OT: external harddisk troubles

Elele

I posted this on the WD forum, but there isn't much traffic. So I thought I'd post it here too since there are plenty of pc savy people here too:

Hello,

I have an external WD my book essential 2Tb on win7.

It worked fine in the beginning, but now it's having problems:

I can still write data on it, but when i try to access data on it or copy files back to my pc it disconnects after a while and then reconnects, interupting the transfer.

I downloaded the wd data lifeguard diagnostics. when I open the program the smart status is all green. When I run a quick test the following error pops up:

"quick test on drive 2 did not complete!

Status code = 07 (failed read test element), failure checkpoint =105

(unknown test)

smart self-test did not complete on drive 2!"

I can only press the OK button. (The hd doesn't get disconnected though during the test, like with regular file transfers)

Anybody know what's wrong?

Thanks

WendyLuvsCatz

probably need a new drive!
sorry, learnt they randomly die, if you have issues, back up the data before it goes .

T Jaiman

Is it still under warranty?

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Other-Externals/Request-for-help-on-a-failing-1-5TB-Elements/td-p/131560
http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/Quick-Test-on-drive-did-not-complete/td-p/334865

There are several others I googled up.

I use Acronis Drive Monitor for more-detailed SMART results. If you use that, or some other free SMART utility, it should show you too many reallocated sectors. (I don't know why manufacturer's utilities don't give you that detailed SMART info).

Might also show a lot of seek failures, which could mean the lubricant is breaking down. (Which can come from overheating in the external case). Bad sectors can also be from heat. Or a head-crash - if something bumped it while it was running. Or because the thing wanted to die early.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/drive-monitor/

Ninja-ed by Wendy. But yeah, back your stuff up.

Elele

That's what I'm afraid of :(
It's only a couple of months old, with very little use.

I'd like to backup my data, unfortunately that's what i bought the thing for and now i can't get the data off it... Where's that irony smiley when you need it?

I've never had any problems with my hd's in my pcs before. Are internal ones better than external ones?
I've had my ipod for bout 10 years now (wich i also can use as hd), have used it extensively, carried it all over the place, dropped quite a few times, and it's still going strong!

Elele

It's still under warranty, but i don't think i have the receipt anymore. So i'd have to send my crappy hd with my data to Malaysia in exchange for another crappy hd without my data.
Not really a satisfactory option... unless they send the ceo over too so i can give him a good kick in the balls >:(

I'll give Acronis Drive Monitor a go, thanks :)

T Jaiman

Try this site:

http://support.wdc.com/warranty/index_end.asp?lang=en

It might depend on what model you bought, but I've heard that some manufacturers will cross-ship. That's when they send you a replacement, to back up with. And they send you a package to return the old one in xx days.

It should ask you the serial number, so you won't need a receipt. (Good luck).
They'd want to know the error code, and might want you to run the tougher tests.

You should have a test which will try to fix errors, but it might bomb out. You might be able to copy more data after that, though.

Or, if the store would take it back after a couple of months, they should have your receipt in their computer.

Yeah, those portable drives are built to be tough. I don't know if an Ipod actually uses a mechanical hard drive though, it might be some kind of memory chip.

Kendall Sears

Elele said:

It's still under warranty, but i don't think i have the receipt anymore. So i'd have to send my crappy hd with my data to Malaysia in exchange for another crappy hd without my data.
Not really a satisfactory option... unless they send the ceo over too so i can give him a good kick in the balls >:(

I'll give Acronis Drive Monitor a go, thanks :)

That is a common WD drive failure. Get your data off that drive immediately. The drive is under warranty unless you got nailed with one of the WD 90 day warranty drives... those are getting increasingly more common in stores now. If the warranty isn't expired call WD support as soon as you can, your Serial Number will determine your warranty.

Kendall

Lissa_xyz

Just out of curiosity, have you ruled out the usb port itself and tried it on a different port?

Kendall Sears

Vaskania said:

Just out of curiosity, have you ruled out the usb port itself and tried it on a different port?

Once a SMART test is initiated, the drive handles everything internally. A cancel command can prematurely end a test.

Kendall

Lissa_xyz

Kendall Sears said:

Vaskania said:

Just out of curiosity, have you ruled out the usb port itself and tried it on a different port?

Once a SMART test is initiated, the drive handles everything internally. A cancel command can prematurely end a test.

Kendall
Gotchya. I'm one of the lucky ones who have never suffered a drive failure. /crosses fingers
Had one prevent an old system (~8-9 years ago) from booting up in Windows, but Linux could access it fine (although I had that problem so long ago- had I had it happen again now, first thing I'd check was my psu and power output).

Elele

I tried it on different usb ports and on different pcs, always the same error.
I don't have another usb cable, so that might still be the problem. I'm hoping that is the problem, but i doubt it since i can still write data without interuptions.

I submitted a support ticket on the wd site a couple of days ago, but haven't heard a peep.
I also submitted the serial number there, that's how i know it is still under warranty.

I'd like to get the data off the drive. I have enough space on my pc to transfer the files back but that is the problem: when i try to read something from the drive or copy something to my pc, the drive disconnects after about a minute.
What's the best way to get the data off it? Is there a program that transfers file by file, so when it fails i don't have to start from the beginning again? Or a program that ignores these errors and keeps running?
And maybe tells me what files are broken?

"You should have a test which will try to fix errors, but it might bomb out. You might be able to copy more data after that, though."
How can i do this? Is there a program for that?

Kendall Sears

Elele said:

I tried it on different usb ports and on different pcs, always the same error.
I don't have another usb cable, so that might still be the problem. I'm hoping that is the problem, but i doubt it since i can still write data without interuptions.

I submitted a support ticket on the wd site a couple of days ago, but haven't heard a peep.
I also submitted the serial number there, that's how i know it is still under warranty.

I'd like to get the data off the drive. I have enough space on my pc to transfer the files back but that is the problem: when i try to read something from the drive or copy something to my pc, the drive disconnects after about a minute.
What's the best way to get the data off it? Is there a program that transfers file by file, so when it fails i don't have to start from the beginning again? Or a program that ignores these errors and keeps running?
And maybe tells me what files are broken?

"You should have a test which will try to fix errors, but it might bomb out. You might be able to copy more data after that, though."
How can i do this? Is there a program for that?

Ok... You've got one of those. Many times you can get the data off if you can get it in short enough bursts. Download a copy of "rsync" for Windows. rsync will allow you to pick up where it left off in the case of a lockup. You need to try to get the data without sustained transfers. I would initially try doing a full rsync on the drive to see exactly how far you can get before it locks. If you can't get too terribly far in bulk transfers it'll be time to write a bat file with interspaced rsyncs and sleeps. I can help you if it becomes a big issue.

Kendall

T Jaiman

What did the Acronis SMART test say? (Reallocated Sectors Count; Spin Retry Count --- click Discs, highlight your drive, hit the SMART parameters tab). (And temperature in the Disk overview tab).

What is the error message when a file copy fails?

Have you had several files fail? Or were you trying the same ones.

You might want to retry the short test, for a slim hope... Edit: after you recover your files.

I've had a false total failure from Seagate's version. Went like this - I started the utility, which it takes a while to find each drive.
Left the room, while it was doing that. Came back and tried the test - total fail.
What happened is that the external drive "went back to sleep" before I came back to start the test.
The testing utility thought it saw too many bad sectors, in a row, so it quit.

.

when i try to read something from the drive or copy something to my pc, the drive disconnects after about a minute.
.

I misread that at first. I'd thought you were saying the drive disconnected, either direction. :red:
.

.

Elele said:

I can still write data on it, but when i try to access data on it or copy files back to my pc it disconnects after a while and then reconnects, interupting the transfer.

since i can still write data without interuptions.
.
Yeah, that suggests a bad-sector problem.

When it's writing, and finds a bad sector, Windows is probably marking the sector bad, then moving on.

But when it's reading and hits a bad sector, it tries again several times, then quits the copy.

.

What's the best way to get the data off it? Is there a program that transfers file by file, so when it fails i don't have to start from the beginning again? Or a program that ignores these errors and keeps running?
And maybe tells me what files are broken?

.

It's been too long since I read about that stuff. Kendall Sears says rsync, and it looks good.

If you can get rsync to simply skip to the next file, after each read failure, then that's ideal (I think it can, but there's a lot to read there).

You'd run rsync again, then, and it can try to copy out the files which didn't work the first time. (But this might take forever, if there's a ton of failures).

(I've done that process by hand, a couple of times).

It wouldn't hurt to put a cooling fan on the drive, while your doing that.

If there's tons of errors, you could skip any files you can replace.

In fact, just in case there was a head crash, you want to copy the most important files first.
A crash kicks up grit, which will be sandpapering the surface, wherever the head reads. And that makes more grit.
Also, in the worst case, the crashed head could be damaged, and could fall apart while you're working (or testing).

.
"You should have a test which will try to fix errors, but it might bomb out. You might be able to copy more data after that, though."

How can i do this? Is there a program for that?
.
You'd set the WD tool to do an extended test, with a surface scan, and the repair option.
It works like chkdsk - finds and replaces bad sectors.
(But it's better than chkdsk, because it'll also replace weak sectors).

It's a great test to run, when you first get a drive, and every-so-often afterwards.
(So these things don't sneak up on you, and leave you with a bunch of corrupted files, and a long recovery process).

But there's 4 problems, if your drive is suffering from massive numbers of bad sectors.

1) If you had a head crash, then the test could do lots more damage.

2) If the drive has run out of spare sectors, then it can't replace bad ones, and the test will fail.

3) You'll be wasting spare sectors on weak sectors - which you won't need done, if you're returning the drive.

4) When a sector is replaced, then that part of the file could be corrupt (but you won't know which files).

On the other hand, if there's a ton of bad sectors, you could do chkdsk with repair, and if it doesn't run out of spares, then you can copy everything out in one go.

So you could run rsync to catch the files which copy easily, then catalog the "might-be-good"***, do the repair, and copy the rest out with rsync.

*** I say "might be good" because if they threw a read-error in the past, then on the next reboot, the drive would automatically replace the bad sector - and voila - maybe-corrupted file.

You can catalog it the old-fashioned Dos-Window way:

Do your copy to an easy-to-type temporary folder. Say "c:\t".
Open a Dos prompt. Start->Run, type "Command", and hit the OK button.
In the window, type "CD\" and hit enter, to go to c:\
Type "cd t" and hit enter..
Type "dir/s>NoErrors.txt" and hit enter.
And there you go. A text file with each file and folder listed out.
Type "exit" and hit enter.

.
I submitted a support ticket on the wd site a couple of days ago, but haven't heard a peep.
I also submitted the serial number there, that's how i know it is still under warranty.
.
:coolmad: Is there a number you can call?

Kendall Sears

You need to be careful with the drive until you get the data off of it. WD drives that exhibit your symptoms don't normally take kindly to extended "prodding." If I had to guess, I say that you have a failing buffer chip on the drive's controller board. If the chip dies completely before you get your data off, then you're looking at a multi-thousand dollar recovery cost.

Kendall

Elele

I tried on some other, other computers too now. An old mac g4 or something, same disconnect after about a minute.
But I also tried it on a macbook pro, and there it works much better.
Sometimes it seems inactive for a few minutes when i copy the data to the laptop, but then it just goes on.
Very few files that can't be read and so far nothing essential.
I managed to get the very important data on the laptop. Now I'm gonna see what else I can salvage.
After that i will see if it can be repared. In any case, I already bought a new exteranl hd. I don't trust the old one even if i get it to work again.

It might be my own fault that the hd broke. I kept it right behind one of my speakers, so the magnet might have messed with it.
I didn't think about it since my ipod has been standing on the same speaker for years and never showed any problems. Dunno...

I tried to get rsync, but it looks pretty difficult. I couldn't even figure out what to download, there are so many rsync programs.

Anyways, it'll probably take quite some more time to get the data on the laptop. Dunno if i'm going to bother with trying to fix it after that.

Thanks for the help :)