One of my external HD is misbehaving!

[rickf77]

Morning Guys; I hope I'm in the right section. I have 2 external HD. Last night the newest one started making a noise that sounded somewhere between a cricket and a bird. After looking out the window for a bird making this noise and searching the room for a cricket, my ears led me to the hard drive. It's a Western Digital, My E Book Essential 2 TB. At the moment the noise has stopped and it's little green light is flashing off and on. My pc is basically saying it does not exist. The shortcut I had told me the same thing. I have a folder named "WD SmartWare (Setup)-Notepad). The last 2 lines say, "Execution: success" and "Application exiting...". Would it do any good to delete this folder and try to re-install the HD? I use my external HDs to back up my TS12 install. I have 2 mirror copies (now only 1). I don't mind buying a new one, so far nothing I have tried has done any good. Do you think it's bit the dust? It's not a big deal, I can afford a new one and copy the install into it. I've become nervous about the route I built! I have not done the SP1 thing, I'm afraid I will lose the route! Anyway, I want to have 3 copies on 3 different HDs. Any ideas?

Thanks gents, cheers.....Rick

 

[nicky9499]

Any regular clicking or ticking noise from any hard drive is never a good sign. My advice is to pull as much data as you can off it immediately and send it in for a replacement if it's still under warranty.

If the drive runs off USB power, it is best to connect it using a double-headed USB cable that draws power from two ports. If it runs off mains power, it probably has a power switch which should not be turned off if the computer its connected to is still running.

 

[rickf77]

Thanks nicky; Everything on that HD is on 2 more. So, no worries about losing data. I'm gonna get a new one. In my very limited time with computers, I have learned noise is not good! Thanks, my friend. It may be under some kind of warranty, I bought it mid March. Now then, did I save that receipt? Probably not, I'm an idiot!

Cheers...Rick

 

[nicky9499]

Hi Rick,

For hard drives, you may be able to claim warranty without a receipt if you have their serial numbers registered. I've had the misfortune of having multiple Seagate drives go bad in the past (they're really quite crap) and had to go through a Returns Authorization procedure on their website, print out a form and bring it down with the drive to their distribution warehouse. It was exchanged on the spot. Perhaps you could ring up WD and see what they say.

Cheerio,
Nicholas

 

[rickf77]

Thanks, Nicholas; I buy all my gear at a place callled Futureshop. They have treated me well in the past. I think the HD was only $80.00. Hmm... I'll try to stay away from buying a Seagate, although I'm pretty sure my other external HD is a Seagate. It's a couple of years old and has worked well for me. I use this one when I run Trainz, it works just all well as the "internal HD". I'm just using the internall HD as a back up. Oh, Jeez, gotta go, I'm in the wife's shop and she needs the computer! Thanks, again bud.

Cheers...Rick