Seagate back up drive failure
Feb 19, 2023 16:14:33 #
TriX wrote:
I’ve replaced the controller board a number of tim... (show quote)
I haven't opened one in YEARS. Glad to hear the platters and heads are in a separate sealed unit in the drive case!
Real old ones were not.
I'd be concerned about condensation on the platters also. It would be thicker than the head air bearing.
Feb 19, 2023 16:14:44 #
Mr. SONY
Loc: LI, NY
Longshadow wrote:
Good.
That was a disaster waiting to happen.
Glad you were able to recover the data!
That was a disaster waiting to happen.
Glad you were able to recover the data!
I've done it many times back in my computer servicing days at Burroughs/Unisys.
Feb 19, 2023 16:29:46 #
Mr. SONY wrote:
I've done it many times back in my computer servicing days at Burroughs/Unisys.
If the platters and heads were exposed to plain room air, you were still very lucky.
Even in a clean booth, there were two instances where I was observing the read waveform from the read recovery circuitry. It started wiggling in amplitude (air bearing thickness changing (modulating)), but I quite wasn't quite fast enough to unload the head.
Zzzzzt. Crash. It happens, and it only takes a small fraction of a second. Had to have the head I was testing cleaned and polished so I could continue the evaluation. I had the disk polished also, but used a different area (manual micrometer head positioning in the testing jig) for the remainder of the evaluation, just to be safe. This was with single disks about the size of LP records and much larger recording heads back then.
Feb 19, 2023 16:53:10 #
MBW66 wrote:
My 2TB back up stopped working with my various App... (show quote)
No advice but if you have to replace it get an SSD drive. Much faster and more reliable.
Feb 19, 2023 16:53:56 #
The light turns on, it becomes slightly warm and I can hear a sound like something whirring inside. No obvious way to open it!
Feb 19, 2023 17:35:56 #
Feb 19, 2023 17:40:54 #
coolhanduke wrote:
Sounds like a head crash or arms not working to read the disk.
Could be any number of things including the controller circuitry, the read/write circuitry, ...
Lots of things we can guess at.
Feb 19, 2023 17:52:28 #
MBW66 wrote:
The light turns on, it becomes slightly warm and I can hear a sound like something whirring inside. No obvious way to open it!
You can tell if it’s spinning by tilting the drive. If you get resistance to changing the direction (gyroscopic effect), the platter is spinning. Try that and let us know… Also pls answer questions about interface connection.
Feb 19, 2023 19:20:31 #
It is a self-contained hard drive powered via its USB connection to the computer. I have tried different cables and different computers. It doesn’t seem to change with position. If I squeeze it I hear the spinning wheel object.
Feb 19, 2023 20:41:15 #
MBW66 wrote:
It is a self-contained hard drive powered via its USB connection to the computer. I have tried different cables and different computers. It doesn’t seem to change with position. If I squeeze it I hear the spinning wheel object.
So you’re saying you feel the drive spinning? When you try to open the drive, do you see the drive access light come on? And if you open Disk Utility, the drive shows up, correct? And what does Disk Utility say about the drive? (Capacity, Available, Used)? Have you tried to run the disk repair utility? https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/repair-a-storage-device-dskutl1040/22.0/mac/13.0
Feb 19, 2023 20:59:38 #
When I run First Aid in Disc Utility I get the message: First Aid could not unmount one of the other volumes in the volume’s container. Click Done to continue. AND: Running First Aid on “Seagate Costco” (disk5s2)
Checking file system and repairing if necessary and if possible.
Volume could not be unmounted.
Restoring the original state found as mounted.
Unable to unmount volume for repair. : (-69673)
Operation failed…
I have no idea what is meant by "unmount one of the other volumes"
Checking file system and repairing if necessary and if possible.
Volume could not be unmounted.
Restoring the original state found as mounted.
Unable to unmount volume for repair. : (-69673)
Operation failed…
I have no idea what is meant by "unmount one of the other volumes"
Feb 19, 2023 21:57:32 #
ChuckMc
Loc: Prescott, AZ
An old trick/hack is to put the bad/failing drive in the freezer for 2 hrs. I've never had to test this advice until now. Boy I hope it works. ;-}
Chuck
Chuck
Feb 19, 2023 21:58:39 #
ChuckMc
Loc: Prescott, AZ
The bottom line is that we should have at least 2 backups, and one is kept off site.
Feb 19, 2023 22:29:37 #
Mr. SONY
Loc: LI, NY
Longshadow wrote:
Good.
That was a disaster waiting to happen.
Glad you were able to recover the data!
That was a disaster waiting to happen.
Glad you were able to recover the data!
Every time.
Put a smile on their face.
Feb 20, 2023 09:00:06 #
MBW66 wrote:
When I run First Aid in Disc Utility I get the mes... (show quote)
Thanks for the information. Here’s a tutorial on how to deal with the unmount problem: https://recoverit.wondershare.com/mac-tips/couldnot-unmount-disk.html
Look especially at Part 3 and consider downloading the FREE version of the Wondershare disk utility for the Mac and running that
I have also sucessfully used Recuva SW ($19.95) in the past
Hope this helps - let us know. And when this saga is over, toss that Seagate and store your data on enterprise (not consumer) class drives from HGST or WD and consider putting a disaster recovery copy of your important data in a major cloud provider such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft or Apple.
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