External Hd Question (Page 2): It does work, but not always as you say. I, also, have a Linux box that has HDD recovery tools installed. Generally, if the drive is half alive I can get...

alandg46 Loc: Boerne, Texas

Dngallagher wrote:

I heard that more than a fe years back and tried it at least once that allowed me to get a drive working long enough to recover data where I was working.

Can be a handy trick, but don't count on it ;)

It does work, but not always as you say. I, also, have a Linux box that has HDD recovery tools installed. Generally, if the drive is half alive I can get a good portion or all of the data back.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

alandg46 wrote:

It does work, but not always as you say. I, also, have a Linux box that has HDD recovery tools installed. Generally, if the drive is half alive I can get a good portion or all of the data back.

Yes indeed, have used Linux many many times to recover data from unusable windows drives.

Billbobboy42 Loc: Center of Delmarva

jerryc41 wrote:

The only hard drive I've had fail - since 1980 - was a WD external that fell on the floor while it was backing up.

WD is a good brand, but they have various models. Black is very good, and that's what I've been buying. Then I learned about "Enterprise" drives. This is a class of drive certified to run 24/7, and the price isn't much higher than Black.

Jerry, the WD Mybook is an external hard drive enclosed in a case. Not sure if those fall into the "color" category. WD internal drives come in a variety of color codes, such as green, blue, black, yellow, and red. I think the blacks and reds are the higher end ones. I have two reds I use in a desktop dock. Much cheaper in the long run that buying multiple stand alone external drives.

BatManPete Loc: Way Up North!

Wallmart must have gotten a "bargain batch" of West.Digital drives a year ago. After three trips to the store.... for the low price "deal"... I gave up on them. Switched brands... Voila...

Different mfg./model worked great...

"O Happy Days"

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Billbobboy42 wrote:

Jerry, the WD Mybook is an external hard drive enclosed in a case. Not sure if those fall into the "color" category. WD internal drives come in a variety of color codes, such as green, blue, black, yellow, and red. I think the blacks and reds are the higher end ones. I have two reds I use in a desktop dock. Much cheaper in the long run that buying multiple stand alone external drives.

Right you are.

I would guess that the majority of the "MY BOOK" type drives are bargain basement class - they are cheap, marketed to the user that can deal with plug and pray - they may last a long time and be reliable, but not enterprise class by any means.

The Black, Red, Blue and Green drives are the internal SATA drives that you would find inside a computer, they work equally as well outside the computer as long as they have a proper enclosure or connection. I have a pair of internal SATA drives in Voyager Q docks (look like toasters) that connect via my Firewire port on my Mac.

Each color represents a different class of drive, with different performance and reliability.

http://www.newegg.com/All-Desktop-Hard-Drives/BrandSubCat/ID-1306-14

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

BatManPete wrote:

Wallmart must have gotten a "bargain batch" of West.Digital drives a year ago. After three trips to the store.... for the low price "deal"... I gave up on them. Switched brands... Voila...

Different mfg./model worked great...

"O Happy Days"

I am pretty sure you said it all - "Bargain batch" & "low price deal".... you often get what you pay for.

stbg1951 Loc: Lewes, DE

For years I went through drives every 2-3 years on my desktop (internal and external). Never on my laptop. An electrician wiring our computer center at work overheard me complaining one day and suggested checking my voltage at my house. Low voltage will cause this on desktop but laptop runs on battery. . Guess what, my home voltage was 113 not up around 120. Called power company now running around 19-120. Now I have drives that haven't failed in over 8 years that run 7x24. I also added a backup UPS that runs my desktop on battery and only uses street power to charge the battery.

SSam Loc: Sierra Vista, AZ

Billbobboy42 wrote:

Sam, you are a genius.

I just shared your statement with my wife. She laughed. Now what does that mean?

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

stbg1951 wrote:

For years I went through drives every 2-3 years on... (show quote)

I would think with power issues, a computer POWER supply would be the item that fails, the power supply provides the 5 volts and 12 volts DC to the drive. The motherboard and drives are powered by the power supply, no 110-120 AC power gets to the drives.

Billbobboy42 Loc: Center of Delmarva

Dngallagher wrote:

Right you are.

I have a pair of internal SATA drives in Voyager Q docks (look like toasters) that connect via my Firewire port on my Mac.

http://www.newegg.com/All-Desktop-Hard-Drives/BrandSubCat/ID-1306-14

I, too, have a Voyager Q dock, but it's a single slot one. Don't know if that brand makes/made double slots. I have on order a second one so that I can access either of two drives without switching out.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Billbobboy42 wrote:

I, too, have a Voyager Q dock, but it's a single slot one. Don't know if that brand makes/made double slots. I have on order a second one so that I can access either of two drives without switching out.

I started with one dock then added another and daisy chained them firewire 800 - I believe I can do 64 as one daisy chain.

Since getting a Mac with Thunderbolt, I think I would go for a Thunderbolt dock to add USB 3.0 cheaply, then add drives as USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt from now on though :) USB 2.0 is nowhere near USB 3.0 speeds, but USB 3.0 beats Firewire 800 but not Thunderbolt. E-SATA would be nice ;)

smith934 Loc: Huntsville, Alabama

Dngallagher wrote:

I would think with power issues, a computer POWER supply would be the item that fails, the power supply provides the 5 volts and 12 volts DC to the drive. The motherboard and drives are powered by the power supply, no 110-120 AC power gets to the drives.

It is strange as switching power supplies usually have a wide AC input range. 113Vac should not be a low input voltage condition.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

smith934 wrote:

It is strange as switching power supplies usually have a wide AC input range. 113Vac should not be a low input voltage condition.

That would be my thoughts too... 90 volts could be a problem for a power supply.

I would think a check of the voltage from power supply to disk drive would tell more when the input power was "low".

stbg1951 Loc: Lewes, DE

All my external drives (like I think was discussed here in the beginning) are plugged directly into the line power not the computer power supply. But directly to your point during the time I mentioned I also went through multiple power supplies. Since the discussion was around external drives I didn't go into full detail on my past issues. Haven't had to replace any power supplies since the power company fixed their problem and installed the UPS because I trust no-one to implement a permanent fix.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

stbg1951 wrote:

All my external drives (like I think was discussed... (show quote)

Not that would make more sense :)

Voltage issue could effect a small external power adapter. And the fact that the computer power supply went out as well sort of points to power issues.

A UPS is always a good idea ;)