External Hard Drive Recovery

I recently bought a Seagate 5 TB external hard drive. The point was to use it to move stuff around so I could back things up. Ironically, this new drive failed with some non-backed up stuff on it. What happened was, my computer wouldn't always recognize it when I plugged it in to the USB port. It was periodic and then it started working fine for about 2 weeks. Then it stopped again and now, sometimes the computer will recognize it, but not let me open stuff up. I tried a different cable and 2 other computers including a Mac (with the proper software for Seagate). No dice. I tried using Disk Management, but since the drive isn't even recognized, there's not much I can do with the various remedies online like CHKDSK and Scannow, etc. I've thought about trying the 'freezer method,' but I think that's a last resort.

Before I spend nearly $400 to recover it, what other options do I have? Thanks.

 

Is it making any abnormal mechanical sounds? Can you feel the drive spin up?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 using Tapatalk

 

If possible, try yet another cable. Also, if the disk is USB 3.0, try connecting it to a USB 2.0 port. The 3.0 ports have a blue tab inside or an "SS" stenciled on the side (SS meaning Super Speed), while the USB 2.0 or earlier ports have the usual black tab. I had a Toshiba 3TB external disk and it started behaving similarly to yours. The disk would work only with the third USB cable I tried, but only if plugged to a USB 2.0 port. That allowed me to recover the data.

 

It doesn't make noise and it does seem to be spinning; but I will say it doesn't seem as smooth as my other identical drive.

Raspa, my laptop actually has a 2.0 and 3.0 (I actually didn't realize that until I checked the color of the tabs, one blue one gray-black) and I tried both. I also tried it in my Mac Mini, which I think is 2.0. Are the cables themselves differentiated between 2.0 and 3.0 or is that dependent on the device and the computer? I will see if I can dig up another cable. A tech-savvy friend recommended a special cable that draws power from both USB ports into a single port into which one plugs the USB device. He said that might work, but all my other drives seem to work, so I don't think power is the problem.

 

Oops, just realized something. The Seagate Backup Plus drives all seem to use a proprietary cable on one end. The end that plugs into the drive is an odd shape, sort of straight across the top with a double-hump hanging down, so other than using an extension, I'd have to use the Seagate cable at some point. I'll check into what the other end is, if anything else uses it.

 

I think you're describing a standard USB 3.0 cable, not anything proprietary.

 

As jig says above, the cable you describe is for USB 3.0 drives. But they're compatible with USB 2.0 ports too. The 3.0 cable is wired differently from the 2.0 one, it has extra data lines so the drive talks to the host and lets it know it support 3.0. Sometimes I've seen these cables fail. Apparently the data lines break under mechanical stress, and the drive is no longer detected, especially by USB 3.0 ports. But if your other drives work with the same cable, then the disk itself is damaged.

 

Thanks Jig. When I Googled USB 3.0 and 2.0 cables I got a few images that looked different than that, but I was wary of them as being correct. Sorry, I didn't realize that that other end was USB 3.0. But other than adding an extension, I can't plug in a standard USB 2.0 cable into the drive itself, can I? I know I can plug it into a USB 2.0 port, which I have tried.

I'm going to try and get it to recognize a few more times and then just pay to have it recovered if possible.

 

Edmund, the USB 3.0 "peripheral end" - in this case, the end that plugs into your external drive - is a micro-USB connector, on steroids of some kind <g>, for increased data transfer speeds. you could try a 'standard' USB-micro cable; it would plug in on the right-hand side to the USB 3.0 female slot, assuming that the connector is oriented as jig showed it in post 6 of this thread. disclaimer added because some manufacturers, such as ASUS, flip their ports 180°, making it so much fun when plugging in my tablet to charge The main difference in the USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0 cables in this case is lack of the 'extra' data wires, to take advantage of the USB 3.0 port's added data speed on a PC/Mac. Good luck!

 

I believe the manufacturer warranty is 2 years. I'd reach out to Seagate and see what recovery options they might offer.