External USB Harddrive failure

rubiconman500rubiconman500
edited November 2007 in Hardware
I have been using a 320 gb external usb harddrive for about a year now, and last night i was moving some files around, and now whenever I plugged it in this morning i got these errors...

USB Device Not Recognized
Its malfunctioned...

Failed Delay Write $MftMirr.

Failed Delay Write $Mft.

I was able to see still see my drive and navigate but now I cant even get the drive to show up.
Any suggestions on how to get around this? Would formatting my ext hd fix this error? If so how do i format a drive i cant see?
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Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    We need to determine if the problem is the hard drive inside the external enclosure or the electronics of the enclosure. Is the drive removable from the enclosure?
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Leonardo wrote:
    We need to determine if the problem is the hard drive inside the external enclosure or the electronics of the enclosure. Is the drive removable from the enclosure?

    Yes the drive is removable from the enclosure... I purchased the drive and the enclosure together on ebay new but already assembled.
    Since I posted I have been able to see the harddrive again.
    I sat here and repeatedly turned it off and on and eventually it came up and recognized and everything would be good for a little bit. I was able to transfer some stuff to my pc then i would get the delayed write error for $Mft again, then i would do it again until I got the data that I needed to keep.

    It will occasionally see it, then transfer, then stop.

    Is there any files that I could add to keep this $Mft error from coming? Im understanding this as it will work then it shows its corrupted and bail out... I may be wrong but Ive spent the majority of the day trying to figure this out.
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited November 2007
    Well, adding a file isn't going to prevent Master File Table errors. Put the hard drive in your pc, and run chkdsk on it.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Yup, good advice, YAD.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Your Amish Daddy wrote:
    Well, adding a file isn't going to prevent Master File Table errors. Put the hard drive in your pc, and run chkdsk on it.

    If I just have access to a laptop is there an easier way than breaking it apart? Can swap out harddrive in a laptop? The one with problems is a 3.5"
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Let me see if I understand you:

    The problem hard drive is a 3.5" (desktop) hard drive installed in an external enclosure. This drive-enclosure unit has exhibited the problems you describe while connected to your laptop computer. Is that correct?

    If so, then no, you can't connect the 3.5" drive to your laptop. But yes, you can install almost and 2.5" (laptop) hard drive in your laptop.

    Have you connected your external drive to anyone else's computer? I'm might be worth a try just to help confirm the problem is in fact the enclosure/drive.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Leonardo wrote:

    Have you connected your external drive to anyone else's computer? I'm might be worth a try just to help confirm the problem is in fact the enclosure/drive.

    Yes it is a 3.5 desktop hd in an external case, connected through a usb to my laptop.
    Another PC will not boot the drive either it just says its unrecognizable now. I have not tried the on/off method yet on that PC yet.

    Is there any way to run check disk without it being internally connected inside my laptop or a pc?
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    I was able to get the harddrive to boot up on the first shot this time, and ran the error checking by right clicking the drive and going through the properties... That ran fine through all the phases. Ill just wait and see someones reply before i try anything else and possibly make this worse.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    rubiconman500 wrote:
    Is there any way to run check disk without it being internally connected inside my laptop or a pc?
    Yes, indeed. If Windows can 'see' the drive, yes, you can run Checkdisk on it in Windows. You know how to run Checkdisk, right? In case you don't: look for the drive/partition icon in My Computer or Windows Explorer, right click on the icon, select Properties, select Tools, click on the Check Now button, select both white boxes, click the Start button.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Leonardo wrote:
    Yes, indeed. If Windows can 'see' the drive, yes, you can run Checkdisk on it in Windows. You know how to run Checkdisk, right? In case you don't: look for the drive/partition icon in My Computer or Windows Explorer, right click on the icon, select Properties, select Tools, click on the Check Now button, select both white boxes, click the Start button.

    That is what I ran earlier but without those 2 boxed selected so I rebooted, then it started running with those 2 boxes selected... It flew through the first 3 phases... its either really slow or hung up on phase 4 right now.
    Its been on phase 4 for about 5mins and no progress has shown up, its still showing just an empty progress bar. Ill keep it running for a good while just incase it is that slow.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Relax! It would appear Checkdisk is operating perfectly. That is completely normal - first three phases are very fast; fourth and fifth phases can take a long time especially if it's a large volume partition. Just relax and let it do its thing.
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited November 2007
    Oh yeah, Phase 4 can take a dogs' age if it's a large partition or formatted in Fat32.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    USB 2.0 interface also causes the check to take a long time.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Throughout the night it completed Phase 4 and now I am waiting on the first block for phase 5. I wont be home for about 7 or 8 hours hopefully itll be done by then and I can post up any details it gives me by then. Thanks for all your help so far...
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited November 2007
    Phase five is relativly fast for me on my 320, but then again it's a SATA drive.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Throughout the night it completed Phase 4 and now I am waiting on the first block for phase 5.
    Oh, wow, that isn't on a USB 2.0 port - it's on an old USB 1.1 port. It's gotta be. Sorry, but that is just slower than slow. My work laptop is an older model, with only creaky old USB 1.1, so I know how slow it can be.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Leonardo wrote:
    Oh, wow, that isn't on a USB 2.0 port - it's on an old USB 1.1 port. It's gotta be. Sorry, but that is just slower than slow. My work laptop is an older model, with only creaky old USB 1.1, so I know how slow it can be.

    Its been atleast 8 hours on the Phase 5 with no progress blocks showing up... Could it be that slow or theres an error?

    I think my laptop has 2.0 ports in the back and 1.1 on the side of it... but unsure. Is there a way to test what ports my laptop has, without the manual.
    Its a Dell Inspirion 9300...
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited November 2007
    You're just gonna have to know. The two in back are 2.0.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Your Amish Daddy wrote:
    You're just gonna have to know. The two in back are 2.0.

    I have 2 on the side and 4 in the back that are arranged like this
    L R - from facing the front and not actually viewing the ports
    _ _
    _ _

    Would it be worth it to stop at the point and switch to a 2.0 port, 20 hour into this check disk and being stuck on part 5 without progress for a few hours?
  • KentigernKentigern Milton Keynes UK
    edited November 2007
    According to the manual (Dell Inspirion 9300) you have 6 x 4pin 2.0 compliant usb ports 4 at the back 2 on the side. Hope this helps
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited November 2007
    Yeah. It'd actually be better to pull the hard drive OUT OF the enclosure, put it inside of a real computer and check it that way.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Go to the Dell website and look up your computer. There should be a specification sheet for it, or in your Dell user manual.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Leonardo wrote:
    Go to the Dell website and look up your computer. There should be a specification sheet for it, or in your Dell user manual.

    From the dell site.
    "USB six 4-pin USB 2.0-compliant connectors"
    just as someone posted a few post ago.

    Could no activity be a problem with the harddrive errors i began with?

    Sorry for the noob-ness of all this also.

    In reply to Your Amish Daddy about pulling it out... I dont have access to a desktop pc that I could take apart and drop in the harddrive to check it out that way, im having to rely on laptops, all dells.
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited November 2007
    Well then, I really don't know what to tell you then. The best way to check the drive is in a PC. USB is fine for some things but it is no good as a disk access method.
  • KentigernKentigern Milton Keynes UK
    edited November 2007
    Can you try another enclosure - borrow one?
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Last night I had to use my laptop to retrieve a file so I had to plug in a jump drive, once I did that the phase 5 bar which was still at 0 bars jumped to the finish point said there were errors ( no list just a regular dialog box) and the only option was to push ok.... So i restarted everything last night, and again this morning I am still on phase 5 with no progress.
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited November 2007
    Sounds like the enclosure is no good.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Agreed.

    R500, if you can't find another enclosure in which to test the drive, you may want to consider just buying another enclosure. If you shop around, online or at good computer stores, such as Fry's or CompUSA, you can find enclosures for less than $20.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    Over the weekend im going to try and see if someone will lend me their desktop for testing, but as of now I have tried the check disk procedure 3 times, each time stopping on phase 5.
    I cant explain this but the first day I would get those previous errors transferring just a few megabyes, and as of now, everytime i turn my drive on it boots up fine, with no unknown device errors. The most i have transfered has been 200mb and it went fine, thats because of lack of time to be around my pc to see its actions. I will try to transfer a bigger file soon to see if it crashes like before and then test it on other laptops, and if the error is still present I will try to find a desktop and run the check from there.
  • rubiconman500rubiconman500
    edited November 2007
    I ran into the same problems again, and got ahold of a desktop to stick it into.
    The desktop i put it into didnt have enough mother board connections to allow another ribbon to be connected. So i took out the primary drive, and used the new hd with no OS system on it and intalled it and ran the SeaTools for Dos program from seagate to check and see if the hd was working fine... The short test came up with "Short DST Passed"...
    So this program is saying that the hd is ok, so would my next step be getting a new enclosure?
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