Problems with External 500GB HDD

[Pickles]

I have a Medion external HDD and it started fucking up today.

Basically I use it for storing tv shows and movies and when I open them now they are unresponsive and frames get dropped frequently. I tried running other files with no problem so its definitely the drive.

Question is if I attempted a back up now would I end up with a load of broken files and if so does anyone know how I can save everything? Its basically full of movies and shows and I'd hate to lose it all. Help!

[gezegond]

If you can run the files but they're slow then your problem is with the speed, and most probably a windows problem. Try restarting your computer, you might have run a program that frequently access your usb drive, limiting the speed. If you have another computer or OS, try to see if it still lags on them. Anyways, I think you should be fine making a back up now, because your files seem to be working fine (correct me if I'm wrong)

[Pickles]

If you can run the files but they're slow then your problem is with the speed, and most probably a windows problem. Try restarting your computer, you might have run a program that frequently access your usb drive, limiting the speed. If you have another computer or OS, try to see if it still lags on them. Anyways, I think you should be fine making a back up now, because your files seem to be working fine (correct me if I'm wrong)

Its not windows because I experienced the same problems when trying to run the files on my ps3 (which I do often without problem) the files on the HDD wont work properly at all.

I'm copying one of the files over to my pc now to see if its the files or the drive, but the rate that it is copying is around 400KB a second, while I usually get about 3MB.

[Inferno.]

Stupid question, but have you tried a different USB slot? (If you're using a PC tower and have it plugged into one on the front, try one on the back on the motherboard, for example)

Have you tried another USB cable?

[Kouen Hasuki]

Try Ubuntu Linux, its better at recovery copying than windows which does more NTFS checks

[gezegond]

Have you tried another USB cable?

This might be your problem. Bad cables can sometimes cause this. Also does your drive need separate power connection or is it just USB? Is your drive USB2 or 3? Could it be overheating? Did something happen to it before getting laggy?

[Pickles]

Different post checked, same bullshit there. Did a disc check and it closed itself and now works . . betterish..

[MaslowK]

"chkdsk X: /r" where X is the drive letter for the external drive? If you haven't run it with the /r parameter try that, and post the output here.

[Slacker Magician]

I'd try /f before /r, attempting to recover sectors takes a long time to complete.

[deadlegion]

This might be your problem. Bad cables can sometimes cause this. Also does your drive need separate power connection or is it just USB? Is your drive USB2 or 3? Could it be overheating? Did something happen to it before getting laggy?

Possibly the interface has become unreliable.....especially if it's just a USB powered drive (no separate power supply).

@ Steve: if you still have issues you could try removing the HDD from the caddy and dump the contents via another method.
If it's a large caddy with a separate power supply it should be a desktop sata HDD.
If it's smaller then it'll be a notebook sata.

If you really need to, you can get an all-in-one IDE/sata adaptor USB interface kit pretty cheap (with cables and power supply included).
Handy for dumping drive contents (and lots of other things.....you can hook up optical drives too).



Just some final notes about media storage:
I use external HDD's for media (music and video), I play this stuff via USB on my Blu-ray player.
I also have an external drive hooked up to my Wii for Wii/NGC games.

All of that stuff is also in compressed archives on several backup HDD's (as well as reference PDF's and miscellaneous software).
This way if there are any problems with my media HDD, or my Wii games drive I've still got everything somewhere else

The backup HDD's only get used to dump stuff on or to pull some files off.....so they aren't used all that much.
My media drive gets used all the time really, so if anything was going to die that'd probably be the first to go

And it's best to use WD drives....separate power supply versions are more reliable overall

[Inferno.]

Steve, get one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-To...ht_2515wt_1270

I know that's in Australia, it's just the first one I found. Don't buy one from Australia. It'll be up side down.

[deadlegion]

Steve, get one of these:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-2-0-To...ht_2515wt_1270

I know that's in Australia, it's just the first one I found. Don't buy one from Australia. It'll be up side down.

That's basically the same as the kit I mentioned.......in fact it may be exactly the same (looks like it)
I got mine from Hong Kong though, I think it was around $13AU with postage

Anyway, when I got mine it had 2x power cords that were both US type even though the seller stated they'd supply the correct one for my region.
No big deal though....you can just use a standard PC/printer/etc power cord (and I have plenty of them anyway).

[Inferno.]

That's basically the same as the kit I mentioned.......in fact it may be exactly the same (looks like it)
I got mine from Hong Kong though, I think it was around $13AU with postage

Anyway, when I got mine it had 2x power cords that were both US type even though the seller stated they'd supply the correct one for my region.
No big deal though....you can just use a standard PC/printer/etc power cord (and I have plenty of them anyway).

Yeah, I was just linking to it in case he looks at the wrong one.

[Pickles]

Some final notes before I blow my brains out.

1. HDD is experiencing the same problems no matter what OS or whatever I use
2. I don't have anywhere to dump the files even if I had the means to do so (laptop HDD is only 250GB)
3. I'm genuiley considering a hate campain and possibly some terrorist activity involving Seagate employees
4. Thanks to everyone who has tried to help out. There shall be no reward for your efforts

[Slacker Magician]

Some final notes before I blow my brains out.

1. HDD is experiencing the same problems no matter what OS or whatever I use
2. I don't have anywhere to dump the files even if I had the means to do so (laptop HDD is only 250GB)
3. I'm genuiley considering a hate campain and possibly some terrorist activity involving Seagate employees
4. Thanks to everyone who has tried to help out. There shall be no reward for your efforts

That should've been the first thing you mentioned .