External hard drive failure...

[generator12]

Yep.

Had a couple of years' data on a WD Element 500GB USB external HD and it failed to spin up. A little checking disclosed that the power supply (a dual +5 and +12 unit) had failed.

So I broke the power supply open and hooked a couple of external supplies to the lines feeding the HD, noting that it still didn't spin up, and the 5 volt section was drawing five amps! The rating on the original was 1.25 amps, so I could surmise that the motor was likely shorted out, or the unit was jammed.

OK, it's not salvageable, but maybe I can save the data if I can get it spinning one more time, so I manage to get the HD open and find the discs free to spin -- no physical obstructions -- it just doesn't move.

All done. It's over. Poke an awl through the discs and throw the whole thing away.

But why did it fail? I had it about two years, and lit it up maybe a dozen times. It was utilized to maybe half its capacity. Didn't move it around; didn't drop it or subject it to impact - no water or other substance exposure...nothing...!

I can reconstruct most of the data through DVD storage, but it still pisses me off.

Your experiences with external hard drives? Is one brand better than the others? Are any of them reliable?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: External hard drive failure...

I had a WD years ago that failed. I went with a Seagate 1TB external and that failed and was replaced under warranty...... the new one is junk too.

My solution was to wipe the 1TB drive of all of the "resident" backup programs and re-format the drive. I just use it for backup and storage.

Sometime in 2011 I will probably upgrade my pc and just install a second HD (internal). Many years ago that was the way I kept backups w/o problem

 

[lakelover]

Re: External hard drive failure...

I have a WD 1 TB external HD that I've been using since October and so far it has been working well. I regularly back up to it several times per week, copying files, no backup utility. I hope it holds out because I have to get a new computer in a couple weeks and will need to transfer a lot of data.

I did a fair amount of research before buying it and finally decided that it was about the best buy for the money I could spend. I was aware that a large number of the negative reviews on Amazon were for DOA or early failure, so I do my best to keep data in at least two places.

Mine is a WDBAAU0010HBK-NESN and on Amazon, it has 4.5 stars out of 878 reviews.

 

[CN Spots]

Re: External hard drive failure...

We've swapped drives into different cases on failed externals at work. Works fine on similar models if you can find one. ebay maybe.

We're using 4 Seagate Freeagent 1.5TB drives as immediate recovery devices on our design server. They have been on constantly for around 2 years. One of them has a light out but it's still plugging along.

Prior to that we used LaCie drives which is when we learned how to swap drives/cases.

 

[shrew]

Re: External hard drive failure...

There's two key concepts to data recovery:

RTO (Recovery Time Objective): How long it takes to recover and restore the data.

RPO (Recovery Point Objective): How much data can be restored and how much, if any, is lost as a result of a failure.

Tolerance for RTO and RPO is going to vary based on individual or organizational needs.

1) Implement RAID so if a single drive dies, the remaining data is not lost.

2) Implement a backup solution to regularly copy data so that in the event of a failure the data can be restored. (Here it sounds like some or most of the data is on optical disks. That may reduce RPO, but the RTO and the administrative effort is sounds like it's the point of frustration).

3) Implement RAID on the primary volumes and RAID on the backup volumes and backup regularly from the primary volumes to the backup voumes.

This is a very, very simplistic breakdown. Essentially a HDD dying is an inevitability. It WILL happen. There is a saying in the Data Management/Disaster Recovery field; "There are those who have lost data and there are those who WILL loose data". It is a simply fact.

You're disaster recovery plan simply needs to identify potential threats, impact of failure and the cost of how available and how redundant your systems need to be. The higher the need for availability and the lower the tolerance for downtime and/or lost data, the more expensive and complex the environmental architecture and disaster recovery plan will need to be.

Certainly feel free to let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

[shrew]

Re: External hard drive failure...

BTW- CN Spots. You signature reminds me of a similar joke "There are 10 kinds of people in the world.........those who understand binary and those who don't".

 

[CN Spots]

Re: External hard drive failure...

010011000100111101001100

 

[windsors03cobra]

Re: External hard drive failure...

It is a sad fact that companies that had a built a good reputation for quality and innovation have also resorted to just grabbing up as much money as possible all the while letting their reputation and quality slip away.
I'm looking at you Western Digital, Asus, Toyota.