Garda Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 i have a 250GB SATA hard drive in an external USB enclosure. The problem and thing that totally shits me is that it is really hard to get working and then only lasts for a very short time. I plug it in, either the light goes off and it doesn't work, or after about 10 tries it will eventually work. Then lasts for about 10 mins and then dies again in the same way. The hard drive doesn't shut down, it's still spinning, but can't read or write at all. This appears to be unrelated to whether there are other USB devices, however it will cause a simular effect to other USB drives plugged in at the same time. Meaning other USB drives will dies in much the same way when the external hard drive is plugged in. Any ideas guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armadaender Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 Just off the top of my head, it sounds like a power problem. Maybe the psu for the hdd is going bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kateweb Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 have you tried useing it as a slave out side the case? if that works it the case giveing you problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 yeah I've guess power too... as Kateweb suggests, see if the drive works out of the enclosure, some of those USB->HDD boards can be really flakey sometime from my experience... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badp Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 I don't know if it will work but you might try Spinrite (http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm .. and sadly, no, I don't get a commission) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalada Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 The fact that other USB devices are exhibiting similar failure also suggests to me power or something up with the USB on your computer. Try using a powered hub to get those other devices working, or use a PCI-USB card to test for USB issues (I think doing that solves any that are on the motherboard, correct me if I'm wrong). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garda Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 The fact that other USB devices are exhibiting similar failure also suggests to me power or something up with the USB on your computer. Try using a powered hub to get those other devices working, or use a PCI-USB card to test for USB issues (I think doing that solves any that are on the motherboard, correct me if I'm wrong). yea, that's the wierd thing because it uses a seperate power cable which draws from the AC power, not the computer's power supply. I haven't had a chance to try the hard drive by placing it internally yet I wierd thing that i've observed. If you leave it for a very long time without accessing any data it will be ok until you access data again, the moment that happens it dies again. Really wierd. Otherwise it dies after about 10 mins of work, requiring to be plugged in again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kateweb Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Please tell me it's not clicking when you put your ear up to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emilml Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Please tell me it's not clicking when you put your ear up to it. If it does that u got a big problem, happend to me and i lost all my data on it and it was a paiper wheight once again.. but if it runes for some time, try getting the files over and not moving the harddrive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kateweb Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Please tell me it's not clicking when you put your ear up to it. If it does that u got a big problem, happend to me and i lost all my data on it and it was a paiper wheight once again.. but if it runes for some time, try getting the files over and not moving the harddrive Awwwaa you did'nt take the back off and make yourself a Mirror? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emilml Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Nah after using it for a heater/papier wheight i got a new from the warranty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kateweb Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Nah after using it for a heater/papier wheight i got a new from the warranty the geek Mirror Is a sign of the Ubber Geek , But then Again so is the paper weight. how in the heck did you get away with getting a new one whithout sending the old one back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emilml Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 i did send the old one back xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kateweb Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 i did send the old one back xD Ahh ok, I thought you were still useing it as a paper weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garda Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 It doesn't go click. The hard drive is new. I think that the problem lies with the external enclosure, although i haven't actually had the chance to test it in a computer. The click sound is bad, it means your hard drive is in the process of dying. I did however get that one time. It was kinda wierd, it would go click, then turn off (the hard drive would turn off, not the computer) whenever it read from the beginning of the hard drive, but the rest was ok. so i just made a partition at the beginning that i never mounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 I had an issue with an internal drive where any one of my IDE drives might spontaniously turn off... it would turn back on when it liked or a reboot would usually get it back again but if the Windows drive died it locked completely... turned out to be my PSU dying :( That was actually also the reason my IDE card was too unstable to use, but then powering 4 HDDs and 2 optical drives on an AthlonXP sytem using a cheap old 375W PSU with DIY molex doublers with wires jammed in existing molexes wasn't gonna get me anywhere :| Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalito Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 i was one time working on a friends compter when i notices smoke comming out of one of the fan vents. When i opened all i could say was "owned". There was a small fire on the cpu and hard drive. It has nothin to do with this thread but i just wanted to share =) But on the topic of the hard drive issue. I think the other guys are right when it comes to it being a power issue. If worse comes to worse, chances are your going to have to get a new one but i'm sure there is an solution to your problem. I hope you find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalada Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 The fact that other USB devices are exhibiting similar failure also suggests to me power or something up with the USB on your computer. Try using a powered hub to get those other devices working, or use a PCI-USB card to test for USB issues (I think doing that solves any that are on the motherboard, correct me if I'm wrong). yea, that's the wierd thing because it uses a seperate power cable which draws from the AC power, not the computer's power supply. I haven't had a chance to try the hard drive by placing it internally yet I wierd thing that i've observed. If you leave it for a very long time without accessing any data it will be ok until you access data again, the moment that happens it dies again. Really wierd. Otherwise it dies after about 10 mins of work, requiring to be plugged in again. In that case maybe the external enclosures power "system" is faulty (someone's probably already said that ). I'd definitely recommend trying it internally, that'll help rule out the hard drive. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garda Posted September 23, 2006 Author Share Posted September 23, 2006 ok. so i put it in a computer it seems to work ok, but i keep getting these messages # mount -t vfat -o rw,user,umask=000,nosuid,shortname=winnt /dev/sdb2 /mnt/sdb2 # libhal.c 911 : Error sending msg: No property info.category on device with id /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/scsi_1_0_0_0 libhal.c 911 : Error sending msg: No property info.category on device with id /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/scsi_1_0_0_0 libhal.c 911 : Error sending msg: No property info.category on device with id /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/scsi_1_0_0_0 libhal.c 911 : Error sending msg: No property info.category on device with id /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/scsi_1_0_0_0 whatever that means. it doesn't seem to keep stopping though, i don't think so anyway it's too late to take it back to the store and get a new one. I'd have to wait for Western Digital to do whatever they need and repair it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garda Posted September 24, 2006 Author Share Posted September 24, 2006 ok. after reformatting the above error doesn't appear and the whole thing works properly (when used internally) which i guess is pretty good. The $108 hard drive works while the $45 enclosure is kinda crappy. I can deal with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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