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Issues with 1TB External

E

earle117

n00b
Joined
Nov 13, 2010
Messages
34
I have a 1TB Transcend USB 2.0 External, and it's had issues since... about 3 months after buying it? I bought it back in January 2012

I've kinda put it off and not thought about it, but I need to figure out what's wrong, because there is data on there I would really like to save.

Basically, it will turn on when I turn my PC on, but then it will turn back off after 1-5 minutes. Sometimes unplugging it and plugging it back in will turn it back on, sometimes not. I try and grab a couple of important files each time it does that, but I have like 300GB of information on there I'd like to save...

Any tips? I've thought about trying to crack the case open, but I'm a bit terrified of damaging the HDD itself.

Also, I've already tried using a different USB cable, different ports, a different PC, etc. It doesn't have a dedicated power cord, it uses a Y split USB.
 
Two things could be wrong. The control board with the PSU could be the issue or the drive is failing.

I recommend the next time you get it running , BACK UP anything that matters and consider it a lost cause.
 
If the control board is what is failing, could cracking open the case help?

After all, isn't it most likely just a laptop HDD in there?
 
earle117 said:
If the control board is what is failing, could cracking open the case help?

After all, isn't it most likely just a laptop HDD in there?
Click to expand...

It depends if its a newer external drive or not. Its a risk , to be honest if it were my data I would just get it working , back it up ASAP and buy a new external drive.

It simply isn't worth the risk if the data matters to you.

I've lost over 3TB's of data from external hard drive failures if it matters to you. Take my advice , back it up and ditch the failing drive before its too late.
 
But I can't back it all up. It dies within a minute or two usually, and some of the files are over 1GB each.
 
Well if you can't retrieve the files then you could break it out of the case. At this point you won't have much to lose.

If you can get it running outside of the case , grab whatever you can while it works and other than a professional data recovery service that's about all you can do IF it works.
 
I think that's what I'm going to have to do, and thanks for the responses.

If the data is lost, it's not the end of the world, but some personal stuff is on there that will be missed =(

It's mostly old projects and such, this external was intended for files that I wanted to keep, but wouldn't need access to on a daily basis.
 
I wish you the best of luck. This stuff is depressingly common. Every single one of the three external HDD enclosures I've owned has had a fault, not worked quite right, or failed completely. Sometimes twice.

I can't explain it.

The only enclosure I've had which has been close to reliable has been a Zalman hybrid USB 3.0/eSATA model (HE-350-U3E). For some reason, it seems utterly unable to perform eSATA hotswap. So I usually only use it in USB 3.0 mode.
 
Have you tried a "powered" USB hub? Checked power management settings on the USB hubs in Device Manager?

If so, then you may just have a bad enclosure/power supply. Break it open, and move the drive to a reliable enclosure.
 
Objekt said:
The only enclosure I've had which has been close to reliable has been a Zalman hybrid USB 3.0/eSATA model (HE-350-U3E). For some reason, it seems utterly unable to perform eSATA hotswap. So I usually only use it in USB 3.0 mode.
Click to expand...

hot-swap capability is determined by what your controller is. most motherboards will not be able to do hot-swap even thought they advertise it. to do real hot-swap you need a controller card or a server motherboard.
 
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