Failing external hard drive advice 1

[eli3k]

I recently ran a diagnostic from DLG on an old Western Digital USB external hard drive and received the following:

06-Quick Test on drive 3 did not complete! Status code = 07 (Failed read test element), Failure Checkpoint = 65 (Error Log Test) SMART self-test did not complete on drive 3!

The hard drive lately had been turning on and off on its own and making this subtle clicking noise, then it'll spin up again. I was wondering what methods I should take to get the data off of there. Should I remove it from its enclosure somehow and hook it up in a different way? It seems to work fine for a few minutes and then spins down to nothing with the red read/write light still on and then spins up again.

Some people have advised me to cool the drive down somehow and attempt to transfer the data off. How effective will this be? Do you have any other suggestions? Should I use a data recovery software, or can I just copy with windows? I was thinking of purchasing a new hard drive to replace the one inside that's failing myself, but was wondering if there was a size limit (80GB vs a new 300GB?).

Thank you,
- Eli

 

[rvnguy]

Clicking, spin up&down are usually not good signs of drive health. You are on the correct track to replace.

Some people have advised me to cool the drive down

This trick has been known to work in some cases, at least long enough to get vital data copied off. Place it in a zip lock bag and in the frezzer prepare you PC so that all you have to do is plug the drive in , boot up and copy. and cross your fingers. Normal copy will be sufficient.

wondering if there was a size limit (80GB vs a new 300GB?

This is a two fold issue:
1. Check you mobo BIOS ver (date) try to determine if the one you have will support LBA or if there is a newer one.
2. Windows has to also support large drives; if XP, install SP2.

Most recent mobo's, last 2-3 years, will have a BIOS that will provide the large drive support. Quick check if you have the drive installed is to enter BIOS and see how your BIOS reports the drive.

At 300GB I would also suggest formatting as NTFS over FAT32, as if you have small files there will be a lot of slack space due to the large minimum addressable in FAT32.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[eli3k]

This is an external drive; so the motherboard's BIOS is relevant?

I'm running this from a laptop, Dell 600m, purchased in September 2005, so I'm assuming it will be okay?

 

[rvnguy]

As an external/connected drive (notSCSI) the BIOS & OS must still be capable of addressing it correctly.

This might not be of concern with some of the packaged drives. If this is of the type that is basically just a case that houses the drive with out an interface layer (like a Buffalo enclosure) & I assume a Maxtor & others, communication is a factor.

A connected drive is different from one that appears as a network device.

Sept 2005 should be recent enough not to have to worry about your BIOS....don't forget XP SP2.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all