USB external drive not detected

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divv

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Hi all.
I bought a Samsung G3 3.5" 1.5Tb external from IC just as prices were starting to go up.
The first time I plugged it in, it took a few times for my laptop to recognise there was anything there but after a few minutes of plugging and unplugging it worked.
The next time I tried to use it, it took several more tries before the laptop saw it. There would be a little bit of sounds from the drive as it was first plugged in but the sound of Windows 7 recognising there was a device plugged didn't happen, and Explorer and Safely Remove saw nothing attached.
Then yesterday I plugged it in again and nothing I did, no many how many times I tried - would bring a response; tried 3 different computers, different USB cables; different power supply.
I can return it for a replacement to IC BUT its got personal data on it, not to mention a lot of videos and pics and stuff, and it doesn't thrill me to lose the stuff AND for someone to have personal info about me.
Other option is I can open the case (voiding the warranty of course) and try to plug it into an open slot on my desktop.
What to do?? I read on the Samsung website that many returned drives have nothing wrong with them and its a cable fault or something but obviously for me to check this I would have to void the warranty...?
 
Long shot but try booting off a linux livecd like ubuntu, mint etc and try accessing the drive. You can also try a different cable & PSU.

Does the drive have a warranty void sticker over one of the screws? With some careful manipulation you might be able to get if off and back on again with no visible signs if you are careful.
 
Try using the disk management tool to check if Windows sees a drive:
Go to "Control Panel"» "Administrative Tools" » "Computer Management"» Disk-Management".

If it's there, right click and try to initialize it. If that is not available, try to format it and then see if Windows recognizes it. If it doesn't format it would have at least wiped your data. Please make sure you select the correct drive and don't format the wrong one. Learn't that the hard way...
 
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I think the power supply on that drive enclosure is defective. I have had similar problems with some drives. If it is an external drive (being a 3.5 inch) you could take it out and connect it directly, then backup the data. 3.5 inch enclosures are typically R 120 odd
 
vinodh - Disk management doesn't see it either so unfortunately can't do as you suggest.
ponder - can't see ANY screws, unless they are under the attached rubber feet of the device - don't think I'd be able to take them off without it being very obvious.. And I had already done the different PSU and cable thing.. No access to linux... if I did I think the lack of full spin up (regardless of whether plugged in from first boot or later) tells me the OS probably won't affect it..
chrisc4290 - thats the R699 question that I'm considering - because if it turns out to be the drive not the enclosure I'm toast...
 
Have you tried plugging it in your desktop via USB?

My colleague has a Dell laptop that has numerous issues with his USB, where his USB portable HDD doesn't get detected at all, not even when it is plugged in on the docking station.
Currently he has to connect his USB portable HDD in my desktop PC to get access to his drive :(
 
Pada - 2 laptops (7 different USB ports) and my HP microserver (even opened my this up to access the internal USB connector) - NADA.
And Incredible's computers also didn't see it. :-(
 
Two times its been the powerboard inside the enclosure for me - nothing wrong with the drive. 1x Verbatim 1 x Iomega.
If you want your data break it out with fingers crossed.
 
So it's 2 votes to take the chance vs 1 against (guy at work who uses a lot of drives)...
 
You should be able to get a fairly good idea of whether or not it's the drive or the USB bridge board that's the problem. Samsung 3.5" drives make a very distinct sound when they power up. After the spin up you'll hear repeated strings of a 'chugging' noise for lack of a better description. You should hear a few rounds of this noise and then the drive will settle. Spin up the drive and listen for that noise, if you hear it and then normal quiet spinning then it's most likely the bridge board and drive is most probably OK.

We did a Samsung G3 2TB for a customer recently where the drive was the problem and not the enclosure. We opened it in such a way that it was almost undetectable and after recovering the customer's data we reassembled the drive and enclosure and she returned the faulty unit to Game and they refunded her.

If the data is worth what you paid for it then you've got a good chance of the drive itself being OK. Or open it very, very carefully and if you do a good enough job then it might not look as if it's even been opened to the untrained eye.
 
Yotch - thanks for the link. It does look tricky (maybe doable though).
South_Bit: the sounds it makes are very short-lived but I take that to be part of the not being detected issue since this drive "will not power on when the USB Cable disconnected" (says the 2 page manual). I wish you were in my area so I could get you to open it up!!
Thanks for the input everyone - I'm @ work til 4 and will decide before I leave here.
 
In the worst case if you try to open the drive and IC notice that it has been tampered with you could be looking at paying R1500 for a new one. Add the cost of the broken one and you'll have paid R2000+ for a 1.5TB drive not to mention the additional aggravation. Surely the faulty drive will be shipped back to Korea to be refurbished so it's extremely unlikely that anybody will ever examine your data? They must get tens of thousands of faulty drives returned from all over the world. Unless the data is extremely valuable I would just return it as soon as possible and try to rebuild what you can on a new drive and put the nightmare behind you!
 
Hi all.
Yotch - apologies for not replying earlier - I didn't have internet access most of the day, and by the time I read your post the "di(c)e was cast", because (bad pun intended), I had already "rolled the dice".
I got someone at work to open it up as carefully as possible (with help from the youtube movie) and extract the drive.
FORTUNATELY the drive worked once placed in another enclosure (so its not the drive that was faulty).
I spent most of today deleting those things I thought I could live without and moving the rest of the stuff off the drive.
I would have like to do a secure erase afterwards but most of the stuff had already been moved out of the recycle bin so I couldn't access it to do so.
I then ran out of time and had to leave the drive behind for the guy to out it back in the enclosure; I'll collect it tomorrow.
So now worst case scenario is IC refuse to take it back, in which case I will again remove it from the case and just put it into my microserver; best case is IC will play ball and I'll get a new drive.
I know I was taking a risk but I did want my data off the drive; fortunately it went ok.
Thanks for the input all!!
 
Good luck with getting it replaced! Hopefully the extraction hasn't caused too much noticeable damage. Samsung seems to have purposely designed this enclosure to be as difficult as possible to open. If internal hard drive prices ever return to preflood levels it might be better to assemble your own external drives rather than to purchase them complete to avoid these type of issues. Maybe you could also run hddscan periodically to check for SMART errors if the USB controller supports this feature.
http://hddscan.com/
 
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Just out of interest did you do a low level format of the first G3 after you bought it? I don't do this usually as I think that it puts these large external drives under a lot of stress (can take as long as 20 hours via USB) especially if the bearings are still new. Black plastic enclosures don't eliminate heat very well so the drive temperature can rise substantially and stress the other components. Others might disagree though.
 
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