External Hard Drive 3tb Suddenly Stopped Working

[stronggater]

Firstly, I've always had to replugin this Toshiba external hard drive after turning on my computer, as it would recognize it but try to force a format to be used. After unplugging it and plugging it back in, it would restart and recognize it just fine. When it turns on it starts to whirr a bit, make a clicking sound (Not the click of death from what I can tell) and then whirr up. Happened every time it turned on, and sometimes if I didn't use the drive for a bit, and then needed to access it, it would do the same thing.  

 

So I was downloading some pictures, and just as it finished its last download writing, it just disappeared off my computer. Out of like 2.7 or so TB available I was down to about 250gb left, (Yeah I know, it was mostly Steam games though). Now, my computer won't recognize it, even in like dskmgmt menus, but it still acts the same way it did when it worked, as in the clicking sound into the whirring. As I mention, I have about 2.5tb of data on it, and I cant imagine it would be cheap to recover the data, nor would I really want for someone to look at whats on there. The actual hard drive is completely encased into a plastic shell, so it would be difficult to take it apart to see if the little arm thing is actually not working, making it dead.  

 

I'm going to bed soon, and when I get up I'm going to plug it back in, and if it doesn't work I'm debating on splitting the case to get to the drive itself or trying the freezer/banging trick to see if I can temporarily get it to work so I can purchase another one and transfer the data over. 

 

Any other ideas or solutions? I've tried just about everything (Bios check, dskmgt, cmd chkdsk) I've looked up on the internet except the banging/freezing. 

[livee]

If you go to Device Manager, under 'Disk drives,' does it appear there?

 

Also, I would strongly advise against opening your drive. HDDs are hermetically sealed because even a grain of dust that gets in there can become jammed between the head and the platter, and is going to cause damage. Unless of course, the data isn't crucial, and you don't mind screwing it up.

[stronggater]

Nope. its not showing up in any form on anything, including the BIOS screen and the Dskmgmt screen. I just tried plugging it in again after a bit of sleep and the clicking noise it usually makes was a lot quieter. 

[livee]

In the command line:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

cd \

cd windows\system32

start devmgmt.msc

Device Manager window will be opened. Click on View --> Select Show hidden devices.

Expand all the nodes by clicking on + symbol. If you find any greyed or UNKNOWN entries --> Right click on it --> Select Uninstall.

Restart your PC --> Now try connecting your external drive.

[stronggater]

So when I did that, I found the drive it usually shows up as (E) as shown here. I'm not 100% sure if I did the command line stuff correctly, as it is currently not connected but still showing up like it is, assuming the E:/ drive in portable devices is the correct thing. Looking at the properties it seems to be about right for the time of first install, but the problem is it is IDing it as a generic multicard device I think, which I don't think that's what an external hard drive should be IDd as. 

[stronggater]

Assuming I did it correctly, I did as asked and it didnt work. 

[flatliner10]

Sounds to me like your external drive died.

If you are lucky, its just the case or it's power supply.

I would recommend  taking the drive out the cage, grab a HDD to USB adapter like this: Amazon link as example and see if your drive works with it.

If yes, its just the external cage or its supply, and you only need to check the drive for errors. (and maybe use "crystal disk info" to check it's health)

If the drive still does not get detected it is probably a lost case.

You might get something back with recovery tools, if you are lucky.

 

Honestly, external cages become more and more shitty by the year in my opinion, the manufactures seem to focus on look and cheap materials,

ignoring the drives need to be properly cooled when in use. The vent holes, if there even are any, do absolutely nothing.

As a result the drives getting dangerously hot in these dump design enclosures often made of of plasic.

 

[stronggater]

It turns on and stuff, and you can hear the sound of the disk I think spinning inside if you listen, but the problem opening it is the cage is completely enclosed plastic. No screws or anything to take it apart. 

[flatliner10]

If the drive still spins up and initialize it is a good sign. At least the motor works.

The case consists probably out of 2 clipped half-shells, as so often theses days. (Like my bloody seagate)

They are not really meant to be taken apart, but if you look around you might find a tutorial. like this

I can take a look if you tell me which model it is.

[stronggater]

It is this one https://www.toshiba.ca/productdetailpage.aspx?id=2147497432

and watched this video, which is the same model pretty much: 

 

[stronggater]

While I'm floating the idea around, I've considered sending/taking it to a data recovery/repair shop, but I'm hesitant due to the fact it had stuff like Honey Select and mods from here on it, and they're not necessarily buried, not that it would matter since they probably check every folder to make sure it recovered things successfully. I've read stories of repair shops snooping through computers and stuff when they fix them for shits and giggles, and I'd rather not that happen.  

 

Thinking about it, I assume if it comes down to data recovery they WILL see it, but if its a hardware repair, maybe perhaps they wont?

[livee]

After you run those commands, did the device also appear in Disk Management?

 

Also, don't worry. You're covered by consumer privacy protection laws. The same way banks and other companies can't disclose info without your agreement, so do data recovery specialists. A bit like an NDA between a lawyer and a litigant. Unless you have crime evidences or hard candy porn, nothing will happen to you. Besides, most of time, they won't even bother looking into the stuff you have there. If they find weird stuff, they're forced to report it to the authorities, so it's in both parties' best interests to just recover the data and leave it be.

 

Oh and a friendly reminder that opening a hard drive can't fuck it up good, but it's typically fixable (by a specialist ofc), it's just that you may get a longer bill.

[flatliner10]

11 hours ago, stronggater said:

t is this one https://www.toshiba.ca/productdetailpage.aspx?id=2147497432

and watched this video, which is the same model pretty much: 

 

 This thing looks almost as bad as my Seagate Case, what little ventilation it got is blocked by internal shielding,

and its even harder to open.

At least you can clearly see in the Video where the hooks are located.

Seems like an ordinary SATA drive, with an USB/Power adapter put directly on it's connector as expected. 

Just don't drop it like he did, and leave the drive itself sealed.

A recovery service only need the drive and don't care about the Plastic-case or the USB-Adapter.

 

10 hours ago, stronggater said:

I've considered sending/taking it to a data recovery/repair shop, but I'm hesitant due to the fact it had stuff like Honey Select and mods from here on it,...

*snipp*

...but if its a hardware repair, maybe perhaps they wont?

 

They might see, they might even check its content to find out if the recovery was successful, but it is not their business to judge.

Unless you got something illegal on it it's not their fucking business, i am sure the have to recover VERY private stuff,

and it is in their best interest to keep quiet about the things they get to see.

You know how expensive professional Data recovery is right?

 

If you just turn in the drive as it is for a Warranty repair (if you still got warranty), its unlikely anyone will see its content, it just goes into the trash and you get a new drive.

Data are not protected by warranty, and you wont get the data back that way.

They surely wont bother trying to repair your drive, or recover/preserve it's content.

 

Maybe Arcci- got some things for you to try beforehand.

 

[stronggater]

9 hours ago, Arcci- said:

After you run those commands, did the device also appear in Disk Management?

 

Also, don't worry. You're covered by consumer privacy protection laws. The same way banks and other companies can't disclose info without your agreement, so do data recovery specialists. A bit like an NDA between a lawyer and a litigant. Unless you have crime evidences or hard candy porn, nothing will happen to you. Besides, most of time, they won't even bother looking into the stuff you have there. If they find weird stuff, they're forced to report it to the authorities, so it's in both parties' best interests to just recover the data and leave it be.

 

Oh and a friendly reminder that opening a hard drive can't fuck it up good, but it's typically fixable (by a specialist ofc), it's just that you may get a longer bill.

No it didnt, it was my SD card reader thing that got its location changed. 

[livee]

Have you tried it on another computer?

If that doesn't work.

My suggestion would be trying a partition manager software such as Macrorit Partition Expert, MiniTool Partition Wizard or EaseUS Partition Manager (in order of my personal preference, but you choose, there also others available obviously, these are but recommendations).

Else.

Personally, I'd skip the second suggestion and use a live rescue CD, preferrably with TestDisk (free and open-source ☭), which you can check out here. My hopes on are a corrupted partition table or filesystem. Google for tutorials and explanations. There's a lot to explain and each case is different. Go for it! But remember, only try this stuff if the data is non-critical and you won't risk much in case it's lost. I'd be glad to help you in anyway I can.

[stronggater]

Thank you, I really appreciate it. I've already tried two other, separate computers and neither detected it. I will give those a try when I get home, but having watched a video of the same drive being opened all the way and then being plugged in; my guess is that the arm thingies that go over the disks aren't moving over anymore. The hard drive makes the same noises it used to, however they are much quieter, mainly the sound that I've identified as the arms snapping over the disk. 

 

I'll definitely give those a try, and I have a replacement on the way, it's the exact same hard drive, despite it failing with, from what I can tell, no warning signs, but it I've had it since December of 2011, with constant use, so I can't complain. Someone in the reviews said theirs failed and when they used a cable from another hard drive it worked, so hoping something works, but yeah, nothing is terribly important on it, so when I get home ill try those things. 

[livee]

7 years (with constant use) is definitely beyond the average [enterprise grade] HDD expiration date. One must be primed for such events.

[flatliner10]

16 hours ago, Arcci- said:

TestDisk

I second that, it's a good tool, gut needs some getting used to.

Other good tools are "PC Inspector File Recovery" (easy to use but less mighty, freeware) or Recuva.

In any case i would take the drive out of it's case beforehand, to rule out the case being faulty.

12 hours ago, stronggater said:

failing with, from what I can tell, no warning signs

What did you expect? a system warning popup?

With Crystal Disk Info you can monitor the S.M.A.R.T.-Status of your drives yourself.

It will warn you if the Drive shows signs of wear and tear, does not protect from sudden death though.

 

 

[haanuman]

7 Years is actually a good life span, it hurts me when an external HD used as a backup fails though -_-

[stronggater]

14 hours ago, flatliner10 said:

I second that, it's a good tool, gut needs some getting used to.

Other good tools are "PC Inspector File Recovery" (easy to use but less mighty, freeware) or Recuva.

In any case i would take the drive out of it's case beforehand, to rule out the case being faulty.

What did you expect? a system warning popup?

With Crystal Disk Info you can monitor the S.M.A.R.T.-Status of your drives yourself.

It will warn you if the Drive shows signs of wear and tear, does not protect from sudden death though.

 

 

No, but form what I understand, failing drives will usually make clicking sounds or other noises at times to indicate something going wrong with it, or corrupting files and having other issues, mine went from working perfectly fine to gone in an instant. I do appreciate the help though. 

[stronggater]

So I tried all of those programs suggested, and the problem is not a single one is able to recognize the hard drive despite it being plugged in. 

[flatliner10]

8 hours ago, stronggater said:

failing drives will usually make clicking sounds or other noises at times to indicate something going wrong

What you describe is the "click of death" its not a warning sign, it occurs when the drive has already failed, and only when it has failed in a specific way.

When a drive is turned on, it first spins up the disk, and then moves the heads from their parking position on the outside to the zero track at the center of the disk,

which is then read, and used for alignment, before the drive reports ready for duty.

The click of death occurs when the drive can't read or find the zero track, due to broken read-heads/controller.

Then it repeats the cycle a number of times in an attempt to find the zero track, the clicking is the sound of the head hitting the center.

 

8 hours ago, stronggater said:

corrupting files and having other issues

Modern drives does a good job by them self correcting errors, without you even noticing, however they will note that in the S.M.A.R.T. table, which has a counter for the errors corrected.

If the counter goes above a predetermined value the Drive is on its way out.

Unreadable sectors and File corruption rarely occurs due to hardware-failure now days, it still can happen due to software problems, or loosing power at the wrong moment.

In this cases Data might be corrupt, but the drive itself is fine.

 

A true hardware sided Data corruption can occur by subjecting the drive to physical shock while in operation (headcrash), the head makes physical contact with the platter and scratches it, potentially damaging the head itself alongside with the platter surface.

This can only be rectified by a recovery center, which will open up the drive in a dust free clean room (unlike in the video above), replace the damaged Heads/Arms and reading around

the damaged Area.

 

Checking your drives S.M.A.R.T. Data regular is your best best to predict a Drive failure, your drive can still encounter a sudden death due to Manufacturing failure, over voltage, electrostatic discharge or a having a bad component, but these typically happen rather early in their lifespan and are covered by warranty.

 

I got Drives laying around, which are 15 years and older, never made any troubles, even their SMART data look fine, the have been decommissioned simply because they

have became to small or too slow for everyday usage.

Why would one use a 128 MegaByte HDD when my oldest USB-Sick already got 1 GB and is faster ? .

 

7 hours ago, stronggater said:

not a single one is able to recognize the hard drive despite it being plugged in.

In its original case or with a new adapter?

[stronggater]

I see, the new copy of the hard drive comes in today, so I'll try it with the new set of wires when it gets here, but so far it hasn't been detected by any manner. 

[livee]

14 hours ago, stronggater said:

So I tried all of those programs suggested, and the problem is not a single one is able to recognize the hard drive despite it being plugged in. 

I declare thee officially dead (I assume it doesn't show up on the UEFI/BIOS either). From everything you've described so far, I guess it's either the disk controller or a faulty cable. These two possibilities are particularly congruent with the fact that you had to plug out and plug in the drive everytime you restarted the computer.

[stronggater]

35 minutes ago, Arcci- said:

I declare thee officially dead (I assume it doesn't show up on the UEFI/BIOS either). From everything you've described so far, I guess it's either the disk controller or a faulty cable. These two possibilities are particularly congruent with the fact that you had to plug out and plug in the drive everytime you restarted the computer.

Really hoping that's the case (the cable), but we'll see when I get my new one in today whether or not its the cable(s).