What is the meaning of my portable hard drive beeping all of a sudden, and then I get an error box which says something like "the file H:/yaddayadda failed to write. Data has been lost." This has never happened before, but it has happened 3x in the past 3 days. Each time I have to unplug the HD. As a matter of fact, I just plugged it back in while I was typing this, and a different error box popped up saying something like "USB device not recognized by Windows." Everything froze until I unplugged it again. And my mouse stopped working. What does the mouse have to do with the HD?
It is a Maxtor 80G HD and I bought it in June or July of 2006. I use Windows XP SP2 with all or most of the updates. I don't know the exact specs of the system and can't find them out because as I mentioned, my mouse has stopped responding.
Back up anyway (not to that drive obviously). I initially thaught maybe the drive was just dying (3 year old drive, its possible) and the beeping was a SMART alert. But that doesnt explain the mouse going crazy.
Is it a USB mouse then? Or PS/2?
Back up anyway (not to that drive obviously). I initially thaught maybe the drive was just dying (3 year old drive, its possible) and the beeping was a SMART alert. But that doesnt explain the mouse going crazy.
Is it a USB mouse then? Or PS/2?
Yes, it's a USB mouse. I think the drive might be dead. It was the drive where I put all my most important documents, thinking they would be safer there. I even backed up stuff from the main hard drive there. If the drive is dead, I will lose priceless information and will have lost years of work. I don't even know if I can restart some of these things in my life.
i think its a small sector failure, try to back up its very important
i think its a small sector failure, try to back up its very important
How can I back it up now? It doesn't respond. It doesn't show up in 'My Computer'. I get an error message every time I plug it in. I called a data recovery company and the guy said to stop plugging it in because there is a chance they can salvage my data but if I keep plugging it in it will make it worse.
Ok, I'm tired of having my life and work disrupted in this way. This happens every 2-4 years and I won't let it happen again. I want to set up an automatic RAID mirror.
I just read this thread http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread63850.html
and I want to know if I absolutely have to use 2 drives or 4 drives. That's because my plan is:
1. Buy a new internal HD.
2. Buy a RAID card and install it on the motherboard. I have an ASUS A78VX-x motherboard and it doesn't appear to have RAID capability so I need to buy an adaptor.
3. Go get my data recovered from the portable HD. The data recovery company will put the recovered data onto a new portable HD.
ty internal HD and install it in the PC.
4. Set up the RAID so that the new portable HD and the old internal HD both write to the brand new internal HD for backup/mirroring.
So that's why I want to know if I can use 3 hard drives - mirroring 2 of them onto one. Or maybe I need 4 drives, but I've never worked with RAID so I really don't know.
If my data is not recoverable as in step 3, then I would only need 2 drives - the internal one I am using now and a brand new one to mirror it onto. But if it is recoverable, how can I mirror it as well as the internal hard drive? That's what I'm trying to ask.
It's very possible this is just a failure of the electronics in the case.
Remove the drive and attach it with a USB adapter and see if you can access it:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2583340&CatId=3770
RAID just gives you more Hard Drives that can fail also.
Get an online backup service and backup to CD/DVD regularly.
http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles.php?id=29
It's very possible this is just a failure of the electronics in the case.
Remove the drive and attach it with a USB adapter and see if you can access it:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2583340&CatId=3770
RAID just gives you more Hard Drives that can fail also.
Get an online backup service and backup to CD/DVD regularly.
http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles.php?id=29
It is already a USB drive. It's external. It uses a USB cord to attach to the USB port. Are you saying I should attach it directly to the motherboard with an internal HD cable?
I used to back up to CD but half the CDs wouldn't work when I tried to use them. It was like gambling. And I have stacks of dusty CDs that may never work. The CDs have/had mixed up directories because I had to mix and match to fit them onto the CDs.
I'm saying remove the drive from the case-it's very often the case that's at fault, not the drive.
CD burning is pretty easy, and pretty bullet-proof, so you need to look at your method or your hardware for the problem.
I'm saying remove the drive from the case-it's very often the case that's at fault, not the drive.
CD burning is pretty easy, and pretty bullet-proof, so you need to look at your method or your hardware for the problem.
Ok, so you mean remove the outer case and try reconnecting the HD when it's 'naked'.
What is the best way to remove the case? It looks a lot like this one: http://www.fahad.com/pics/maxtor_one_touch_III_mini_edition.jpg
I have it in the freezer right now because freezing was highly recommended.
..and if I remove it from the case, I would no longer be able to use the USB cable, which is where this adaptor you posted a link to comes in. Is that correct?
I have it in the freezer right now because freezing was highly recommended.
freezing only works if its overheating ,and all it will do if anything is allow you some time to back it up before it gets hot again
You don't need the freezer yet, and you may damage it that way. The freezer method works only rarely, and you should avoid the person who suggested this.
I'll bet there are screws under those black strips on the top and bottom, which will likely slide right off. Inside there will probably be two connectors, one for power, one for data.
You can either try another case, or get the adapter I suggested. which is a very handy item if you tinker with PCs.
HughV, I should have tried your suggestion first. But I thought I could try them both. What do I know.
Either the freezer damaged it more, or I just plugged it in too many times. It wasn't just beeping anymore when I took it out, it was clicking. That's when I realized I don't know what I'm doing and trying your adaptor suggestion might or might not work and might or might not cause even more damage. So I gave up.
This data recovery place wants $875 + tax to recover my data. The guy says it has
- unstable head disk assembly
- media errors detected
- severe logical corruption.
I'm sure this adaptor might work if you know what you're doing and under the right circumstances. But I think anything I personally do at this point will erase the data forever.
So I'm done.
You don't need the freezer yet, and you may damage it that way. The freezer method works only rarely, and you should avoid the person who suggested this.
I'll bet there are screws under those black strips on the top and bottom, which will likely slide right off. Inside there will probably be two connectors, one for power, one for data.
You can either try another case, or get the adapter I suggested. which is a very handy item if you tinker with PCs.
When it starts clicking, it's basically toast.
The lesson here is the same one we've all learned the hard way-backup, backup, backup.
Good luck.
for your backups i wold suggest a dvd burner and some quality dvd disks ,I have never had a hdd die on me like yours ,but have removed many from other peoples computers that started clicking !and they have never worked when hooked to my usb to IDE adapter ..My latest hdd is a Seagate 7200rpm-160gig and its likely [judging by the way its working ]going to die if i keep it any length of time .
I would if i were you buy a good SCSI harddrive ,for reliability and quick transfer of files
i have a Dell workstation computer with 2 x SCSI harddrives 1=15,000 rpm,36gig and 1x 10,000rpm 36gig , these drive will last for ever ,almost!lol
We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.