external hard disk

[Junction]

To anyone who encounter same prob.I bought western digital external hard disk but my pc usb encounter error on my pc usb.So i try my hitachi externally hard disk n dun hv prob.I dun think my western digital ext got prob cause i tried on my fren pc can run well.I also dun think my pc usb prob cause i done so on my hitachi there is nthin wrong.Is there any setting for my pc usb hv to be done.

[redbeacon]

What are the symptoms that come up when you try to plug in your WD external hard drive? Any error messages? If so, what does it state?

 

Taking a stab at your a-bit confusing question, my guess would be that your WD hard drive needs an external power to operate properly. The problem might be something else but until you provide more details, this is the only "guessed" solution that I can provide you currently, alrite?

[manson]

from achieva right?? bring it back to them lor...see what they can do for u if nothing else works

[Lass]

ok my WD ext HDD now also got problem. tried on a few pcs but can't access it. wat the heck is wrong...got so much things tat's backed up in there. stupid WD customer svc only mon to fri...sheesh wat shd i do now? e data recovery center is all e way in changi....crap. can't they have something closer to civilization like sim lim or something.

[waktzm]

encountered same problem.. went back to SLS for x-change a new wan...

[CoolieND]

Any Hard drive, whether internal or external, will fail at some point. Sometimes it is a physical failure, sometimes it is a chip on the logic board (the green thing on the underside of HDs). External Hard Drives, especially, are more susceptible to failure, due to needing external power supplies of questionable quality, and an extra board feeds the power and allows the HD to connect via USB. MyBooks are known to have failures of the external enclosures, yet the HD and all data is still intact.

 

IF AND ONLY IF:

1) you don't feel queasy about opening up and working w/ computer parts as, if you aren't careful, you can cause even more damage

2) you are absolutely not willing at all to pay $200-odd or above for data recovery services on that drive AND

3) You don't care about voiding any warranty on the drive,

it can be possible to recover the data from MyBooks, as long as the point of failure is not the internal drive itself. This article best describes how to do it with a MyBook, but you can always use it as an internal HD if you have the right connector (either SATA or ATA depending on HD age). I've had enclosures fail on me, and doing this worked no problem, saving me $$$. Have to emphasize, though, you must be well prepped, and not care about the warranty. Otherwise, data recovery services are better for you.

Edited April 1, 2009 by CoolieND

[redbeacon]

Any Hard drive, whether internal or external, will fail at some point. Sometimes it is a physical failure, sometimes it is a chip on the logic board (the green thing on the underside of HDs). External Hard Drives, especially, are more susceptible to failure, due to needing external power supplies of questionable quality, and an extra board feeds the power and allows the HD to connect via USB. MyBooks are known to have failures of the external enclosures, yet the HD and all data is still intact.

 

IF AND ONLY IF:

1) you don't feel queasy about opening up and working w/ computer parts as, if you aren't careful, you can cause even more damage

2) you are absolutely not willing at all to pay $200-odd or above for data recovery services on that drive AND

3) You don't care about voiding any warranty on the drive,

it can be possible to recover the data from MyBooks, as long as the point of failure is not the internal drive itself. This article best describes how to do it with a MyBook, but you can always use it as an internal HD if you have the right connector (either SATA or ATA depending on HD age). I've had enclosures fail on me, and doing this worked no problem, saving me $$$. Have to emphasize, though, you must be well prepped, and not care about the warranty. Otherwise, data recovery services are better for you.

My comments and related stories on this.

 

Wow...I've worked with so many external hard drives, but never thought that WD would enclose their drive tightly technicians need a flat-blade screwdriver to pry the cover open.

 

Unbelieveable...from experience, even Apple laptops have to go through this detriment for technicians to extract out the Hard Drive for diagnosis.

 

Also, I've had external drives that exhibit natural problems like what you've guys mentioned before.

Usually, engineers like us in our workshop have spare enclosures, and spare USB cables to try.

 

In fact, my recent Hard Drive "failure" was attributed to the USB cable itself. My computer was intermittently not detecting the Hard Drive enclosed in those cheap-n-easy $10 enclosures from Sim Lim. It was giving these strange "USB device not recognized" errors, and one day it decided to stop working.

 

So going with the flow, I tried swapping my mini-USB cable and lo and behold, my Hard Drive worked.

 

The old USB cable upon inspection was bloated slightly.

 

P.S.: This is an isolated case. Just a story that I'm sharing. Hard drives failing may be attributable to another cause other than the above. If possible, have a trained technician assess and to fix the problem.

Edited April 1, 2009 by redbeacon
Add disclaimer.

[kmax]

i have burnt one of my HD with those external enclosures too..

 

it was those days 2.5" HDD were not popular / expensive, so i use normal IDE HDD with external casing (with dual fan behind)... on one ordinary day, smoke came out and HDD chipset got burnt already... (even in aircondition room)

[CoolieND]

Heh, I've had more than my share of HD's fail on me, of 3 which were externals (though one I knocked over while writing... oops). Other two were moved internal and were just fine, one of which was a MyBook. It was a pain to take apart, thank god for internet tutorials.

 

Interesting point about the USB cable... would never have though of that as a failure point. I guess all companies scrimp on costs, even WD?

 

Like I said, though, you should only take this route if the data on the drives is not worth the cost of recovery/getting a technician to help, and you should be comfortable taking such steps...

[Lass]

managed to recover stuff but lost all my music files...

[bigpipe]

What do you want to do with the external hard disk?

There is a tool called "tpmount 0.6" that allows mounting the disk for several actions. It is available at the Elanfreaks page. I dont know if there is any English documentation.

[Fritz]

Sorry off topic but I was wondering what does the "Ready Boost" does? I see it whenever I plug in my hard drive into my Vista laptop.

[redbeacon]

Sorry off topic but I was wondering what does the "Ready Boost" does? I see it whenever I plug in my hard drive into my Vista laptop.

ReadyBoost is a Windows Vista feature in which you can plug in a removeable drive, and have Windows use it as additional memory.

 

Ready Boost speeds up disk caching. (clickable link)

 

It only works for flash (solid state) removeable drives.

[Fritz]

Oh thanks so much for the help!

[tt6389]

i use a sony thumb drive as my working drive & i backup everything inside to a 1.5TB external seagate drive every 2 months. Coz thumb drive are having no moving parts, they shld last longer than hard disk.

 

I have tried many brands of thumb drive & i think sony is most reliable. I hv many other brands that failed, even other jap brands. How to know if thumb drive is good? You can feel the sony thumb drive dun get hot so easily, unlike other brands. heat is the no. 1 enemy of thumb drive. Most electronics cannot withstand >50degC, unless they are NASA grade.

 

i usually buy Seagate brand hard disk with korean or taiwan made enclosure (i avoid china made enclosure) . My enclosure is screwless type, so i can slide the enclosure cover open easily , while using it - in case if fan spoils, the heat can escape.

 

After trying so many brands in last 20 yrs, i think Seagate built quality & reliability is number 1. But I will replace the hard disk every 3 yrs because usually the MTBF is 5 yrs (MTBF= Mean Time before Failure).

[redbeacon]

i use a sony thumb drive as my working drive & i backup everything inside to a 1.5TB external seagate drive every 2 months. Coz thumb drive are having no moving parts, they shld last longer than hard disk.

 

I have tried many brands of thumb drive & i think sony is most reliable. I hv many other brands that failed, even other jap brands. How to know if thumb drive is good? You can feel the sony thumb drive dun get hot so easily, unlike other brands. heat is the no. 1 enemy of thumb drive. Most electronics cannot withstand >50degC, unless they are NASA grade.

 

i usually buy Seagate brand hard disk with korean or taiwan made enclosure (i avoid china made enclosure) . My enclosure is screwless type, so i can slide the enclosure cover open easily , while using it - in case if fan spoils, the heat can escape.

 

After trying so many brands in last 20 yrs, i think Seagate built quality & reliability is number 1. But I will replace the hard disk every 3 yrs because usually the MTBF is 5 yrs (MTBF= Mean Time before Failure).

Pretty useful information there sir!

 

Nowadays, I keep on thinking that thumb-drives (a miniature "solid state" drive) are not too prone to breakdowns.

 

My Seagate hard drive to which is working on as I type is about 4 years + already. Even the S.M.A.R.T. monitoring component is now telling me that the predicted end time is... today. Everyday it tells me that

 

It's good to have a backup strategy. In fact, I have an external 300GB hard drive that my backup utility periodically pushes my computer's local files there, for backup. I'm not gonna take chances.

 

I can also attest to the fact that in the history of owning storage drives, I had:

- A USB cable that got slightly bloated at the connector part because the circuitry inside malfunctioned somehow...

 

- A removeable hard drive -- those $10 oriental-made ones, intermittently breaking its connection with the computer. Faulty internal USB-to-ATA circuitry suspected

 

- Cheap thumb drive from an independent HK I.T. store - that one failed a month later after I left it plugged in to the computer. Formatting it failed. Suspect chip faulty and yes, it got hot when it was used before it konked out.

[starr]

hey all. since theres an external harddrive thread, i would like to post some questions..

Where can i get a decent external harddrive?

and how much would it cost?

and what are the reputable brands that i can look out for?

 

I'm looking for 320 - 400GB as i only intend to use it to store pics..

 

Thanks in adv all.

[crazydj]

hey all. since theres an external harddrive thread, i would like to post some questions..

Where can i get a decent external harddrive?

and how much would it cost?

and what are the reputable brands that i can look out for?

 

I'm looking for 320 - 400GB as i only intend to use it to store pics..

 

Thanks in adv all.

 

You can get they at Sim Lim Square, Funan Etc. There are many brands to choose from, Segate, Maxtor but basically they are all the same. For 320 - 400GB its between $100 to $200.

 

For me, i prefer to buy a laptop hard disk and put it into a external HDD case instead of buying the ones that are already an external hard disk.

 

EDIT: And just to tell you guys, NEVER EVER PLUG YOUR EXTERNAL HDD & THUMBDRIVE PERMANENTLY PLUGGED INTO YOUR PC'S USB PORT. I did that once and it screwed my Win Vista's Windows Diagnostic Policy Service. I had to reformat my PC.

[Fritz]

This may sound like a stupid question but I was wondering if there's any difference if my external HDD comes with a firewire port or not?

[starr]

You can get they at Sim Lim Square, Funan Etc. There are many brands to choose from, Segate, Maxtor but basically they are all the same. For 320 - 400GB its between $100 to $200.

 

For me, i prefer to buy a laptop hard disk and put it into a external HDD case instead of buying the ones that are already an external hard disk.

 

EDIT: And just to tell you guys, NEVER EVER PLUG YOUR EXTERNAL HDD & THUMBDRIVE PERMANENTLY PLUGGED INTO YOUR PC'S USB PORT. I did that once and it screwed my Win Vista's Windows Diagnostic Policy Service. I had to reformat my PC.

 

Wahh! there is such thing? and what abt price comparison? which is cheaper if i get that laptop hd insteaD?

[redbeacon]

This may sound like a stupid question but I was wondering if there's any difference if my external HDD comes with a firewire port or not?

 

To answer your question, you needn't worry. Just as long as you have the cable of your choice (either Firewire or USB), and that your computer has a Firewire or USB port to accept your external hard drive.

 

EDIT: And just to tell you guys, NEVER EVER PLUG YOUR EXTERNAL HDD & THUMBDRIVE PERMANENTLY PLUGGED INTO YOUR PC'S USB PORT. I did that once and it screwed my Win Vista's Windows Diagnostic Policy Service. I had to reformat my PC.

 

Wow, this is new to me. Care to share what happened?

[crazydj]

Wahh! there is such thing? and what abt price comparison? which is cheaper if i get that laptop hd insteaD?

 

Laptop hardisk + external case is cheaper than buying the whole HDD. The difference is basically design and some fancy gizmos like one touch backup and stuff.

 

If you like crude cheap stuff like me, Laptop hardisk + external case is the way to go. If you want t nicer deisgned external HDD, less Susceptible to shocks, then those external HDD which cannot be dismantled is the way to go.

 

To answer your question, you needn't worry. Just as long as you have the cable of your choice (either Firewire or USB), and that your computer has a Firewire or USB port to accept your external hard drive.

 

 

 

Wow, this is new to me. Care to share what happened?

 

Basically i plugged my ext HDD drive in my PCs port at the back for 3 weeks. In the span of the second week, i would get BSODs(Blue Screen of Death) whenever i boot up my PC. The error message on my PC would always indicate a USB problem. I knew something was going to be wrong but i just couldnt care really. I would either plug out my HDD or just restart my PC before my Vista loaded up. Or sometimes when using my HDD, it would hang for a bit and stuff. Things like this happen to USB stuff all the time. Doesnt matter for my computer, your computer or everyone's computer.

 

And then finally, i couldnt connect to the internet. Apparently, Windows Diagnostic Policy has been diabled and cannot be enabled back. Why? Because this is the Windows Service that "repairs and trouble shoots" problems in the first place. Going into the registry or services.msc doesnt solve anything because if i tried to manually enable it, it would not let me.

 

For 1 week i was finding a solution, for hours finding a solution but never did come across a methog that worked. I am a member of a US Overclocking forum, overclock.net and they too couldnt find the solution. I finally bit the bullet, gave up and formatted my PC.

 

I used to be very into the overclocking and modding scene back when i was younger. The reason why i was into it was because my friends could afford good and powerful computers while i had slow Intel 733Mhz and AMD Socket A 1.67 Ghz to deal with. So naturally, i was compelled to overclock my PC to meet up to my friends'. Hell, i even bought cheapo LED fans and stuff to "pimp up" my PC. I even once bought a Linksys 54G router from my friend for 5 bucks and overclocked it. Yes, over clocked it. I even modded and installed a small fan in it and my mum always thought that my PC was on because of the loud fan sound. Anyway, it lasted for a few days then it finally got burned because i didnt monitor the voltages properly and it overheated. Good times man.. good times.

 

But now i am into motor bikes. The PC scene for me is long dead. It changes so fast. Once you're out of touch for a bit, you're out of touch a very long time. Things in this industry change overnight. Gosh i miss the good old days...

[redbeacon]

Laptop hardisk + external case is cheaper than buying the whole HDD. The difference is basically design and some fancy gizmos like one touch backup and stuff.

 

If you like crude cheap stuff like me, Laptop hardisk + external case is the way to go. If you want t nicer deisgned external HDD, less Susceptible to shocks, then those external HDD which cannot be dismantled is the way to go.

 

 

 

Basically i plugged my ext HDD drive in my PCs port at the back for 3 weeks. In the span of the second week, i would get BSODs(Blue Screen of Death) whenever i boot up my PC. The error message on my PC would always indicate a USB problem. I knew something was going to be wrong but i just couldnt care really. I would either plug out my HDD or just restart my PC before my Vista loaded up. Or sometimes when using my HDD, it would hang for a bit and stuff. Things like this happen to USB stuff all the time. Doesnt matter for my computer, your computer or everyone's computer.

 

And then finally, i couldnt connect to the internet. Apparently, Windows Diagnostic Policy has been diabled and cannot be enabled back. Why? Because this is the Windows Service that "repairs and trouble shoots" problems in the first place. Going into the registry or services.msc doesnt solve anything because if i tried to manually enable it, it would not let me.

 

For 1 week i was finding a solution, for hours finding a solution but never did come across a methog that worked. I am a member of a US Overclocking forum, overclock.net and they too couldnt find the solution. I finally bit the bullet, gave up and formatted my PC.

 

I used to be very into the overclocking and modding scene back when i was younger. The reason why i was into it was because my friends could afford good and powerful computers while i had slow Intel 733Mhz and AMD Socket A 1.67 Ghz to deal with. So naturally, i was compelled to overclock my PC to meet up to my friends'. Hell, i even bought cheapo LED fans and stuff to "pimp up" my PC. I even once bought a Linksys 54G router from my friend for 5 bucks and overclocked it. Yes, over clocked it. I even modded and installed a small fan in it and my mum always thought that my PC was on because of the loud fan sound. Anyway, it lasted for a few days then it finally got burned because i didnt monitor the voltages properly and it overheated. Good times man.. good times.

 

But now i am into motor bikes. The PC scene for me is long dead. It changes so fast. Once you're out of touch for a bit, you're out of touch a very long time. Things in this industry change overnight. Gosh i miss the good old days...

Woah,

 

If you were to bring your overclocking principles -- or shall I say, engine, piston or ECU mods -- to motorcycles, you would have had a proven track record. Not to mention the many bike problems that you've invoked. No offense there, just a joke.

 

Anyways, I've been reading around and have seen lots of people with this Diagnostic Policy service issue. Of everything Vista nowadays, haiz....

[chuan.z]

But now i am into motor bikes. The PC scene for me is long dead. It changes so fast. Once you're out of touch for a bit, you're out of touch a very long time. Things in this industry change overnight. Gosh i miss the good old days...

 

Good ol' days indeed... I remembered the times when HDD capacity was counted in MBs, and costs a bomb...

[Fritz]

To answer your question, you needn't worry. Just as long as you have the cable of your choice (either Firewire or USB), and that your computer has a Firewire or USB port to accept your external hard drive.

 

 

Ah okay, thanks. Firewire's transfer speed is faster than USB, so I heard?