External Drive won't stay connected

Hi there!

I have a desktop computer running Windows 7 Professional that I bought just a couple months ago. I have 2 external hard drives. One that I've had for years which is 500GB, another that I bought a year and a half ago - Seagate Expansion 3TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STBV3000100). The Seagate is where I store everything that's important to me as it's the larger one.

The Seagate worked great up until a few days ago. On Wednesday night, I couldn't get the drive to stay connected. I tried different USB ports on the computer, but that didn't help. I tried switching the plug itself, but that didn't help. I even bought a new cable for it hoping that one I had was just bad, but that didn't help. What happens is that I can get the computer to connect the drive, but when I try to click on a folder in the drive, it freezes and won't let me access it. It only holds the connection for, literally, 1-2 minutes. I tried to run testdisk per a google search that said it might help, but the drive doesn't show up there. I tried, also, GetDataBack, hoping it would see it, but it also isn't picking up the drive. I really really need the stuff that's on there.

Can you help me? Is it possible to get all my data back or get the drive to work again?

I know it's not the computer because the 500 GB drive stays connected perfectly. I was hoping to move the most important things from the 3TB to the 500 GB drive (or maybe everything, if possible). Right now the 500GB one is being used as a mirror image drive, but if it's possible to remove that and move my data, I'd definitely want to do it.


Computer Specs:
Intel Core i7-4770K CPU @ 3.50 GHz
16GB RAM
64 bit operating system
SSD 200GB drive


Please let me know if I've missed including any information.

 

I will try to help, pardon me if I ask the obvious.
Try the 3TB drive on another computer, the 500GB may be more tolerant.
Check your settings for USB under Power Options (click start, type in Power, you should see a "Power Options" control panel listed).
go to "edit plan settings"
then "Change advanced power settings"
finally scroll down to "USB settings"
under "USB selective suspend setting" select "disabled" hit apply
Close the windows with OK and Save Changes
Reboot.
If that fails you might try using a dual USB port cable. Some drives take a lot of power and use two USB ports, one for data+power, one for power only. They are also called "Y" cables. If you are not using one of these, try one out.

If that all fails, remove the 3TB from the enclosure and hook it up as an internal drive to your PC.

 

I followed the settings you mentioned, but that didn't work.

I was too nervous to take it apart. There weren't any screws or anything so I took it to Altex (a computer store) and asked them for help. They tried to see if maybe there was something wrong with the circuit (or circuit board maybe?) and if the data was ok, but when they took it out of the enclosure, and plugged it in, the drive asked to be formatted. They couldn't help me and suggested I call a data recovery company.

 

OUCH! :eek

Not to rub salt in your wounds, but the data recovery company could charge $800 and unfortunately, it doesn't seem you have any choice. I've had some problems, myself, with Seagate drives so, if I buy hard drives, I make sure to get Western Digital Black series.

 

Seagate's External 3TB drives have proprietary drive formats that only its respective USB controller in the enclosure could read the disk. Thus, when they plugged your drive directly into a PC it asked to be formatted since the system doesn't understand the existing format of the media. Your files might still be intact and the problem is just with the enclosure or its power adapter.

 

Oh wow! I didn't know that. So I could try plugging it directly into my computer and see if I have the files that way? I do use Carbonite so it looks like Carbonite backed up most of it. I may not have to pay data recovery unless something important is missing (big yay there!)

I was looking at new external drives, and I'd read Hitachi was the best having very few instances of failure. Is WD better than Hitachi? I was looking at the G-Technology G-DRIVE (Gen 6) USB 3.0 eSATA and FireWire 3TB 7200RPM External Hard Drive (0G02923).

 

As Frozwire said, the Seagate external drive has a proprietary interface that can only use the SATA to USB board that came with it inside the enclosure. So, connecting directly to your computer may give you the same results the computer shop had (drive needs formatting).

 

You might still end up going to a data recovery specialist if you don't have your important files fully backed up. The cost actually vary and depends on their evaluation of the case.