Solve : External HDD making sounds and not detected by pc?

1.	Solve : External HDD making sounds and not detected by pc?
Answer» My Western Digital 1.0 TB external HDD makes noise when powered on. Spins up and down( I guess). Not detected by computer. It works sometimes after powering it on and off several times. It's connected using a sata 3.5 to usb adapter with separate power supply and connected to my laptop. I have attached the sound file (HDD.zip) along with the post. Can someone identify the problem. Thankyou [attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]2 things can cause this... #1 - The drive might not be getting adequate power and do it is stuck in an initialization cycle where it starts to spin up and then voltage drops and it cuts out and when it cuts out the voltage jumps back up, so it then starts to spin up again until the voltage drops under load and repeats over and over. #2 - The drive might be unhealthy. Either the motor is not spinning the platters at the correct speed or the drive controller board has an issue. I have seen some of the kits for turning hard drives into external drives have issues. I bought a cheap one on EBAY about 5 years ago that the power supply that CAME with it was junk. The power connection only had 3 pins of 4 with female connections so the 5 and 12 volts shared a COMMON vs both of the voltages having their own dedicated common back to the power supply. It caused my drives connected to it to spin up and down in a cycle over and over. I ended up plugging the hard drive into a desktop computer to power it off an ACTUAL PC power supply and then connected the USB SATA adapter to it and then placed the USB cable into the computer and ran it as an internal external drive. The drive then worked with no problems. This might be the problem your having, or your drive might just be ill.1st off show the adapter you used....2nd i didn't listen to the .wav but if it's clikking it's on it's way out.Thank you for your replies I'm attaching a picture of the adapter. The pins provide 5.45 volt & 11.15 volt. I guess its enough to run the HDD The hardisk works when i shake it sideways ( I should not, but that's the only way to make it work). [attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]If u have clicking noise then u have to open the hdd and move the stick from the disks (make sure u do NOT touch the disks)....check this vid : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m5cil6KezIIgnore the above post.whats wrong in it ??It is the power supply. I have the same problem. Repeatedly. To confirm this, measure the voltages when the HDD is connected and running. The solution is to get a better power supply. The ratings on those cheap supplies are not true. They do not deliver full power during the spin-up cycle of the HDD. About half of the cheap kits I have bought have this problem. It is never the HDD. To confirm, run the HDD from a desktop PSU. It will work fine. Also, look at this: eBay- External 12 volt 2 amp and 5 volt 2 amp PSU for HDD or CD-ROM. The unit above has about 50% more power than the cheep ones. No, it is NOT my listing. Quote from: ayan on October 14, 2015, 10:30:41 AM whats wrong in it ?? -It would only apply with a very specific sound that is not present now. -It suggests taking apart a Hard Disk Drive to effect Data recovery. Since the issue is unlikely to be a "stuck platter" as the noise is nothing like that in the video, it would be incredibly unwise to do so. -Once it's taken apart in a non-clean-room environment the drive cannot be trusted to store anything at all. if the issue is only the Power supply- as it seems to be- the drive will be rendered useless trash. Shaking the HDD is kinda a really bad way to get it going...it's dying/dead...replace it.The drive is OK. Quote from: Geek-9pm on October 15, 2015, 04:05:32 PM The drive is OK. What ? ?Quote from: patio on October 15, 2015, 08:19:21 PM What ? ? The drive clanks because the iItty-bitty PSU can not give it start up current. All he needs to do is either measure the voltage or else use another portable PSU. I have had this problem with THREE good drives that have to kick start. Each connected to a robust PSU do not clunk at all. They just spin up. and work. Windows will not 'see' a drive until it is ready.

Answer»

My Western Digital 1.0 TB external HDD makes noise when powered on. Spins up and down( I guess). Not detected by computer. It works sometimes after powering it on and off several times. It's connected using a sata 3.5 to usb adapter with separate power supply and connected to my laptop.
I have attached the sound file (HDD.zip) along with the post. Can someone identify the problem.

Thankyou

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]2 things can cause this...

#1 - The drive might not be getting adequate power and do it is stuck in an initialization cycle where it starts to spin up and then voltage drops and it cuts out and when it cuts out the voltage jumps back up, so it then starts to spin up again until the voltage drops under load and repeats over and over.

#2 - The drive might be unhealthy. Either the motor is not spinning the platters at the correct speed or the drive controller board has an issue.

I have seen some of the kits for turning hard drives into external drives have issues. I bought a cheap one on EBAY about 5 years ago that the power supply that CAME with it was junk. The power connection only had 3 pins of 4 with female connections so the 5 and 12 volts shared a COMMON vs both of the voltages having their own dedicated common back to the power supply. It caused my drives connected to it to spin up and down in a cycle over and over. I ended up plugging the hard drive into a desktop computer to power it off an ACTUAL PC power supply and then connected the USB SATA adapter to it and then placed the USB cable into the computer and ran it as an internal external drive. The drive then worked with no problems. This might be the problem your having, or your drive might just be ill.1st off show the adapter you used....2nd i didn't listen to the .wav but if it's clikking it's on it's way out.Thank you for your replies

I'm attaching a picture of the adapter.
The pins provide 5.45 volt & 11.15 volt. I guess its enough to run the HDD

The hardisk works when i shake it sideways ( I should not, but that's the only way to make it work).

[attachment deleted by admin to conserve space]If u have clicking noise then u have to open the hdd and move the stick from the disks
(make sure u do NOT touch the disks)....check this vid :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m5cil6KezIIgnore the above post.whats wrong in it ??It is the power supply. I have the same problem. Repeatedly.
To confirm this, measure the voltages when the HDD is connected and running. The solution is to get a better power supply. The ratings on those cheap supplies are not true. They do not deliver full power during the spin-up cycle of the HDD.

About half of the cheap kits I have bought have this problem. It is never the HDD. To confirm, run the HDD from a desktop PSU. It will work fine.

Also, look at this:
eBay- External 12 volt 2 amp and 5 volt 2 amp PSU for HDD or CD-ROM.

The unit above has about 50% more power than the cheep ones.
No, it is NOT my listing. Quote from: ayan on October 14, 2015, 10:30:41 AM

whats wrong in it ??

-It would only apply with a very specific sound that is not present now.
-It suggests taking apart a Hard Disk Drive to effect Data recovery. Since the issue is unlikely to be a "stuck platter" as the noise is nothing like that in the video, it would be incredibly unwise to do so.
-Once it's taken apart in a non-clean-room environment the drive cannot be trusted to store anything at all. if the issue is only the Power supply- as it seems to be- the drive will be rendered useless trash.
Shaking the HDD is kinda a really bad way to get it going...it's dying/dead...replace it.The drive is OK. Quote from: Geek-9pm on October 15, 2015, 04:05:32 PM

The drive is OK.

What ? ?Quote from: patio on October 15, 2015, 08:19:21 PM

What ? ?

The drive clanks because the iItty-bitty PSU can not give it start up current.
All he needs to do is either measure the voltage or else use another portable PSU. I have had this problem with THREE good drives that have to kick start. Each connected to a robust PSU do not clunk at all. They just spin up. and work. Windows will not 'see' a drive until it is ready.

Solve : External HDD making sounds and not detected by pc?

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