Seagate External Hard drive help

[angelica68]

Hi

I have been very recently having problems, with the portable external hard drive that I had purchased early this year. I had been transferring things to this drive for storage however a few days ago, it stopped working.

I plugged via USB cable into the port of my PC and it does a sound to say there is something plugged in connecting. But in My PC window it does not show up at all. The hard drive does not show a light at all when plugged in, and i cannot hear or feel it is running at all.

I tried following a few suggestions, but it does not work

• Unplug it and use a different USB Cable,
• Try it on a different PC/ Laptop
• Device Manager- update the driver

-Device Manager- uninstall, reboot and plug it back in etc

I went to the Disk Management and it will say

Disk 2, Unknown, Not Initialised. Nothing else.

I have things stored in that drive and wanted some help how can I fix it or at least be able to go and take out the data/recover it and store it/transfer it to elsewhere.

Please can you help if there is suggestions.

Thank you

SEAGATE Portable Drive 5 TB

[phillpower2]

Hello angelica68,
I went to the Disk Management and it will say

Disk 2, Unknown, Not Initialised. Nothing else.

Ouch, that really is not good news as initialising a disk wipes out any data on it.

There are a couple of things that you can try but can you first of all let us know what version of Windows you are running as in 7, 8.1 or 10 etc.

It may also help if you can tell us how much of the 5TB drive was available as free storage space, this is very important for us to know.

[angelica68]

Hello angelica68,

Ouch, that really is not good news as initialising a disk wipes out any data on it.

There are a couple of things that you can try but can you first of all let us know what version of Windows you are running as in 7, 8.1 or 10 etc.

It may also help if you can tell us how much of the 5TB drive was available as free storage space, this is very important for us to know.

Windows 10, I cannot even remember how many space is left but there should be half of the drive space left from the top of my head.

[phillpower2]

Can I ask that you do not quote every reply as we have to read the full post to make sure nothing gets missed, thanks.

If there was plenty of free storage space on the drive and it has gone bad you may need to try and get this sorted using the warranty, anything that you do that may result in the loss of any data of the drive will be down to yourself and not Seagate, we can take a look for you and then give you some feedback.

Can you upload an expanded screenshot of Disk Manager for us.

Access Disk Management via Run.

Press the Windows+R keys to open Run, type diskmgmt.msc in the empty box then press OK.

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start…all programs…accessories…paint…left click in the white area …press CTRL + V…click on file…click on save…save it to your desktop…name it something related to the screen your capturing… BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG …otherwise it may be to big to upload… after typing in any response you have… click on Attach files to add the screenshot.

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[angelica68]

Disk 2

[ATTACH type=“full” width=“897px”]9726[/ATTACH]

[phillpower2]

What is Disk (1) G: which has been converted to FAT32, is it by any chance a partition on Disk (2).

[angelica68]

that is my other usb removable stick, that has nothing to do with it and it is separate

[phillpower2]

Word of advice then, remove it from the computer else whatever caused the external drive to go pear shaped could also happen to the G: device

Last couple of questions before making a suggestion, was the external Seagate formatted to NTFS and all the data transferred to it also in NTFS format and not FAT32.

[angelica68]

I cannot remember, sorry.

[phillpower2]

That could be what has caused the problem then, FAT32 is great for USB flash drives and external USB HDD but the data stored to them has limitations such as you can`t mix file types, store a single file larger than 4GB and FAT32 lacks permissions and other security features built into the more modern NTFS file system which can also upset Windows.

First check is a free and simple one, see if Recuva free can find anything on the drive, the only other option is a lot more involved hence the reason why Recuva has been suggested first.

[angelica68]

Hi, I had tried as your suggestion, but Recuva could not find the drive at all or anything that is in it. thank you

[phillpower2]

Not as daunting as it looks, see the tutorial below for Puppy Linux;

===================

[color=“#FF0000”]Required Hardware

CD Burner (CDRW) Drive,

Blank CD,

Extra Storage Device (USB Flash Drive, External Hard Drive)

===================

1. Save these files to your Desktop/Burn Your Live CD:[ul]Download [color=“#000080”]Latest Puppy Linux ISO (i.e.: lupu-528.iso)

https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/puppy-slacko-7.0/64/

Download [color=“#000080”]BurnCDCC ISO Burning Software

[color=“#FF0000”]There are instructions on how to boot from flash drive with puppy here; How to Create a Puppy Linux Live USB Drive ▷ Make Bootable

• [li]Open BurnCDCC with Windows Explorer[/li]
  [li]Extract All files to a location you can remember[/li]
  [li]Double Click http://www.geekstogo.com/misc/guide_icons/linux_puppy/1 BurnCDCC Icon.PNG BurnCDCC[/li]
  [li]Click Browse http://www.geekstogo.com/misc/guide_icons/linux_puppy/2 BurnCDCC Browse Button.PNG and navigate to the Puppy Linux ISO file you just downloaded[/li]
  [li]Open/Double Click that file[/li]
  [color=“#FF0000”]IMPORTANT: Adjust the speed bar to CD: 4x DVD: 1x
  
  [li]Click Start http://www.geekstogo.com/misc/guide_icons/linux_puppy/3 BurnCDCC Start Button.PNG[/li]
  [li]Your CD Burner Tray will open automatically[/li]
  [li]Insert a blank CD and close the tray[/li]
  [li]Click OK[/li]
  [/ul]Puppy Linux Live CD will now be created
  

2. Set your boot priority in the BIOS to CD-ROM first, Hard Drive Second

[ul]

• [li]Start the computer/press the power button[/li]
  [li]Immediately start tapping the appropriate key to enter the BIOS, aka “Setup”[/li]
  (Usually shown during the “Dell” screen, or “Gateway” Screen)
  
  [li]Once in the BIOS, under Advanced BIOS Options change boot priority to:[/li]
  CD-ROM 1st, Hard Drive 2nd
  
  [li]Open your ROM drive and insert the disk[/li]
  [li]Press F10 to save and exit[/li]
  [li]Agree with “Y” to continue[/li]
  [li]Your computer will restart and boot from the Puppy Linux Live CD[/li]
  
  http://www.geekstogo.com/misc/guide_icons/linux_puppy/4 BIOSBootPriorityImage.png
  
  [/ul]
  

3. Recover Your Data

[ul]Once Puppy Linux has loaded, it is actually running in your computer’s Memory (RAM). You will see a fully functioning Graphical User Interface similar to what you normally call “your computer”. Internet access may or may not be available depending on your machine, so it is recommended you print these instructions before beginning. Also, double clicking is not needed in Puppy. To expand, or open folders/icons, just click once. Puppy is very light on resources, so you will quickly notice it is much speedier than you are used to. This is normal. Ready? Let’s get started.

3a. Mount Drives

• [li]Click the Mount Icon located at the top left of your desktop. http://www.geekstogo.com/misc/guide_icons/linux_puppy/5 Puppy Linux Mount Icon.PNG[/li]
  [li]A Window will open. By default, the “drive” tab will be forward/highlighted. Click on Mount for your hard drive.[/li]
  [li]Assuming you only have one hard drive and/or partition, there may be only one selection to mount.[/li]
  [li]USB Flash Drives usually automatically mount upon boot, but click the “usbdrv” tab and make sure it is mounted.[/li]
  [li]If using an external hard drive for the data recovery, do this under the “drive” tab. Mount it now.[/li]
  [/ul]
  
  3b. Transfer Files.[ul]
  
  [li]At the bottom left of your desktop a list of all hard drives/partitions, USB Drives, and Optical Drives are listed with a familiar looking hard drive icon.[/li]
  [li]Open your old hard drive i.e. sda1[/li]
  [li]Next, open your USB Flash Drive or External Drive. i.e. sdc or sdb1[/li]
  [li]If you open the wrong drive, simply X out at the top right corner of the window that opens. (Just like in Windows)[/li]
  [li]From your old hard drive, drag and drop whatever files/folders you wish to transfer to your USB Drive’s Window.[/li]
  [/ul]
  
  For The Novice: The common path to your pictures, music, video, and documents folders for XP is: Documents and Settings >> All Users (or each individual name of each user, for Vista and above C:\Users$USERNAME[…]. CHECK All Names!) >> Documents >> You will now see My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos.
  
  Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.
  
  YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption. Congratulations!
  
  [IMG alt="PuppyLinux528screenshot" width="690px" height="431px"]https://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa249/thesparkman/geeks/PuppyLinux528screenshot.png[/IMG]
  

For computers that have UEFI as opposed to legacy BIOS, to be able to boot from your USB device you may need to disable secure boot and change UEFI to CSM Boot, not all computers and BIOS are the same, please refer to your user manual if you have one as the following steps are only one such example.

Restart the computer, Windows 8 and 8.1 from the Start or desktop screen move your mouse pointer over the upper or lower right corner of the screen, when the Windows Charms appear click the Settings Charm, click on Power and then the Restart option.

Windows 10, Click on Start,Power and then Restart.

While the computer is re-starting,you will need to continually tap or hold down the particular key that will allow you to access the BIOS on your computer, we will use the F2 key as an example here;

After restarting the computer, when the screen goes black, press and hold down the F2 key, wait for the BIOS to load.

Select Security → Secure Boot and then Disabled.

Select Advanced → System Configuration and then Boot Mode.

Change UEFI Boot to CSM Boot.

Save the changes and Exit the BIOS, commonly F10.

[Bruce]

@angelica68 - any news?

[angelica68]

Hi, I am having problems trying to get into/find BIOS, my computer is HP around 2014/15 version

[Bruce]

as soon as the PC boots up, you need to repeatedly hit a F Key, a Function key, in order to enter BIOS.
the key changes per system, but the usual suspects are Del, F2, F10 or Tab, with F2 probably being the most common.

most PC’s briefly show what key is needed along the bottom of the screen for about 3 seconds as the PC first starts.