External HDD up and died!!

tiger62 · 23rd October 2009, 12:09pm

My shiny new 7 week old Seagate Freeagent external drive has suddenly stopped working!!!

Tried on 3 different pc's with no joy, upon plugging in it makes a "whirring" noise every few seconds for approx 5mins then goes all quiet.

Any suggestions on how to get any data off it without voiding my warranty??? Can get it replaced but would like to get some of the stuff off it as i'd not backed anything up lately

Cheers

**Shannow** · 23rd October 2009, 12:22pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiger62

My shiny new 7 week old Seagate Freeagent external drive has suddenly stopped working!!!

Tried on 3 different pc's with no joy, upon plugging in it makes a "whirring" noise every few seconds for approx 5mins then goes all quiet.

Any suggestions on how to get any data off it without voiding my warranty??? Can get it replaced but would like to get some of the stuff off it as i'd not backed anything up lately

Cheers

Try a different USB lead. mine will do this with some cables, but with other ones it's fine. failing that, buy a new enclousre and pop the drive out the old one and into it.

PAPA LAZEROU · 23rd October 2009, 12:23pm

You could try the evaluation version of Norton Ghost, not sure if it is just for cloning a drive or if you can manage to rip any stuff from it but its worth a try.

Linky...........

http://norton-ghost.en.softonic.com/

There are companys that you can send the drive to that will recover any info from it.....not sure who they are though.

tiger62 · 23rd October 2009, 12:34pm

Tried different leads no luck, is a sealed enclosure can't open it without damaging it( bye-bye warranty).

Don't think ghost would work as drive is not being picked up by pc.
I'm starting to think its mechanical?

**Shannow** · 23rd October 2009, 12:36pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiger62

Tried different leads no luck, is a sealed enclosure can't open it without damaging it( bye-bye warranty).

Don't think ghost would work as drive is not being picked up by pc.
I'm starting to think its mechanical?

Under warranty, all they'll do is replace it, you wont get your data recovered. Swapping it into another enclosure/firing it dicitly into your pc is the best option to see if your stuff is recoverable I'd say.

**djtoast** · 23rd October 2009, 12:38pm

Quote:

There are companys that you can send the drive to that will recover any info from it.....not sure who they are though.

it's EXTREMELY expensive to do that though...

apparently the huge majority of the time they work out which mechanical bits are causing the problem and replace em but it's tricky and hence expensive work.

tiger62 · 23rd October 2009, 12:48pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shannow

Under warranty, all they'll do is replace it, you wont get your data recovered. Swapping it into another enclosure/firing it dicitly into your pc is the best option to see if your stuff is recoverable I'd say.

Nothing that i can't get back if they replace it will just take awhile!!!
Will have a nother look see if i can get it open without using a hammer!

**Shannow** · 23rd October 2009, 12:52pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiger62

Nothing that i can't get back if they replace it will just take awhile!!!
Will have a nother look see if i can get it open without using a hammer!

If it's non critical stuff, then by all means just get it replaced in case it is some mechanical fault that's going to render your warranty void by tryig to fix

tiger62 · 23rd October 2009, 12:57pm

You think they'd notice if i did this???

YouTube - How to open a 1.5 TB Seagate FreeAgent...

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