Bricked external HDD

MustSeeMelons · Sep 4, 2014

I'm not sure if it's even bricked, but the thing is my PC doesn't recognize it. When plugged in the HDD's LED keep blinking like it's being read, but nothing happens. When trying to go to disk management - it just hangs there until I unplug the HDD. I had a similar issue with the drive - when plugged in windows said it had to be formatted to be usable, did that and the drive worked for a while. Now i get this option just when I have unplugged the drive :|
The drive is Hitachi I think - Touro. What tool could I try to bring it back to life?

Jetster · Sep 4, 2014

If its going south you can't. You could try spinrite but likely its not going to fix it. You tried it in another PC right? . Or take it apart and use it internally might be possible

RCoon · Sep 4, 2014

MustSeeMelons said:
I'm not sure if it's even bricked, but the thing is my PC doesn't recognize it. When plugged in the HDD's LED keep blinking like it's being read, but nothing happens. When trying to go to disk management - it just hangs there until I unplug the HDD. I had a similar issue with the drive - when plugged in windows said it had to be formatted to be usable, did that and the drive worked for a while. Now i get this option just when I have unplugged the drive :|
The drive is Hitachi I think - Touro. What tool could I try to bring it back to life?

If it's inside plastic, tear it out and plug it in using proper SATA cables, and boot with a LIVE boot CD like Parted Magic. You can then browse the file contents from there, possibly recover documents, or even reformat if that's what it needs. If you can't do that even, stick it in the freezer overnight and try again.

MustSeeMelons · Sep 5, 2014

Connected it with SATA cables - nothing. Tried Parted Magic - again nothing, seems I'll have to throw it away. Wont be putting it in the freezer though, wont be putting my data in such an unreliable device, damn you Hitachi.

RCoon · Sep 5, 2014

MustSeeMelons said:
Connected it with SATA cables - nothing. Tried Parted Magic - again nothing, seems I'll have to throw it away. Wont be putting it in the freezer though, wont be putting my data in such an unreliable device, damn you Hitachi.

I don't trust external HDD's of any kind. One wrong drop = Death. Flash devices are a little more trustworthy. I recommend synced backup software like synctoy if you intend to back up data onto an external drive. Hands-off synchronising. Never leave the only copy on a droppable drive!

MustSeeMelons · Sep 5, 2014

I had those files on the external drive, on my PC and in the cloud, so nothing is lost^^ Mostly just used it to move files between computers.

System Name	Pukeko
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max
Cooling	Hyper 212 Black Edition
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 3000MHz DDR4 CL15
Video Card(s)	Asus RX 5600 XT TUF Gaming X3 OC
Storage	XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB, Crucial MX500 1TB
Display(s)	2x ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q
Case	NZXT, H510i, Matte Black/Red, Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	TUF Gaming H3
Power Supply	Seasonic PRIME Ultra 550W Gold
Mouse	Touchpad + Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Cooler Master, CK 350, Outemu Red
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	7,42,69 and 666

System Name	Juliette // HTPC
Processor	Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard	ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory	Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
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Power Supply	Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
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System Name	HP Omen 17
Processor	i7 7700HQ
Memory	16GB 2400Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s)	GTX 1060
Storage	Samsung SM961 256GB + HGST 1TB
Display(s)	1080p IPS G-SYNC 75Hz
Audio Device(s)	Bang & Olufsen
Power Supply	230W
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD+
Software	Win 10 Pro

System Name	Pukeko
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max
Cooling	Hyper 212 Black Edition
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB 3000MHz DDR4 CL15
Video Card(s)	Asus RX 5600 XT TUF Gaming X3 OC
Storage	XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB, Crucial MX500 1TB
Display(s)	2x ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q
Case	NZXT, H510i, Matte Black/Red, Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	TUF Gaming H3
Power Supply	Seasonic PRIME Ultra 550W Gold
Mouse	Touchpad + Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Cooler Master, CK 350, Outemu Red
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	7,42,69 and 666

System Name	HP Omen 17
Processor	i7 7700HQ
Memory	16GB 2400Mhz DDR4
Video Card(s)	GTX 1060
Storage	Samsung SM961 256GB + HGST 1TB
Display(s)	1080p IPS G-SYNC 75Hz
Audio Device(s)	Bang & Olufsen
Power Supply	230W
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD+
Software	Win 10 Pro

Bricked external HDD

MustSeeMelons

Jetster

RCoon

MustSeeMelons

RCoon

MustSeeMelons