External HD Problem...computer guys please help

AutoEuphoria

AutoEuphoria

Captain Slow
Short version:
- Worked fine yesterday
- Today, caused computer to freeze and Windows Explorer to fail
- Recognized by Device Manager
- Icon appears in My Computer folder after a long time (if plugged in after startup)
- Will not open drive - freezes


Longer version:
After my main HD failed a while back (old computer) and I lost a lot of my old pictures, I decided to get an external HD for pictures instead. Everything had been working just fine since I got it...I only had about 2GB worth of stuff on the 250GB drive (only pictures and documents). I shut my computer off at 1am this morning, but when I went to turn it back on today around 6pm I noticed it was taking MUCH longer than usual to load. Then Windows Explorer started having problems, restarting, etc. I did a full diagnostics scan when I could but it didn't really turn up much. I started troubleshooting by removing components, and I noticed that once the external drive was removed everything worked fine. If I tried plugging it back in, I would start having problems again. the drive did show up in My Computer after a long while, but I couldn't access it (would freeze, then Windows Explorer would act up). If I right clicked on the drive icon it would take 2-5 minutes for the pop-up box to come up. Then if I clicked Properties it would freeze and Windows Explorer would f up again. The drive is instantly recognized in the Device Manager menu...and it says it's working properly, but I can't get into it without the computer freezing and running like shit.

I need to get the files off of the drive at least...all of my pictures from the last 8 years are on there, as well as some other documents and stuff.

Any ideas on what I could do to fix this? I've sent the manufacturer a tech support request, and will call them monday, but if there is just a setting or quick program I could get to take the files off I would be OK with that. I don't care about the drive, just what is on it.

Thank you for any help!

OS is Vista (although it also failed on our old Windows2000 machine with an I/O error message)
Manufacturer is SimpleTech
 
i would say try doing a virus scan cuz i had a similar issue on ship a couple months back
 
I can try, but basically as soon as it's plugged in everything freezes. I don't even know if I could do a scan of it. I'll give it a shot, though thanks.
 
right click my computer, go to manage, go to disk management, and see if it recognizes the disk and it's correct size/parition structure/file system type

Does the drive recieve a drive letter from windows? if so go to command prompt (start, rum, cmd) and run chkdsk /f g: (replace g with correct drive letter).

sounds like the drive is failing or has failed
 
It does assign a drive letter. I tried the chkdsk and it didn't do anything. Flashed a black box up for a half second then nothing else. I have tried scanning it or checking it in the disk management, but as soon as it's plugged in it will slow everything dealing with hard drive data way down (My Computer folder, Disk Management, Anti-Virus scan location dialog, etc) or freeze it altogether (then Windows Explorer craps out).
 
OK, problem still not solved, but at least I got my pictures back.

Actually, I consider this a small miracle. The external drive that crashed, which was the reason I had to get this one, had my pictures on it previously. Somehow, miraculously, it worked again tonight after not working at all any of the previous times I had tried (over 6 months). All the pictures/documents were there :) Copied over to my computer, and am now going to back up in about 10 different ways.
 
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/LaCie-301352U-Quadra-2-Disk-Drive/dp/B001KFH6HY"]Amazon.com: LaCie 301352U 2TB 2big Quadra 2-Disk RAID Hard Drive: Electronics[/ame]

only external drive youll need :)
 
if u have a faster computer available, like a gaming computer, hook the HD up to that. it could be something inside of ur computer that was transfered from your hard drive. then run a spyware scan, an anti-virus scan, and also a defragmentation. Run on both the computer and the hard drive. Minus the defrag on the external. In the event the trojan doesnt go away or whatever the virus may be, u may need a wipe.
 
I thought my external crashed the other day, it was an older one from at least 5 years back. Turns out the controller board failed, because I tried 3 other hard drives in it and none of them worked!

I cracked open an old USB CD-RW and put the hard drive in that, works fine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top