My Seagate expansion's fudged up! please help! :(


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Hey guys! I got a Seagate expansion usb 3.0 1tb external harddisk(that really small compact one) a couple of months back and it was perfectly till today. ..well you see my friend dropped it from about 1 feet while the hdd was still connected and running. .mit became unresponsive and when I tried reconnecting, all that happens now is the blue led on the hard disk keeps blinking rapidly but the disk doesn't seem to run or get detected. ..I read online that the read arm may not have gone to its original position due to the sudden jerk but I guess openings the harddisk to fix it voids warranty...I have lots of precious data in there with no other back up (I trusted Seagate so much :( ).....is there anyway I could possibly fix this? Please please help! !

Ps: the harddisk doesn't run, the led blinks rapidly anf device manager shows 'usb mass storage' briefly before disconnecting. ..replacement is secondary. ..I want my data back first! :(

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In a simple sentence; your drive is completely ****ed.

Hard drives are not made to be dropped whilst they are in operation, and this will be a solid reminder for any future hard drives you get/use.

 

'I trusted Seagate so much :(' - It is not a problem due to seagate and has absolutely nothing to do with the manufacturer. You should have a solid backup data plan of at least 3 devices (Main drive, backup drive, second backup drive or media such as CD)

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I trusted Seagate so much

 

Although in this circumstance it's not Seagate's fault, you shouldn't trust them. I have far more problems with Seagate's than any other drive manufacturers. WD impress me a lot, I'm not sure what they've been doing differently lately but their drives are excellent these days.

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".I want my data back first! "

I never understand this... If your data is so critical, where is your copy? What if you would of lost this external disk.. What if it just stopped working on its own without being dropped.. What if you dropped it? ;)

Data that you are not ok with loosing should be in more than 1 place at all times.. ie backed up.. This is an external disk, is this data not on your internal disk as well. External disks are good for "backup" of the data on the internal, and good for transport of data from one location to another.. Not so good for sole copy of your critical data that you do not want to loose.

Sorry but dropping a disk while its being used or even when its not being used is most like not good for them.. And sounds like your SOL.

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And to be honest this is my first external hard drive so I had no idea about all the problems associated with it. ..I thought they were as trustworthy as internal ones..thats what made me satisfied on keeping a single copy. ...looks like I learnt my lesson the hard way :\

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And to be honest this is my first external hard drive so I had no idea about all the problems associated with it. ..I thought they were as trustworthy as internal ones..thats what made me satisfied on keeping a single copy. ...looks like I learnt my lesson the hard way :\

Nothing is trust worthy...

You should have a backup. All devices fail!

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"I thought they were as trustworthy as internal ones..thats what made me satisfied on keeping a single copy"

What??

As LogicalApex points out, Nothing is trustworthy!

So you have single copy of your "critical" data on internal hard drives? You need to back up stuff that can not be replaced.. OSes can be replaced, applications can be replaced - worse case can be repurchased, etc.

What can not be replaced is video of your kids 3rd bday party, pictures from your last vacation. Book your working on that is 3/4 done, etc.

HDD die, be it you drop them or not. Things happen - maybe you spill your lemonade on your PC/Laptop and it sparks and smokes and now your data is gone. You never know when that HDD might say I'm done - maybe it tmrw, maybe it is next week. Maybe its 3 years from now... Maybe it works for you for the next 10 years and you throw it in the trash without ever an issue, maybe not!!

So that video of your kids first steps better be in 2 or 3 or more places if want to make sure you have it!

Be it secondary HDD (internet/external), be it optical be it flash disk be it cloud storage, etc. Your "critical" data needs to be in more than 1 place.. And best you should have geographic diversity as well. What if tornado takes you house along with all the HDDs and optical and flash drives to OZ? What if someone breaks in and steals your computer/laptop and flash drive sitting on the counter, etc.

Video's of my grand daughter are on multiple HDDs in my house on different systems, they are on optical media at my house and my son's house and they are in the cloud with multiple providers.. These files are "critical" too me, so they are never just in 1 location except for the time I take them on the camera until I copy them to my computer. They stay on the camera until I have copied them to multiple locations/media - only after I have multiple copies is the copy on the camera removed.

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"I thought they were as trustworthy as internal ones"

 

They are the same drives. The smaller externals use 2.5" disks, the larger ones are 3.5" disks. I recently took some drives out of my WG MyBook. Hated the loud fan.

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First off you said "I thought they were as trustworthy as internal ones"... Nothing is trust worthy once you drop it. Did the drive die on it's own? ... Nope! .. Did it get dropped? Yep!

 

As stated above you only hope is to take it ouf the enclosure and hook it up directly to a PC. If

 

1) The drive spins up

2) The bios detects it

 

I would first try to boot into a live environment and see if you can transfer your data off the drive

 

If that doesn't work I would then try Spinrite. It's been known to do wonders. I would run it at level 2. If the bios detects your drive it's a good chances are good spinrite will run of the drive.

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I have nothing critical to keep, but even I use different cloud backups, as well as the copy on my PC, for things like photo's.

 

And as for the comment about external been as trustworthy as internal, they are - even when you drop them.  Under which circumstances they are still as trustworthy as internal ones i.e. both types likely wont work afterwards.

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Hey guys! I got a Seagate expansion usb 3.0 1tb external harddisk(that really small compact one) a couple of months back and it was perfectly till today. ..well you see my friend dropped it from about 1 feet while the hdd was still connected and running. .mit became unresponsive and when I tried reconnecting, all that happens now is the blue led on the hard disk keeps blinking rapidly but the disk doesn't seem to run or get detected. ..I read online that the read arm may not have gone to its original position due to the sudden jerk but I guess openings the harddisk to fix it voids warranty...I have lots of precious data in there with no other back up (I trusted Seagate so much :( ).....is there anyway I could possibly fix this? Please please help! !

Ps: the harddisk doesn't run, the led blinks rapidly anf device manager shows 'usb mass storage' briefly before disconnecting. ..replacement is secondary. ..I want my data back first! :(

 

The  head smacked the platter when that happened.  Either the head or the arm/mechanics are ruined.  External drives are the backup drive not storage drives.  Using any external or flash drive as the 1st point its stored is a terrible idea as they have a much higher failure rate than any other data device due to being portable.  DriveSavers or someone like them can get your data, but be prepared for a car payment for a year or so.

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And to be honest this is my first external hard drive so I had no idea about all the problems associated with it. ..I thought they were as trustworthy as internal ones..thats what made me satisfied on keeping a single copy. ...looks like I learnt my lesson the hard way :\

 

The majority of external drives are plain old regular drives in an enclosure; they're not any more or less trustworthy as any other.  That being said, all drives die, and nobody in his right mind should be telling you otherwise.

 

"Keeping a single copy" means you have exactly zero backup.  Besides, it's not just a matter of possible mechanical failure; you can end up with a corrupt file system, or a virus that'll wipe everything out, or simply delete the wrong folder yourself.

 

Bite the bullet and make sure you have some means of keeping a minimum of two copies of everything that's valuable to you.  You might think it's a waste of money, but only until you recover a file from your backup set.

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Should add here...

 

I have 4 sources I back all important data to.

 

1. My 2x 320GB HDDs in RAID1

2. My NAS enclosure, has 2x 640GB HHDs in RAID1

3. My 500GB external drive. regular 500GB 3.5 HDD, IcyDock enclosure. I only use it when I am normally out and about.

4. My UbuntuOne cloud service. Only save mostly pictures on there.

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Aww crap :\

So is there no way on god's green earth I can get my data back again? :(

You might be able to send it to a recovery service, if it is very important. Seagate themselves has a data recovery lab. It is pricey, but they do a good job. I have sent drives there before (for work, couple of users who have since learned the importance of redundant backups).

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Well I jus hit up my vendor. ..I didnt tell him I dropped it...i told him it stopped working. .. said they'd probably replace the drive. .. said he could 'try' to get some data out of it for a fee...he's just a computer store owner so I don't know if he's authorized to open up the drives which could void warranty. ..so what is this magic that he could perform without opening up the drive? There's about only 30gb data of the 700gb stored that i want. ..rest is expendible...so do I let him try or should I just go in for replacement?

Ps: I just learnt from a friend that he owns the very same drive I do and he's dropped it a bunch of times with no adverse effects. ....so im still pretty bent up on that 'head stuck on a platter idea'...im itching to open up the hard drive to give it a shot ..I know it sounds stupid. ..but one small fix of the read arm and my drive could be up and running again !

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Are you saying you want to open it up and 'fix' the read arm?

 

Really.....  Do you have any idea how much that isn't going to work?

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Should add here...

 

I have 4 sources I back all important data to.

 

1. My 2x 320GB HDDs in RAID1

2. My NAS enclosure, has 2x 640GB HHDs in RAID1

3. My 500GB external drive. regular 500GB 3.5 HDD, IcyDock enclosure. I only use it when I am normally out and about.

4. My UbuntuOne cloud service. Only save mostly pictures on there.

 

Here is my Backup

 

Drive C which has pretty much Just Apps and crap on my desktop

Drive D Has videos and a folder called tech files which document wise is all things important

Drive F This has isos and setup files for Office / Windows and other stuff

Drive S is a nighty backup drive for all things D (Get it? haha)

Office Site Backup 1-1 / 1-2 are 3TB drives put into a sata dock once a month and rotated in a safety deposit box (The switch is done at the bank, both drives are never at my house, car or moving in the same location at 1 time, except for when I switch them out at the bx) which backs up c, d, and F and G

Carbonite, Backs up all documents, desktop and the tech files folder on Drive D

DVD copy of tech files once a month also in my safety deposit box.

 

Quickbooks Laptop SSD Drive - Is a laptop just for quickbooks and NOTHING else, No web Browsing , just quickbooks and Windows updates. It is accessed via Remote desktop via my main 4 Monitor workstation and my dual monitor couch computer.

 

The Quickbooks company file on the laptop is backed up nightly on Drive D (which is then backed up to carbonite and monthly to the 3TB backup drive and a DVD), my couch computer both over the network as well as a USB drive plugged into the laptop each one storing 14 different versions.

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.im itching to open up the hard drive to give it a shot ..I know it sounds stupid. ..but one small fix of the read arm and my drive could be up and running again !

 

That is going to go from "Bad to Epic Fail" in about 2 seconds flat.

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".but one small fix of the read arm and my drive could be up and running again ! "

As already stated - that sounds like a really bad idea ;)

Do you have a "clean" room to open up this disk in? Do you have the correct tools perform such an operation?

If you believe the arm is just stuck - might as well just slap it a few times or drop it again.. This would be better choice then thinking you could open up the actual drive and do anything with the arm that might fix anything ;)

Now if something just broke in the external case that is causing it to fail - then as already suggested you could pull it out of the case and directly connect it to your pc or use a usb cable.. These are about 20$ or so and allow you to connect real easy any 2.5/3.5 pata or sata disk to your PC for access.. These sorts of cables are standard toolkit for any techy.

I have opened up a few disks in my day, to harvest the magnets for use on the frig to hang kids art work, etc. These magnets are freakishly powerful, unless your trained in that sort of work.. And I got my 2M (Miniature/MicroMiniature) cert for soldering in the Navy and wouldn't even attempt it. I doubt you could take it apart without damage, and even less likely to put it back together again.

Sounds like your best course of action is to return to the shop you get it from and see what they can do, if they will replace it for you. Then your a head of the game in your life lesson about backups - you might of lost your data, but your not out the cost of a new hdd.

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Well I jus hit up my vendor. ..I didnt tell him I dropped it...i told him it stopped working. .. said they'd probably replace the drive. .. said he could 'try' to get some data out of it for a fee...he's just a computer store owner so I don't know if he's authorized to open up the drives which could void warranty. ..so what is this magic that he could perform without opening up the drive? There's about only 30gb data of the 700gb stored that i want. ..rest is expendible...so do I let him try or should I just go in for replacement?

Ps: I just learnt from a friend that he owns the very same drive I do and he's dropped it a bunch of times with no adverse effects. ....so im still pretty bent up on that 'head stuck on a platter idea'...im itching to open up the hard drive to give it a shot ..I know it sounds stupid. ..but one small fix of the read arm and my drive could be up and running again !

 

Kinda smells like a troll at this point.

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Guys guys ! It works. ..I did open it and like I guessed the read arm was still on the platter. .thats what stopped the disk from running ...and no nothing was broken inside. ..all I did was gently rotate the disk through the Centre clockwise (not touching the magnetic area) till the arm was off the platter and back into the original position. ..and when I sealed it up and connected I could use the disk whirring again and the hard drive works. ..oh and as for the dust...I guess lil specks don't count for a disk spinning at 7200 rpm!...well it works but I don't know if its still stable as before. ..I got my crucial data back so thats all that counts now

And youtube's gotta couple of arm on platter issue solutions too...clean room isnt exactly neccesary as long as no physical contact is made with that disk (finger prints or sweat in my case :P)

It was a big gamble but it did pay off :D

Ps:I could add pictures if you guys want

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Oh it didn't need much tools really. ..4 normal screws. ..a sticker thingy 7 torx(really small star shaped ones..is it what they're called) screws and I was in the belly of the beast

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Are you saying you want to open it up and 'fix' the read arm?

 

Really.....  Do you have any idea how much that isn't going to work?

Dude nooo! I have no idea how to fix the arm. ..but I do have basic knowledge of how a hard drive functions on the inside. ..thats what put the idea in my head in the first place. ..the arm was intact and perfect. ..the only thing wrong was it was still on the disk instead of its resting position outside (caused due to the jerk of being dropped) so all I did was get the arm back. ..im afraid getting the arm back may have made a lil mark on the disk but it did work and the data I wanted was still there. ..the disk works (for now) but im guessing there has to be a catch for opening it. ..so im not trusting it any further

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