Calling Dr?

OK, we have a number of possibilities (I have a gut feeling which it is, but let's see).

1. Windows has gone bonkers.
2. The data on the disc is corrupt
3. The disc inside the external enclosure is broken
4. The disc inside the external enclosure is a suicidal Seagate Baracuda.
5. The enclosure has broken.

So.....

sod lights, does the drive make convincing spinning-up noises? (clicks before or after the sound of the motor speeding up are normal, as is a sort of "two gear" starting sound) When first plugged in to the PC, does the PC react at ALL? (usually the PC's disc access light will get a bit excited for a second or so when a new device is detected, while windows loads drivers, though you would need to start the PC without the drive plugged in to be sure they weren't already loaded). Did you unplug it without shutting down or using "safely remove"?

Google the brand of your drive and see what's inside it.....if it's a seagate baracuda, life may be about to get REALLY interesting for you.

If you didnae chuck that CD I sent ye, boot the PC with it, and then plug the drive in, if it reacts and sees the drive it's just your windows that's bananad.

If the data is corrupt it may be fixable. If the drive is fucked, you need to assess how valuable the stuff on it is, cos recovery, although it's getting cheaper, is still not cheap.....probably 300 quid minimum + a new disc to put it on. If the enclosure is fucked, no worries, it's an easy fix.

Do a goole for "seagate baracuda firmare bug" or something.

Basically certain 1TB and a few 1.5TB baracudas have a bug where if their internal log file is full when they are shut down, they die. The log holds something like 320 entries, then wraps round, but if it has exactly 320 when it's shut down, bye bye. Seagate say they will fix it and recover your data apparently. I fixed mine with a firmware update, but I don't think that works AFTER it's actually happened....I found out about the problem and kept my drive online for 3 months until I could do the update.

Oh, and I'm 99% certain that freeagents have bara's inside em.

How about simply turning off the computer, unplug the drive, turn on the computer, log in, after everything normalizes, plug in the drive and see if it works?

EdelBrock wrote: How about simply turning off the computer, unplug the drive, turn on the computer, log in, after everything normalizes, plug in the drive and see if it works?

That worked for me last week when the same thing happened...

Shug

I still have the files (phew) and I also need to talk to yer can you cll me please?

07974 229 549

Make SURE and mention the Seagate suicidal drive thing to the work-geek Shug. It was that that my hunch was on given the suddenness of death and the fact the drive still pretends to work. Seagate say they WILL replace the disc and recover your data for free. There are also comercial services, but as said, not cheap. Other option is to buy another drive the same (right down to the batch serial number), and in an extremely clean room, move the platter from this drive to that one. Dead easy, but touch the disc or bugger up in some other way and the whole lot is toast. An easier option, that MAY work on seagates.....again buy another drive the same, flash that one with the seagate firmware update, the swap the master control board with the current drive. BTW, I mean the drive itself, not the enclosure with the USB-a-fyinh gubbins.

I have a dead drive with some ace 'material' on it, how can i make it work Doc?

Binocher wrote: I have a dead drive with some ace 'material' on it, how can i make it work Doc?

If it's an external, perform the same tests I detailed for the shugster and report back. If it's an internal, again....does it spin up, is windows aware of the drive, and if not, is it detected when you switch on, stuff like that.

That's a disgrace that Seagate won't retrieve your data. I've got one of their drives holding my entire Itunes library. Just to keep it off the hard drive on me Mac. Must investigate how to back it all up.

ShugZV wrote:

IT manager says the drive is dead, even though the lights are on and it still makes a noise.

Phoned Seagate about getting my data recovered, they weren't interested - they said the warranty does not cover this, but I can send the drive back and they will replace it.

They then gave me a number for a recovery company I365 in the UK, cheapest price for the data being recovered is £600-£900!!!!

Any suggestions Doc? (Short of sending nasties in the post)

You can't send that to seagate with all yor GROT on it, bloody hell

Buddy of mine swears by freezing the drive. You put the drive in a ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer...

actually found good directions here:

http://www.wikihow.com/Recover-a-Dead-Hard-Disk

Before this though, did you try it on another computer?

ShugZV wrote:

IT manager says the drive is dead, even though the lights are on and it still makes a noise.

Phoned Seagate about getting my data recovered, they weren't interested - they said the warranty does not cover this, but I can send the drive back and they will replace it.

They then gave me a number for a recovery company I365 in the UK, cheapest price for the data being recovered is £600-£900!!!!

Any suggestions Doc? (Short of sending nasties in the post)

You told them it was a baracuda with the firmware bug, and gave them the serial and they said that? Cunts! They've publicly promised they'd recover data free if this bug lost it.

EdelBrock wrote: Buddy of mine swears by freezing the drive. You put the drive in a ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer...

actually found good directions here:

http://www.wikihow.com/Recover-a-Dead-Hard-Disk

Before this though, did you try it on another computer?

The fridge trick is for a drive with fucked bearings.

One of these articles has the promise in it, if not I can get it from elsewhere. Of course.....you cannot actually determine what the Barra's serial number is without opening the freeagent casing.

I hadn't bought a seagate in years, and never, ever, will again.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/16/barracuda_failure_plague/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/18/barracuda_firmware_upgrade_and_recovery/

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/seagate_firmware_fix_breaks_barracudas/

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/seagates_second_fault_fix/

It is still possible to buy an identical Barracuda and swap control boards, but it aint easy, and it must be the EXACT same drive (obv you'll need to peep inside the freeagent enclosure to see the actual drive).

Yeah it's a bastard. Had one of my Hitachis go south on me after falling from a great height, lost a couple of unbackedup things.

Maybe my, flashed and fixed, Barra would be the same and I could swap the boards.

From this........

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/19/seagate-offers-fix-free-data-recovery-for-disks-affected-by-fir/2

It would appear they lied.

Apart from the swearing, incoherent expressions of rage and references to jism, I understand absolutely none of this thread. You bunch of fucking bastards.

Yours,

The Luddite.

PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote: Apart from the swearing, incoherent expressions of rage and references to jism, I understand absolutely none of this thread. You bunch of fucking bastards.

Yours,

The Luddite.

The demon that inhabits the magic metal brick in which he imprisons the souls of New Order, that they may play at his whim, has returned to hell and left the brick with no magic.

This is much the same as when the magic smoke gets out of many devices....once the smoke comes out, they have no magic and do not work.

Doctor? wrote:

PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote: Apart from the swearing, incoherent expressions of rage and references to jism, I understand absolutely none of this thread. You bunch of fucking bastards.

Yours,

The Luddite.

The demon that inhabits the magic metal brick in which he imprisons the souls of New Order, that they may play at his whim, has returned to hell and left the brick with no magic.

This is much the same as when the magic smoke gets out of many devices....once the smoke comes out, they have no magic and do not work.

To aid martin, a picture of said magic smoke (visuals help Cambo):

I have two ext HDs; One is for back ups.

If the magic smoke comes out of one, the other one can come out of the drawer, and although some stuff not backed up will be lost, not all will be.

:)

I have the following externals. 1x320 for taking with the laptop, nothing unique is saved to this drive, ever, unless it's something I copied to it from someone else, and that only stays until it gets home.

6x Freecom 500GB externals (containing Samsung Spinpoint F1s as it happens. These were then backed up to........ 6x bare Samsung F1s,accessed via one of these........

This obviously left me 6x500GB freespace on the new Sammys. The plan is that once these are full to bursting, 2TB drives will be affordable, and the cycle will repeat.

What are they full of? The 1TB Sammys look something like this.....

Disc 1. Documentaries, about 85% full. with about 200GB devoted to all things railway. Disc 2. Racing, almost full. Disc 3. Backups from my windows desktop, linux desktop and laptop, along with backups from my brother's desktop and the fileserver, as well as installers and so on for essential software. about 70% full. Disc 4,5 and 6 are about 75% full of lots of tv shows, a very few movies, my music, and a heap of books and audio books. Lots of full series, like all of Dr Who from "an unearthly child" to "planet of the dead", including audiobooks and comics etc (though these are not complete). All of Babylon5, all of Trek from Kirk to (the totally unwatched) Archer. Thunderbirds, Penn and Teller's Bullshit, CSI, etc etc.