Solve : Have a problem with my external HDD's?

1.	Solve : Have a problem with my external HDD's?
Answer» I have three SATA hard drives that I use in external cases. I used them without trouble on my Vista SYSTEM. Used a MATES computer that ran XP, initially they WORKED fine, but after a while they all failed. By failed, I mean that no computer will recignise them anymore. I purchased a new enclosure and ALSO plugged drives into motherboard with no success. A thought I had was they stopped working when the xp system was restarted with the HDD still plugged in. Is there a way these drives can be repaired or possibly reformatted without losing data. Not keen on sending to a tech and costing my hundreds of dollars. Any help would be much appreciated. How long have you had the SATA drives? You might try using a SATA to USB adapter to retrieve your data, however, I've never tried this before so I'm not sure of the success rate. Most likely, whether or not it works will depend on what exactly is wrong with the drives. http://www.cooldrives.com/seatatousb20.html Some SATA drives use a jumper pin on back for either 300 Mbps or 150 Mbps, be sure the board they're plugged into support 300 Mbps, otherwise you'll need to set the 150 Mbps jumper pin on them....So if they're not working on other computer, that could be whyThe SATA drives are two years old max. Is it possible that the formatting became corrupt? Changing from NTFS and FAT (Vista to XP) That fact that they originally worked on the older xp system then stopped had me thinking that when the computer booted with the drives plugged in it effected them in some way.Quote from: cc10 on June 01, 2009, 09:46:08 PM Is it possible that the formatting became corrupt? On ALL THREE drives? I wouldn't think so.... Do the drives show up in CMOS when they are connected? Using the drives in a Windows XP (coming from Vista) system wouldn't make a difference, because Windows XP recognizes NTFS. Unless you went into Disk Management and formatted them, the file systems should be the same as when you first connected them to the XP computer......not exactly sure what you mean by switching from "NTFS and FAT". I know I formatted at least one in disk management. Is this bad?Quote from: cc10 on June 02, 2009, 12:41:43 AM I know I formatted at least one in disk management. Is this bad? No, but if you DID NOT back up the data that was on the drive before you formatted it, then that data is GONE forever.. edit: look in CMOS and tell me if the drives are showing up, when they are connected! Do you know what I mean by this? You should be able to see the make/model HDD size (in Gigabytes), and what SATA controller they are connected to on the motherboard I don't mean "My Computer" I mean CMOS Power on the computer and when the BIOS version appears (very first screen) hit either F1,F2, or F10, or Delete. One of those keys will allow you to enter CMOS and view the basic hardware configuration of the computer... If your drives are working properly then they will appear in CMOS, if they do not appear, then there is a problem with the physical connection OR they are likely BADYes the drive shows up. Had a look in disk management and it shows up as a healthy drive with an allocated drive letter. Comes up as RAW though.RAW is bad news... This normally means the drive was unplugged without using "safely remove hardware" precautions and your data is gone... Sorry. You can attempt running some data recovery software on it but i don't predict much success.Do you reccomend any free data recovery software? Quote from: patio on June 03, 2009, 09:13:21 PM RAW is bad news... I'm curious, could this happen to any drive? Could a thumb drive become "raw"? I unplug my thumb drive all the TIME without ending it properly Yes it can. Thumb drives use flash memory...different than how a HDD works but it can still happen.Quote from: patio on June 04, 2009, 06:35:50 AM Yes it can. Thumb drives use flash memory...different than how a HDD works but it can still happen. ahhhh time to change my ways then, I suppose

Answer»

I have three SATA hard drives that I use in external cases. I used them without trouble on my Vista SYSTEM. Used a MATES computer that ran XP, initially they WORKED fine, but after a while they all failed. By failed, I mean that no computer will recignise them anymore. I purchased a new enclosure and ALSO plugged drives into motherboard with no success. A thought I had was they stopped working when the xp system was restarted with the HDD still plugged in. Is there a way these drives can be repaired or possibly reformatted without losing data. Not keen on sending to a tech and costing my hundreds of dollars.

Any help would be much appreciated. How long have you had the SATA drives?

You might try using a SATA to USB adapter to retrieve your data, however, I've never tried this before so I'm not sure of the success rate. Most likely, whether or not it works will depend on what exactly is wrong with the drives.

http://www.cooldrives.com/seatatousb20.html

Some SATA drives use a jumper pin on back for either 300 Mbps or 150 Mbps, be sure the board they're plugged into support 300 Mbps, otherwise you'll need to set the 150 Mbps jumper pin on them....So if they're not working on other computer, that could be whyThe SATA drives are two years old max.
Is it possible that the formatting became corrupt? Changing from NTFS and FAT (Vista to XP)
That fact that they originally worked on the older xp system then stopped had me thinking that when the computer booted with the drives plugged in it effected them in some way.Quote from: cc10 on June 01, 2009, 09:46:08 PM

Is it possible that the formatting became corrupt?

On ALL THREE drives? I wouldn't think so.... Do the drives show up in CMOS when they are connected?

Using the drives in a Windows XP (coming from Vista) system wouldn't make a difference, because Windows XP recognizes NTFS. Unless you went into Disk Management and formatted them, the file systems should be the same as when you first connected them to the XP computer......not exactly sure what you mean by switching from "NTFS and FAT".

I know I formatted at least one in disk management. Is this bad?Quote from: cc10 on June 02, 2009, 12:41:43 AM

I know I formatted at least one in disk management. Is this bad?

No, but if you DID NOT back up the data that was on the drive before you formatted it, then that data is GONE forever..

edit: look in CMOS and tell me if the drives are showing up, when they are connected! Do you know what I mean by this? You should be able to see the make/model HDD size (in Gigabytes), and what SATA controller they are connected to on the motherboard

I don't mean "My Computer" I mean CMOS Power on the computer and when the BIOS version appears (very first screen) hit either F1,F2, or F10, or Delete. One of those keys will allow you to enter CMOS and view the basic hardware configuration of the computer... If your drives are working properly then they will appear in CMOS, if they do not appear, then there is a problem with the physical connection OR they are likely BADYes the drive shows up. Had a look in disk management and it shows up as a healthy drive with an allocated drive letter. Comes up as RAW though.RAW is bad news...
This normally means the drive was unplugged without using "safely remove hardware" precautions and your data is gone...
Sorry.

You can attempt running some data recovery software on it but i don't predict much success.Do you reccomend any free data recovery software?
Quote from: patio on June 03, 2009, 09:13:21 PM

RAW is bad news...

I'm curious, could this happen to any drive? Could a thumb drive become "raw"?

I unplug my thumb drive all the TIME without ending it properly Yes it can.
Thumb drives use flash memory...different than how a HDD works but it can still happen.Quote from: patio on June 04, 2009, 06:35:50 AM

Yes it can.
Thumb drives use flash memory...different than how a HDD works but it can still happen.

ahhhh time to change my ways then, I suppose

Solve : Have a problem with my external HDD's?

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