3 TB HD Gone South
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,569
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From: Florida
3 TB HD Gone South
This is a real puzzler to me. This drive has been working fine in Win 7 64 bit with a little over 2 tb of data on it. Then it simply disappears from my drive list. I relocated it and it now shows up in the disk management utility as 746 gb GPT partition but still not active. .
I want my 2.2 gb of stored data back. Is this a lost cause and I have to format it to get it recognized as the 3 tb that I originally had it at??
I suppose I can tolerate the data loss but it's the principal of the issue as well as understanding it that is bothering me.
I want my 2.2 gb of stored data back. Is this a lost cause and I have to format it to get it recognized as the 3 tb that I originally had it at??
I suppose I can tolerate the data loss but it's the principal of the issue as well as understanding it that is bothering me.
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,663
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From: Earth
backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup backup ....
seriously people... how many more of these sorry stories do we have to see round here..... for gods sake learn how to ....
BACKUP
Its not hard, it can be heavily automated.... just do it !
(and test restores once in a while)
If you want another way of looking at it, its like safe sex.... perhaps tedious to remember to do consistently. But if you can't entirely trust your partner, you won't regret it !
seriously people... how many more of these sorry stories do we have to see round here..... for gods sake learn how to ....
BACKUP
Its not hard, it can be heavily automated.... just do it !
(and test restores once in a while)
If you want another way of looking at it, its like safe sex.... perhaps tedious to remember to do consistently. But if you can't entirely trust your partner, you won't regret it !
Last edited by mixture; 21st June 2013 at 22:03.
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 2,173
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From: .
totally agree with Mixture
with the following additional points
the bigger the hard drive, the bigger the potential loss when it goes tits up8.
and the newer the technology, the bigger the risk. 3TB drives haven't really worked through enough into mainstream yet to have overcome teething problems.....remember with Seagates 1TB ones they started failing at around 8 months old, and I seem to remember a similar problem with the first batch of 500GB
the other comment is, it sounds like it's ****ed, but it could be worth trying to attack it with Recuva or a similar program on a 64-bit machine
(question - you say you relocated the disk. You DO have it on a machine with a 64-bit OS don't you....)
with the following additional points
the bigger the hard drive, the bigger the potential loss when it goes tits up8.
and the newer the technology, the bigger the risk. 3TB drives haven't really worked through enough into mainstream yet to have overcome teething problems.....remember with Seagates 1TB ones they started failing at around 8 months old, and I seem to remember a similar problem with the first batch of 500GB
the other comment is, it sounds like it's ****ed, but it could be worth trying to attack it with Recuva or a similar program on a 64-bit machine
(question - you say you relocated the disk. You DO have it on a machine with a 64-bit OS don't you....)
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,569
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From: Florida
I said I could tolerate the loss (obviously I have backups) but it's the principal of what how and why.
Yes milo it's on a 64 bit machine. I just moved it from a USB 3.0 caddy to an available slot internally when it went south.
OK if I can recover it with less than an 1/2 hr work on my part not including any additional computer resources which can be running in the background then That's what I'm interested in.
If this is basically lot's of work, I'll just have to start selecting my backup files from around the place and burn them onto a freshly formatted disk + check dsk and await the next mysterious failure. If it's the disk I can easily replace that for a couple of hundred $ +. If it's the Caddy, I already ordered another one. If it's the computer than I need to fix it somehow.
Yes milo it's on a 64 bit machine. I just moved it from a USB 3.0 caddy to an available slot internally when it went south.
OK if I can recover it with less than an 1/2 hr work on my part not including any additional computer resources which can be running in the background then That's what I'm interested in.
If this is basically lot's of work, I'll just have to start selecting my backup files from around the place and burn them onto a freshly formatted disk + check dsk and await the next mysterious failure. If it's the disk I can easily replace that for a couple of hundred $ +. If it's the Caddy, I already ordered another one. If it's the computer than I need to fix it somehow.
Joined: Jun 2009
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From: Canada
Can your computer actually handle a >2TB drive internally? If I remember correctly, 746GB is what you'll see if the SATA hardware/drivers don't support 3TB disks.
Last edited by MG23; 22nd June 2013 at 02:46.
Joined: Jan 2012
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From: .
it may be an easy decision to format the drive
its NOT an easy decision to trust it if it really has lost its formatting. That doesn't happen without a reason
I seem to remember we had a similar problem twelve months or so ago where someone had a drive moved from a caddy and it wouldn't format.....anyone else remember the thread?
its NOT an easy decision to trust it if it really has lost its formatting. That doesn't happen without a reason
I seem to remember we had a similar problem twelve months or so ago where someone had a drive moved from a caddy and it wouldn't format.....anyone else remember the thread?
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,569
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From: Florida
Got my new caddy today and it works fine with a new 3 tb drive, easy to format etc. in disk management.
The screwed up drive readily accepts being reformatted in disk management but only to the default displayed size of 7-800 gb
I'm sure there is a way to do this at the 3 Tb size but for the life of me I can't remember how since disk management only displays the one volume size.
There's got to be a work-around for this somehow. I thought about cloning but was afraid that would only recognize the size as the 7-800 gb size.
I checked the WD web site but it seems only to cover a displayed 3tb size disk using disk management on my Win 7 64 bit machine.
The screwed up drive readily accepts being reformatted in disk management but only to the default displayed size of 7-800 gb
I'm sure there is a way to do this at the 3 Tb size but for the life of me I can't remember how since disk management only displays the one volume size.
There's got to be a work-around for this somehow. I thought about cloning but was afraid that would only recognize the size as the 7-800 gb size.
I checked the WD web site but it seems only to cover a displayed 3tb size disk using disk management on my Win 7 64 bit machine.
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,663
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From: Earth
I seem to remember we had a similar problem twelve months or so ago where someone had a drive moved from a caddy and it wouldn't format.....anyone else remember the thread?
Plastic PPRuNer
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,902
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From: Rochechouart, France
S.M.A.R.T.
S.M.A.R.T. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Use GSMartControl to read data (and test) - GSmartControl - Downloads
Mac
(You can also use CrystalDiskInfo - Crystal Dew World - simpler and smaller)
PS: SMART will predict about 50% of HDD failures.
Use GSMartControl to read data (and test) - GSmartControl - Downloads
Mac
(You can also use CrystalDiskInfo - Crystal Dew World - simpler and smaller)
PS: SMART will predict about 50% of HDD failures.
Last edited by Mac the Knife; 24th June 2013 at 21:20.
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 253
Likes: 0
From: OMAA
Recently a 2001 Samsung 20GB HDD failed on me. Stopped booting. Spent two days diagnosing the problem after which I isolated the HDD as faulty.
You mentioned that you don't want to spend much time on this. But if anyone else ever is in a similar situation and wants to check the health of their HDD, the best tool atm would be SeaTools for DOS. Do a short test, followed by a long test. My HDD passed the short test but failed the long test. This tool can be run on HDDs of any make. But it can 'repair' only Seagates.
For booting SeaTools from a USB, I used RMPrepUSB. Some learning curve there, but after that a very handy software.
I am not an HDD expert. I learned the above from the internet.
You mentioned that you don't want to spend much time on this. But if anyone else ever is in a similar situation and wants to check the health of their HDD, the best tool atm would be SeaTools for DOS. Do a short test, followed by a long test. My HDD passed the short test but failed the long test. This tool can be run on HDDs of any make. But it can 'repair' only Seagates.
For booting SeaTools from a USB, I used RMPrepUSB. Some learning curve there, but after that a very handy software.
I am not an HDD expert. I learned the above from the internet.
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 3,663
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From: Earth
You mentioned that you don't want to spend much time on this.
Sure, server side complex/critical problems, spend a couple of days if you must .... but at desktop/laptop level, spending a couple of days is positively unheard of. In the amount of time wasted, you would have already rebuilt the thing and restored any files from backup (if applicable).
Last edited by mixture; 24th June 2013 at 22:26.
