So I think my hard drive's fucked

[AntoineWG]

So the consensus here is that it's probably a bad idea to attempt any sort of software diagnostics as long as the external casing's still on the drive?

In answer to the question as to if it's making weird noises, it's a kind of whizzing sound separated by small gaps of silence.

Oh, and a random and possibly stupid question. I've got another one of these drives and I've been wondering for the longest time if it's better to stand it on its side or lie it flat.

It's not that it's a bad idea to try any diagnostic while it's in the case, it's that it will most likely get you nowhere.

And the case of that hard drive is just held together with plastic clips. If I recall, one side of the top (when it's lying down) pries off, then the rest is either easily removed plastic clips or torx screws. I'm sure about the top, but I'm a little fuzzy about the rest. It was about a year ago when I had to repair one of these.

The whirring sound could be to do with the drive spinning up and down due intermittent power failure. It could also be the drive dying. At this point it's hard to say for certain.

As far as leaving it standing or lying down, it shouldn't make a difference as long as you don't turn it while it's running. Those drives are pretty well ventilated.

[alexz721]

Yeah, I was about to ask you if there was any special things I should watch out for when prying the case apart.

And best I can describe the sound is that it's trying to spin up, but not.

[alexz721]

So here's a good problem: the screws aren't TORX; in fact, I've never seen these before:



How the shit do I get these out?

[darkbenny]

allen key?

[alexz721]

Never mind, got it open.

And I feel like one dumb fucker.

I think the USB connection blew. I could have switched to firewire and it would probably have worked.

Long story short, I need a new external casing. I haven't actually been able to test the drive yet, but I'm pretty sure it's all right. Here's to hoping.

[adventure_of_link]

allen key?

Allen key is hexagons.

That is a 5-point star shape.

[darkbenny]

ah

[alexz721]

Update: Put it in a new casing, and it still didn't work.

[funkyass]

did you test it in your machine?

[alexz721]

I tried it in a friend's (I'm out of space in my case, and don't want to fuck around with switching drives right now), and it didn't recognize either. Although, he may have had some conflicts of his own, so I'm going to see if I can try it another computer.

[funkyass]

was it detected in the bios?

[alexz721]

His BIOS was also being a bitch.

[AntoineWG]

Chances are the drive is jumpered as the master. Make sure the drive is alone on it's IDE cable or at least that the other drive is set to slave.

[alexz721]

Yeah, I made sure the jumper settings were correct.

[thinknow101]

I found this thread when my 6-month-old Seagate drive failed--not recognized by the computer, no screeching or clicking, just humming with intermittent pauses, and doesn't respond to the on/off switch.

Did you find a solution to getting your data recovered? Drive replaced or repaired?

[funkyass]

its expensive to get your data back if you haven't been making backups.

the good thing is its still under warranty.

[thinknow101]

I've been good about backing up the most important data, but there are records and documents I'd not like to have floating around--not sure what happens with drives that get returned for repair.

It seems like it might be a control board issue and I've read that you can swap the drives control board if you can find another seagate drive of the same model.

I'll try to remove the drive from the enclosure to see if it might work in another one. Any ideas about opening the case?

[funkyass]

define enclosure.