so many just never got around to it

I have downloaded a couple of data recovery apps but they are not even seeing the disk so is there anything else I could be doing apart from writing "I must always back up" 1000 times on a few sheets of A4

Thanks in advance!

Frick · Sep 29, 2012, 08:56 PM

Have you tried connecting it straight to the motherboard?

Mighty Boosh · Sep 29, 2012, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frick

Have you tried connecting it straight to the motherboard?

Hi Frick,

I have to be honest I havent simply because I am convinced that the caddy to which it is connected is 100% fine although I had planned to try this tomorrow when I am a little less wound up so to speak.

ALMOSTunseen · Sep 29, 2012, 09:07 PM

Make sure there is no dust in the disk, and make sure you really ram the plug in, some of these old disks can have looser connections.

erocker · Sep 29, 2012, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALMOSTunseen

Make sure there is no dust in the disk

Considering they are sealed, there is no dust in the disk.

ALMOSTunseen · Sep 29, 2012, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erocker

Considering they are sealed, there is no dust in the disk.

Can't you get dust in that little hole that helps keep positive pressure or something in the disk?
And can't the connector get dust on/in them? Or scratches?

Frick · Sep 29, 2012, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALMOSTunseen

Can't you get dust in that little hole that helps keep positive pressure or something in the disk?
And can't the connector get dust on/in them? Or scratches?

the connectors can get damaged but no dust inside the disks. or scratches unless iy physically break down but that would be heard.

i'd connect the drive to the motherboard just to make sure.

cdawall · Sep 29, 2012, 09:35 PM

You can try replacing the PCB on the HDD itself and see if the I/O portion of the seagate PCB died. They are available on ebay.

Sasqui · Sep 29, 2012, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frick

i'd connect the drive to the motherboard just to make sure.

+1 Given the importance of the data, do that first.

Mighty Boosh · Sep 29, 2012, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasqui

+1 Given the importance of the data, do that first.

Thanks everyone for your input s'far

Deffinately going to plug this drive directly into the mainboard in the morning.

If this fails then I will start looking for a donor drive to see if I cant get it working some other way. Looked around for HDD tools for replacing heads, swapping platters etc and nearly fell off my chair at the prices!

ALMOSTunseen · Sep 29, 2012, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Boosh

Thanks everyone for your input s'far

Deffinately going to plug this drive directly into the mainboard in the morning.

If this fails then I will start looking for a donor drive to see if I cant get it working some other way. Looked around for HDD tools for replacing heads, swapping platters etc and nearly fell off my chair at the prices!

If there's a certified PC repair place near you, they may be able to take a look at it, and maybe crack er open to see what the problem is.

cdawall · Sep 29, 2012, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Boosh

Thanks everyone for your input s'far

Deffinately going to plug this drive directly into the mainboard in the morning.

If this fails then I will start looking for a donor drive to see if I cant get it working some other way. Looked around for HDD tools for replacing heads, swapping platters etc and nearly fell off my chair at the prices!

I would replace the PCB or do the freezer trick way before I tried swapping heads and platters.

Mighty Boosh · Sep 29, 2012, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdawall

I would replace the PCB or do the freezer trick way before I tried swapping heads and platters.

Forgot to mention this, I have tried the freezer trick for varying degrees of time from a few minutes to around 45 mins but without any success.

Mighty Boosh · Sep 29, 2012, 09:56 PM

Just a thought and this may or not be of any importance.

This problem occured while iI was out this afternoon. When I got home, the PC had shut itself down by itself. It was only when I booted up the computer that this problem became apparent.

ShiBDiB · Sep 29, 2012, 09:59 PM

Did your power go out? Could have shorted the (I dunno hard drive lingo) connector thingy and left your actual data and mechanical working of the hd unscathed

Frick · Sep 29, 2012, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Boosh

If this fails then I will start looking for a donor drive to see if I cant get it working some other way. Looked around for HDD tools for replacing heads, swapping platters etc and nearly fell off my chair at the prices!

That is not something you do on your own. You need a clean room for that afaik.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ALMOSTunseen

If there's a certified PC repair place near you, they may be able to take a look at it, and maybe crack er open to see what the problem is.

Nononononono and no. No. There are companies that specilize in these things, and they are not your local computer shop. Here an analyze usually is close to $200, an actual restoration (if it's a fairly simple problem) $1000 and upwards.

Mighty Boosh · Sep 29, 2012, 10:18 PM

Keep thinking of other bits of usefull info. If I boot the PC up with the faulty external drive connected the boot process hangs, unplug the drive and the boot up process continues. Any relevance?

Frick · Sep 29, 2012, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Boosh

Keep thinking of other bits of usefull info. If I boot the PC up with the faulty external drive connected the boot process hangs, unplug the drive and the boot up process continues. Any relevance?

You have the jumpers set properly? If yes, it's even more dead and it's time for shopping around for PCB's.

Mighty Boosh · Sep 29, 2012, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frick

You have the jumpers set properly? If yes, it's even more dead and it's time for shopping around for PCB's.

Its an external drive with no jumpers. Its been this way since I first bought it and this has had no effect on its performance so I doubt it would all of a sudden become a problem

Frick · Sep 29, 2012, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Boosh

Its an external drive with no jumpers. Its been this way since I first bought it and this has had no effect on its performance so I doubt it would all of a sudden become a problem

Ohh ooooh I thought you had it connected to the motherboard. Sorry, my bad.

Mighty Boosh · Sep 29, 2012, 10:30 PM

Out of frustration I took the lid off of it and I reckon its kaputt! There is a circular score mark in the middle of the top platter where the head appears to have been rubbing on the same spot for some time. I guess my data is lost

brandonwh64 · Sep 29, 2012, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Boosh

Out of frustration I took the lid off of it and I reckon its kaputt! There is a circular score mark in the middle of the top platter where the head appears to have been rubbing on the same spot for some time. I guess my data is lost

Once the top comes off then its dead.

eidairaman1 · Sep 29, 2012, 11:42 PM

Lesson to Learn, Always back up to a Optical or Tape Or USB Media and Put it away.

Frick · Sep 30, 2012, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mighty Boosh

Out of frustration I took the lid off

You mean the actual HDD? No no no then you certinaly is screwed. Didn't you read what I said before?

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandonwh64

Once the top comes off then its dead.

Ayep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eidairaman1

Lesson to Learn, Always back up to a Optical or Tape Or USB Media and Put it away.

Or online.

eidairaman1 · Sep 30, 2012, 08:43 AM

I still dont trust the cloud for anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frick

You mean the actual HDD? No no no then you certinaly is screwed. Didn't you read what I said before?

Ayep.

Or online.

Sep 29, 2012, 08:52 PM	#1
Mighty Boosh Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 43 (0.06/day) Thanks: 43 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts System Specs	Seagate sudden death syndrome.......... Hi all, I have a fairly old Seagate 500GB IDE drive in an external USB caddy which I have been using without any problem now for some time. The drive has shown no sign of failure whatsoever but today for some reason it just died. The first thing I suspected was the USB caddy's pcb failure so I put another disc in and it works fine so its deffinately not the caddy. As for the disc, when it first stopped working it wasnt spinning up, however it now seems to spin up just fine. Trouble is Windows (7 Ultimate x64) isnt seeing it in either My Computer or My Computer/Manage/Disk Management or System/Device manager/Disk Drives. Its deffinately connected and deffinately spinning up. I am hearing no strange noises atm although there were a few clicks and whirs earlier. I am not too bothered about the cost of replacing the drive but I have a folder on it with all of my work invoices etc on it which I cant afford to lose. I know, back up back up but like so many just never got around to it I have downloaded a couple of data recovery apps but they are not even seeing the disk so is there anything else I could be doing apart from writing "I must always back up" 1000 times on a few sheets of A4 Thanks in advance!

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Sep 29, 2012, 08:56 PM	#2
Frick Fishfaced Nincompoop Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Sweden Posts: 7,903 (2.99/day) Thanks: 1,076 Thanked 1,449 Times in 1,155 Posts System Specs	Have you tried connecting it straight to the motherboard? __________________ Typemachine: Acer Aspire One D250 \| Atom N280 1.6 Ghz \| 1GB DDR2 \| 160GB SATA \| 10.1' 1024 x 600 \| Lubuntu 12.10 Oldbox: HP D530 \| Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz \| 1GB DDR \| 40GB \| Windows XP "The 'gentle biker' look is overdone. I'm going for 'psycho hillbilly.' "

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Sep 29, 2012, 09:07 PM	#4
ALMOSTunseen Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Sydney,Australia Posts: 674 (2.60/day) Thanks: 246 Thanked 275 Times in 190 Posts System Specs	Make sure there is no dust in the disk, and make sure you really ram the plug in, some of these old disks can have looser connections.

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Sep 29, 2012, 09:35 PM	#8
cdawall where the hell are my stars Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: some AF base Posts: 16,027 (6.42/day) Thanks: 457 Thanked 2,755 Times in 2,224 Posts System Specs	You can try replacing the PCB on the HDD itself and see if the I/O portion of the seagate PCB died. They are available on ebay. __________________

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Sep 29, 2012, 09:56 PM	#14
Mighty Boosh Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 43 (0.06/day) Thanks: 43 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts System Specs	Just a thought and this may or not be of any importance. This problem occured while iI was out this afternoon. When I got home, the PC had shut itself down by itself. It was only when I booted up the computer that this problem became apparent.

Sep 29, 2012, 09:59 PM	#15
ShiBDiB Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Clifton Park, NY Posts: 3,131 (1.77/day) Thanks: 98 Thanked 612 Times in 459 Posts System Specs	Did your power go out? Could have shorted the (I dunno hard drive lingo) connector thingy and left your actual data and mechanical working of the hd unscathed __________________ My Heatware

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Sep 29, 2012, 10:18 PM	#17
Mighty Boosh Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 43 (0.06/day) Thanks: 43 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts System Specs	Keep thinking of other bits of usefull info. If I boot the PC up with the faulty external drive connected the boot process hangs, unplug the drive and the boot up process continues. Any relevance?

Sep 29, 2012, 10:30 PM	#21
Mighty Boosh Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 43 (0.06/day) Thanks: 43 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts System Specs	Out of frustration I took the lid off of it and I reckon its kaputt! There is a circular score mark in the middle of the top platter where the head appears to have been rubbing on the same spot for some time. I guess my data is lost

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Sep 29, 2012, 11:42 PM	#23
eidairaman1 Eligible for custom title Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: HTX Posts: 10,080 (4.68/day) Thanks: 1,359 Thanked 1,159 Times in 1,035 Posts System Specs	Lesson to Learn, Always back up to a Optical or Tape Or USB Media and Put it away. __________________ Athlon XP USERS with COD 4 FIX http://www.techsupportforum.com/foru...ls-202011.html http://www.howorks.com/2011/02/24/ho...-memory-limit/ “Sometimes my level of fail is unprecedented.” -TheMailMan78 “This is what the force of a thousand suns looks like.” -3870x2

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