external Hard Drive Crazy/Serious Problem

The Scop · 30 Sep 2009 at 22:55

Hi, (in the words of somone on the internet who has the same problem as me but too has come across no solution)

I first got my external FreeAgent Go Hard drive about 1 year ago. It worked fine on a laptop (WinXP SP2) using USB ports for power and data.
Then, just today (worked fine yesterday) it inexplicably stopped working.

"It was as if the computer wasn't reconizing that the drive was plugged in. To make matters worse, when I plug it in it slows down my computer to the point of being unusable. Its only after unplugging the drive does the computer go back to normal.

Now when I connect it to the computer it AGAIN sits there, basically frozen. Unplug it and it snaps back to normal with an "unknown" drive being previously plugged in. Anytime I plug it in to the computer I can do a few operations before the computer just stops (AutoPlay also stopped running). If I try to open up Properties or anything related to the drive, the comp stops. But, as SOON as I unplug the FreeAgent, the computer goes back to normal.

I've left the drive plugged in for a few minutes to hours before touching the computer and when it comes to opening programs or looking at Disk Management/Hardware Profiles/Device Manager etc. the computer again freezes when the drive is connected to the computer."

I've tried restarting the computer (tried the external Hard Drive on couple, same result each one), cleaning and defragging the registry, a couple of USB power cords on the external hard drive itself, still no luck.

I'm going mad, and the fact the drive has loads of important work, photos, etc (some of it backed up, but not all!)

Cheers in advance for any help.

The Scop

The Scop · 1 Oct 2009 at 08:40

Hi again, cheers for the replies guys, in response:

Good sugestion on the safe mode thing, but in there it does nothing at all, no beep from the pc to say a usb device has been plugged in, nothing at all, the external hard drive itself lights up meaning it must be getting power, but yet cant access it.

Sorry dont know what a caddy is (fraid i dont know a tonne about computers and hard drives even less), plus fraid i cant open the case, no screws or anything. Plus warranty wise the things at least a year old, so i'm guessiing that expired a while ago, man I'd happily buy a new one so long as the data from this one could be put on it or transferred, i cant lose that stuff.

Any more advice hugely appreciated

Mark Scoppie

The Scop · 2 Oct 2009 at 11:55

cheers the advise helps a bunch, not sure if i have a spare sata cable, desktop is a family one bought from pc world back in 2005, defo has sata, i'll find out.

If i cant do it i'll take it to a computer shop, to technicians, at least from what your saying the data should still be there and it can be accessed through sata connection.

Yeah i will remember to back up stuff in future, just most of it is, however my laptop is full so i could have a back up of everything.

The Scop · 2 Oct 2009 at 16:42

Yeah I will if I can, fraid there's no pc shops near me (hertford area) there's a pc world in harlow, but like you say they may overcharge me, problem is as nobody else will prob have to take it to them, also they'd better not look through the 'private' stuff on there.

The Scop · 3 Oct 2009 at 11:32

ChileanLlama said:
They will over charge you...and they will look through your 'private' stuff. I think they are both company policies at PC World. Remember Gary Glitter

What thats outrageous, as such i dont have any 'private' stuff on there, however i'm just really worried abou the small collection of films and tv progs i have on there on there, some copied off a friend.

ChileanLlama said:
I'd still try and get yourself a SATA cable and try that, but also have you tried it on different USB ports? A different USB cable? A different computer? Have you tried it on a USB powered hub?

I would buy one but i have no experience with any pc hardware and would probably break it, in regards to the other q's - yeah i have tried it on another computer, same result ufortunately, and i have tried all the usb ports on both computers, even tried plugging the power lead of the y cable into a usb slot plugged directly into the mains, still no luck.

Oh darn it i'm properly worried now, i dont want to get arrested or something, i'll delete all the crap of it, i just wasnt the inportant data back, which is photos.

Thanks for all the help, any more suggestions, advice greatly appreciated.

The Scop