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Incognito
03-04-2012, 10:00 PM
Seems like a simple topic but it seems I am having unexplained failures & just want to know what hard drives everyone is using & their experience with them. I first had a Western Digital "My Passport" 1TB external hard drive that I backed all my digital music files from my computer onto that I kept in a climate controlled room in a fire proof safe, I took this drive out to update my back ups but my computer couldn't open the drive. I tried it on all of my other desktops & laptops & none of them could access the drive. I take the loss, strike it up as a one off experience & go out to replace the drive with a Western Digital "Elements" 1TB drive (have always had good luck with Western Digital in all of my computer builds & upgrades). Fast forward to this evening when once again I go to update my computer file back ups I can't access the drive (this time I had the drive stored out in the opening the climate controlled room just in case the last failure had to do with it being stored in the safe). What Gives???? I also have the same issue with my external thumb drives (about three thumb drives so far) that I leave in storage for extended periods of time in that when I get around to finally trying to re-access the files on them I can't get onto the device. (no there are no large magnetic fields anywhere near where I have these stored).

The only success I have had with long term storage is either with the drives in the computers themselves or with my external drives that I made myself using SSD drives (due to size limitations & cost it's too prohibitive in using SSD drives for my main back up option).

Djsmylez
03-04-2012, 10:06 PM
I was always told to stay away from western digital...

Something on Ur pc may be corrupting Ur drives. If its happening this much Scan for viruses n malware...

Incognito
03-04-2012, 10:18 PM
I was always told to stay away from western digital...

Something on Ur pc may be corrupting Ur drives. If its happening this much Scan for viruses n malware...

Up until this point I haven't had any issues with Western Digital drives & still haven't with the ones used inside of the computers as main drives, only the ones used as external back up solutions are giving me issues.

It's not the same computer in question of all these failures with the latest one not even having internet connection & is only used for music file management (no downloaded music just direct from vinyl & CD transfers).

windspeed36
03-04-2012, 10:35 PM
WD Drives i've found to be pretty reliable. When you remove the drive from your computer, did/do you safely disconnect it? If you don't, eventually the drive corrupts and needs re-formatting or worse.

Incognito
03-04-2012, 10:40 PM
WD Drives i've found to be pretty reliable. When you remove the drive from your computer, did/do you safely disconnect it? If you don't, eventually the drive corrupts and needs re-formatting or worse.

Yes, I used the "safely remove" USB device feature for these drives. Funny thing is I have been building custom gaming rigs for well over a decade now with my always keeping myself up to speed on new tech so you think I would be able to figure this one out.

windspeed36
03-04-2012, 10:45 PM
I know a couple of IT techs, i'll talk to them and get back to ya, hope you manage to get it fixed

Incognito
03-05-2012, 12:02 AM
Thanxx

DJ_BLAKNITE
03-05-2012, 07:00 AM
I've been having the same issue with my passport but with my mac. I'm not able to delete or add files to it. It was Working fine when I first got it

-J
03-05-2012, 08:27 AM
You don't mention a time frame, so I suspect its not long.

Really sounds like a system issue and not an issue with the drive. Having the same problem with multiple drives, magnetic and flash, is too much of a coincidence for it to be an issue with the drive. Try different ports on your system, and try in a different computer as well.


Thrown off of a structure of moderate height.

Incognito
03-05-2012, 04:15 PM
You don't mention a time frame, so I suspect its not long.

Really sounds like a system issue and not an issue with the drive. Having the same problem with multiple drives, magnetic and flash, is too much of a coincidence for it to be an issue with the drive. Try different ports on your system, and try in a different computer as well.


Thrown off of a structure of moderate height.

First issue was over a period of say six or seven months while the other was about five months (from time the drive was first written to, put in storage then trying to access the files to update), I haven't dropped the drives or had them close to strong magnets, etc. I have tried various computers, laptops & ports yet the results are all the same, I went to my local computer store where I bought these drives from & the only response I got on it was,"Sometimes you just get unlucky".......... I am thinking of buying a pair of 512gb SSD drives & use those as my storage solution (a very expensive one for sure).

VjQue
03-05-2012, 10:25 PM
I've been having the same issue with my passport but with my mac. I'm not able to delete or add files to it. It was Working fine when I first got itwhat is it formatted as. OSX Journaled

VjQue
03-05-2012, 10:29 PM
Yes, I used the "safely remove" USB device feature for these drives. Funny thing is I have been building custom gaming rigs for well over a decade now with my always keeping myself up to speed on new tech so you think I would be able to figure this one out.sounds like its formatted as Fat32.

That can make you lose data by power failure, or the usb plug came out.

I had a friend's flash drive do that on a mac. it was formatted as fat32. he lost all his video's he had just edited.

I told him to change it to mac only.

windspeed36
03-07-2012, 01:30 AM
sounds like its formatted as Fat32.

That has nothing to do with the safe ejection function.

Anyway, I spoke to a few guys about your problem - the only thing they can think of is actually opening the drive up and taking a look at it. He was saying that he had accidentally knocked the USB cable that goes into the drive and damaged the port on the drive. He managed to mend it slightly and it lasted long enough to copy across. Also your on a Mac yes? He said to check under 'Disk Utility' and see if the drive itself is showing up. He's also had problems with the drive showing up but not the partitions.

Bit off topic, but has anyone used online storage for their collection? I'm running 200gb on Dropbox and it makes transport between computers pretty easy. Anyone else?

Incognito
03-07-2012, 01:42 AM
I am 99% PC (Ipad 2 that I plan to use as a DMX controller), my desktops are custom built (have been building custom gaming rigs since Windows 98) & my laptops are various gaming laptops from companies such as Asus, Alienware & Gateway. Interestingly enough I have two 8gb flash drives that have been going strong for about two years without issue & I have a small 256gb external hard drive that I have been using for years to store all my base files when I build new computers that also works flawless.

Incognito
03-07-2012, 09:49 PM
Went to the local computer store where I buy most of my computer related things when I choose to buy locally today to ask about this situation. Long story short I was basically told, "oh well, that's just the luck of the draw sometimes.".........

:blank:

Not 100% sure what direction to go with this at present, I can live without regaining the music on the dead drive since my main system is still up & running with 100% of my music files intact. However I am hesitant of purchasing an external drive just to have the same thing happen again in another six months.:uhoh:

mostapha
03-07-2012, 10:17 PM
Buy a different brand. I haven't had such failure with G-Drive, LaCie, or OWC.

Dix
03-08-2012, 05:13 AM
I use a Seagate Go Flex. About 1 year. Its been very reliable so far. Get a little case for it so it don't get banged around during transport.

Then buy one for back up :)

Incognito
03-08-2012, 06:09 AM
Buy a different brand. I haven't had such failure with G-Drive, LaCie, or OWC.

I like the look of the G-Drive 1TB with the rubberized case, I may go for one of rise if I don't come across anything else more rugged looking.

Incognito
03-08-2012, 06:10 AM
Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.

Incognito
03-10-2012, 07:15 PM
Found out today that I am not the only one to be having issues with the external drives in question (two others I talked to also had the exact same issue with the exact same drive as me that was purchased from the same local vendor) so it looks like an issue of our local vendor receiving a bad batch possibly (I say this because after doing a Google search nothing really came up on these drives, neither for the Amazon review section). I'll be switching on over to a different external drive & see how that goes in about another six months. Again, thanks to all who gave input on this subject.

Hamza21
03-10-2012, 10:00 PM
Went to the local computer store where I buy most of my computer related things when I choose to buy locally today to ask about this situation. Long story short I was basically told, "oh well, that's just the luck of the draw sometimes.".........

:blank:

Not 100% sure what direction to go with this at present, I can live without regaining the music on the dead drive since my main system is still up & running with 100% of my music files intact. However I am hesitant of purchasing an external drive just to have the same thing happen again in another six months.:uhoh:

You can always uses linux live CD to boot the drive and retrieve the info.

http://www.myfixlog.com/fix.php?fid=17

punky
03-11-2012, 10:30 AM
I've never had any issues with any WD drives, except for the one that my friend dropped off my desk (he paid for it, to avoid me slapping the crap out of him).

But if you're having this many issues, you might want to get a different brand. Do double backups, in case your first back up fails.

Also, magnets, as far as I understand it, shouldn't affect a flash drive.

Gareth
03-11-2012, 11:39 AM
Have you considered looking into a RAID solution whereby you have multiple drives that give you resilience in case one drive fails? Hard drives are coming down in price again and are almost back to where they were before the floods in Thailand caused them to rocket.