1TB External HDD - Flashing Lights - Bad Things Have Happened

**Paul4763** · #1 23rd Oct 2009, 18:39

My 1TB Hitachi NESO external HDD has 3 lights on it. Power, sleep and then the data one. The power one is always solid, the data one blinks when there is activity and sleep one is solid if it is inactive.

Ok, so, I take great care with my external HDD because it has 800gB worth of stuff on it. Videos, music, pictures, important documents, all my university and work files, programs... you get the picture.

I left it with my friends who didn't take such great care of it and none have told me if anything happened but basically now when I plug the power in, just the power light blinks very quickly on and off. There is no activity within the external HDD and it is not recognised by the computer when connected via USB.

I read somehwere else on the internet that this exact same thing happened to someone when they were transferring data and the power was accidentally unplugged and thereafter did what I've just described. Unfortunately, there were no replies. Maybe this happened and my friends just haven't told me. They know I'm really possessive and protective of my computers and hardwares.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Is my HDD just completely dead? Can I recover the data? Is there a fix? I just need some assurance because I'm crapping myself right now.

Also, anyone reading this thinking "He should've backed up" well this is the backup and at this moment in time, it's gone and I'm panicking.

Cheers.

**Carbon** · #2 23rd Oct 2009, 18:49

For your question: remove the HDD from the enclosure, yank any adapters off it, plug it in internally. You'll circumvent any problems with the enclosure that way, as it's possible that that's the part that's broken and your HDD is fine.

But the real problem is this: the point of backup isn't that you have some special hard drive labeled "backup", it's that you have (at least) two copies of the data in (at least) two separate places so that you can restore when one fails. If all your important files are on the external, then that drive is not a backup, it's just an external drive. Hell, if your important files are physically connected to the machine as an external drive, that's hardly a backup too, because malicious software or an accident could wipe those as well. If this was the backup of another drive that also failed, then you're not supposed to use the backup as a long term solution, much less leave it around for others to use. I don't mean to berate you after you just possibly lost 800GB of data, because that sucks, but come on, this drive wasn't a backup, or you wouldn't be in this situation - you'd say "my external drive just failed, that sucks, I guess I'll go buy another one" and continue working from the internal.

**Paul4763** · #3 24th Oct 2009, 03:51

Thanks for that, I've been meaning to buy another hard drive to backup but just haven't got round to it.

Also, taking the HDD out of its enclosure, should I take it to a professional or can do this myself? And does taking it out of its enclosure actually take away the need for an external power supply?

Thanks for your help too

**Carbon** · #4 24th Oct 2009, 03:59

Should be able to do it yourself. Basically you'll have the enclosure which is just a plastic thing, perhaps some sort of adapter on the hard drive itself, and then the hard drive. Screwdriver will take care of #1 and #2, and then you can just pop it into your computer.

It will indeed take away the need for an external power supply - you'll need an internal one! If the drive is IDE or maybe even some SATA, it's easy to find a 4-pin Molex cable floating around in your case somewhere - you'll usually have 3 or 4+ not used.

If it's SATA and doesn't take Molex power, you'll need to hook up (surprise) a SATA power cable. You could use one from your existing hard drive temporarily and boot off a CD to see if the disk is good, or you could look for another SATA power cable - usually power supplies have at least 1 or 2. Worst case scenario, a adapter from Molex to SATA is very very cheap and your enclosure might even have one you can borrow.

Hope the drive's working properly, if so you can just buy a new enclosure, pop it in, and make some backups first thing :)

**Paul4763** · #5 24th Oct 2009, 09:19

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately it doesn't have any screws, just one big plastic casing. Here it is

1TB NESO "Ultra Slim High Speed xHDD" External USB 2.0: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

I'm gonna ring Hitachi on Monday and see what the best course of action is. Don't wanna just outright destroy it. If nothing gets resolved there then I might just take it to a computer shop, get someone who knows what they're doing to look at it. £80 and 800Gb worth of hard drive isn't worth me Rambo-ing it with a knife. I don't really care about the HDD I just want the data really and make sure it is secure.

Thanks again for all your help, I'll post here once it's been sorted.

**geekfreek95** · #6 24th Oct 2009, 09:57

well there should be a seem and you can open it with a flat head screwdriver

**Paul4763** · #7 28th Oct 2009, 12:55

Well, I gave it to some hard drive professionals and they said it's bust. They said the "PDC" or "PBC" or something had blown and whenever they tried a new adapter it would blow that aswell.

I asked about data recovery and they said it would be in the region of about £200-£300+ which ain't pretty figures. That's pound sterling too, not dollars. My friend knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy... who can have a look but it's not looking good. 800Gb worth of data gone :P

I had problems with that particular model of hard drive after about 2 weeks so I sent it back and they sent me a new one and within a few more weeks that one has now gone. I'll be steering well clear of these makes in future.

The only upside is that when they sent me a replacement they give me a refund unknowingly aswell, so I essentially got it free.

WD 1.5TB External HDD here I come.