Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum
Home Active Topics Newest Pictures Search Login Register
General Chit-Chat (non-photography talk)
Crashed external Seagate drive
Feb 20, 2021 19:26:56   #
Stan A Loc: San Francisco, CA
 
My nephew experienced a power outage in Southern California and when power resumed, his external Seagate drive (possibly 10 years old) would not work. I know there have been numerous postings in the past about crashed drives with suggestions how to fix. However, none that came up in my search suggested the names of companies that had success.

Does anyone have a company that was successful in restoring an old drive?

I know he should have had a better back up system ( I use time machine with a WD unit and Backblaze for the cloud and have been happy with the results), but I am trying to help him deal with the current situation.

Thanks, Stan

Reply
Feb 20, 2021 20:08:30   #
photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA
 
I suggest that you take it to a LOCAL (not Big Box) computer store and see if they can recover the data off of the drive. I had a laptop fail a number of years ago and brought it to my local store (who now has all of my business -- not that I'm buying laptops every week or anything) and they recovered my data and transferred it to a new external hard drive. I now have five (5) external hard drives that I keep up to date.

Reply
Feb 20, 2021 21:01:05   #
Mr. SONY Loc: LI, NY
 
photoman022 wrote:
I now have five (5) external hard drives that I keep up to date.


Safety in numbers.
Been saying that for years.

Reply
 
 
Feb 20, 2021 21:25:18   #
GregW610 Loc: Indianapolis, IN
 
I had a Seagate network drive that would not communicate. I called Seagate and their Customer service suggested that it may only be the network card and the drive was still intact. They indicated the hard drive and be removed and recovered and pointed to you tube videos. I watched them but they were beyond my abilities. Basically install the drive to a different computer to read the data. I agree with PHOTOMAN find a local shop you trust and have them get the data

Reply
Feb 21, 2021 07:49:44   #
chikid68 Loc: Tennesse USA
 
Generally shucking the case on an external drive is fairly simple and then you either hook it up internally on a desktop computer or put it into a hard drive dock which is generally the easiest option if you are not familiar with or are apprehensive about opening up a computer tower.
I usually maintain a tower just for such purposes since it is a common need.
That particular machine never has the side cover installed so I can just power it down and hook up the cables I leave hanging out for quick access power it back up and copy the files to either a new external hard drive or flash drive for them.

Reply
Feb 21, 2021 09:51:43   #
Bayou
 
GregW610 wrote:
...I called Seagate and their Customer service suggested that it may only be the network card and the drive was still intact. They indicated the hard drive and be removed and recovered and pointed to you tube videos. I watched them but they were beyond my abilities....


This is one of the reasons why it's better to make your own external drives by buying a high quality stand alone desktop type drive and installing it in the external enclosure of your choosing. They're easy to assemble, and to UNASSEMBLE, and you'll know you have a high quality drive. If the case or its components fails, it's a simple matter to replace. The preassembled externals generally use the cheapest drives available.

Reply
Feb 21, 2021 11:37:29   #
Huggins36
 
photoman022 wrote:
I suggest that you take it to a LOCAL (not Big Box) computer store and see if they can recover the data off of the drive. I had a laptop fail a number of years ago and brought it to my local store (who now has all of my business -- not that I'm buying laptops every week or anything) and they recovered my data and transferred it to a new external hard drive. I now have five (5) external hard drives that I keep up to date.


Hello--How do you use (5) external hard drives? I have (1) WD external drive and don't know if it is backing up my computer. Is there a way I can find out what my WD is doing? Ashampoo, a German software Co. has a download you can buy, called Backup Pro 15 which they claim can backup your entire system. I do need to backup my computer, I had to uninstall/reinstall Windows losing everything. I don't want to go through again. Thanking you for any help in this. Tom M

Reply
 
 
Feb 21, 2021 16:23:56   #
BBurns Loc: South Bay, California
 
Consider that the drive may be fine.
A power surge would first kill the power adapter plugged in the wall. Try another first.

Reply
Feb 21, 2021 16:56:06   #
bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada
 
Huggins36 wrote:
Hello--How do you use (5) external hard drives? I have (1) WD external drive and don't know if it is backing up my computer. Is there a way I can find out what my WD is doing? Ashampoo, a German software Co. has a download you can buy, called Backup Pro 15 which they claim can backup your entire system. I do need to backup my computer, I had to uninstall/reinstall Windows losing everything. I don't want to go through again. Thanking you for any help in this. Tom M

I use 'EaseUS Todo Backup Home' for all my backups and disk clones. Inexpensive, stable (in its 13th release) and makes backups/cloning very easy to do.

bwa

Reply
Feb 21, 2021 19:13:15   #
Divenavy Loc: Chicago Suburbs
 
Sounds crazy but If you remove the hard drive and put it in a ziplock bag and put it in the freezer for 8 or 9 hours reconnect while its still cold and try to see if it will boot up...Used to get enough time usually transfer most files.

Reply
Feb 21, 2021 20:14:35   #
bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada
 
Divenavy wrote:
Sounds crazy but If you remove the hard drive and put it in a ziplock bag and put it in the freezer for 8 or 9 hours reconnect while its still cold and try to see if it will boot up...Used to get enough time usually transfer most files.

I does sound crazy but no worse than turning the old 5-1/4" drives upside down to let the oil run back into the bearings when they began to fail. That worked almost every time!

bwa

Reply
 
 
Feb 21, 2021 22:25:54   #
pilot64 Loc: Atlanta, GA
 
Do a Google search on restoring hard drives. It is possible but not guaranteed. Very Pricey- $$$. I got a quote on one to replace a hard drive in a laptop - only $2800. Bought a new hard drive for $75, put it in myself. Recovered most of the data from backups. YOU CAN'T HAVE TOO MANY BACKUPS!!

Reply
Mar 7, 2021 13:33:50   #
Chian Kho
 
Stan A wrote:
My nephew experienced a power outage in Southern California and when power resumed, his external Seagate drive (possibly 10 years old) would not work. I know there have been numerous postings in the past about crashed drives with suggestions how to fix. However, none that came up in my search suggested the names of companies that had success.

Does anyone have a company that was successful in restoring an old drive?

I know he should have had a better back up system ( I use time machine with a WD unit and Backblaze for the cloud and have been happy with the results), but I am trying to help him deal with the current situation.

Thanks, Stan
My nephew experienced a power outage in Southern C... (show quote)


Take the covers off and removed the drive inside and put it into a USB3.0 enclosure (available from Amazon). It is inexpensive and plug it into your computer. Usually the power outage burns out the connection. If this doesn't work, then you take it to a techno geek. It worked for me several times.

Chian

Reply
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.
General Chit-Chat (non-photography talk)
UglyHedgehog.com - Forum
Copyright 2011-2024 Ugly Hedgehog, Inc.