Lost Hard Drive

Soldato
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Hi there

Wonder if anyone can help please? This morning my pc decided it couldn't find my 500gb Seagate external hard drive.

I'm running windows 7 ult 64bit and the hdd is connected through USB but its not picking it up at all. There's still power going to the hdd, I've tried assigning the drive a letter using disc management but it still doesn't see it.

I've then tried connecting the drive to another pc (running XP) and still no joy. Does it sound like the drive is dead? Or does anyone else have any suggestions please?
 
Is the drive spinning up OK?

Is disk management showing the drive but just not letting you do anything? Is it showing the format of the drive correctly?

Do you have the option of fitting the drive internally in your PC?
 
Hi there

Thanks for the quick reply - yes the drive is spinning up okay, disk management doesn't show the drive at all :confused:

Not too sure about connecting it internally, though if it comes down to it I'd be willing to try.
 
mine does this quite a lot, unplug the external hdd from the power cable, restart the computer, log on, then unplug the usb, re-plug in the power cable to the hdd let it spin up then put in the usb, dunno if it will work but it usually sorts mine out :)
 
Hi there

Thanks for the replies - Tried your suggestion Icysniper but still no joy. The hard drive problem has developed further now as my main system will now no longer take me on line. It's connected by ethernet to a Netgear DG834GT router but still gives me a 50% packet loss when trying to ping Google :(

Just packing at the moment though as we're off for a late Easter break away so I'll worry about sorting it on Mon when we're back. ;)

Thanks guys :)
 
Hi there

Got my connection issue resolved - been browsing the Seagate forums and it seems like quite a few other people are experiencing the same problem. I've tried various different USB ports with no joy. There's no issue with these ports are other peripherals can connect through them with no problems. I've tried another USB cable and tried connecting to another PC (using XP) but its still not being detected. The drive is lighting up and spinning up with no problems it just seems no PC is able to detect it for some reason :confused:

I'd be interested if there's anyone else here with a Seagate Freeagent external hard drive running win7 64bit thats experiencing the same issue?
 
Had the same issue with my Seagate Freeagent 500GB. Died in this way two weeks in.

Did not want to RMA as had loads of data on it. So I cracked the drive out of the Freeagent case. Straight into a e-sata capable external enclosure and it has worked fine ever since at e-sata speeds. Since drive was fine assumed the board in the freeagent case had given up.
 
Thanks for the reply Sam - looks like mine has died too. I also have quite a bit of data on their I dont want to loose, however my drive is still under warranty and I've contacted Seagate for an RMA number.

If I risk cracking open the case and connecting through Sata then I've lost my warranty (and it still might not work). Decisions, decisions. . . . . . . :(
 
Well I packaged it up and sent it off to Seagate earlier today - some warranty you get with those (5years :eek:)

Got myself a 1tb Hitatchi in the mean time, lost a helluva load of data and had to change all my passwords but I'm glad I've got mates with fast tinternet connections prepared to help me rebuild my movie / music / tv collections :D
 
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