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External Hard Drive Failed?

M

Macguy31

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 12, 2015
30
5
Hi,

Last night I was sitting at the computer and it went to sleep (iMac) - but I woke it almost immediately and when I just hit a button on the keyboard to wake the computer, it didn't respond/nothing happened. I then hit the power button on the computer and it reset and came back on. I noticed that my external hard drive (which is always plugged in) was no longer mounted (I may or may not have unmounted it prior to the computer going into sleep mode - can't remember). I simply unplugged the hard drive and plugged it back in - (the Seagate GoFlex) and nothing - it would no longer mount and the light on the front is mostly steady, but occasionally blinks slowly. I hear it spinning, and even when unplugging it and plugging it back in, it sounds just like it always did, it just won't mount. I'm hoping that my data isn't gone but I'm not sure what I can really do. I've tried searching online for help but haven't found anything helpful.

I went into Disk Utility - the drive is shown there, as in, it's plugged in, but underneath it's greyed out. I tried to repair it, but can you really repair a drive when it's not mounted? it's currently begin "Repaired" now, but I'm not expecting this to do anything.

Before I go out and buy a new external hard drive, i'd like to at least attempt to recover my old files.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thank you!
 
In Disk Utility...
Did you try selecting the partition on your external from the list, then clicking the Mount button?
 
DeltaMac said:
In Disk Utility...
Did you try selecting the partition on your external from the list, then clicking the Mount button?
Click to expand...

Yes, when I opened Disk Utility, I tried clicking "Mount" on the "Time Machine Backups" icon, but it says "Mount failed"
The hard drive is actually listed twice - One just says 2TB Seagate and underneath it says "Time Machine Backups" but that one is greyed out.
 
2TB Seagate is the device (manufacturer's info on the first line)
Time Machine Backups is the name of the partition on the drive, and is how you named it.
So, each drive that you have would be listed in Disk Utility with two lines, minimum... One for the hardware device, and one line for each partition.

If Disk Utility doesn't help you with the repair - you could try other repair software, such as Disk Warrior.

One way to check if the drive has failed... Remove the drive from the enclosure, and try it in a different case.
Does your GoFlex have Firewire and USB interfaces? Try the other connection.
 
DeltaMac said:
2TB Seagate is the device (manufacturer's info on the first line)
Time Machine Backups is the name of the partition on the drive, and is how you named it.
So, each drive that you have would be listed in Disk Utility with two lines, minimum... One for the hardware device, and one line for each partition.

If Disk Utility doesn't help you with the repair - you could try other repair software, such as Disk Warrior.

One way to check if the drive has failed... Remove the drive from the enclosure, and try it in a different case.
Does your GoFlex have Firewire and USB interfaces? Try the other connection.
Click to expand...

I did a repair but nothing really happened. the GoFlex is powered by USB - I did try it on another computer but same thing.

How could I try it in a different case? Sorry, I'm new to taking stuff like this apart. I would like to know if the drive failed though, just for peace of mind that my stuff is actually gone.
 
Macguy31 said:
I did a repair but nothing really happened. the GoFlex is powered by USB - I did try it on another computer but same thing.

How could I try it in a different case? Sorry, I'm new to taking stuff like this apart. I would like to know if the drive failed though, just for peace of mind that my stuff is actually gone.
Click to expand...


I had something similar happen with a seagate goflex. I got the "disk not properly unmounted" error, and then it wouldn't get recognized either. I think I was still able to copy it over to another drive, and the contents showed up on the other drive. I then was able to reformat it. Again, I can't quite remember how I got it working, but I did. I should write that stuff down.
 
scottrngr said:
I had something similar happen with a seagate goflex. I got the "disk not properly unmounted" error, and then it wouldn't get recognized either. I think I was still able to copy it over to another drive, and the contents showed up on the other drive. I then was able to reformat it. Again, I can't quite remember how I got it working, but I did. I should write that stuff down.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd like to know how you were able to copy the contents to another drive? I can't even get into the drive to see the folders?

I am in Disk Utility now, and I was able to to create a "New image" - it's taking forever and I don't know what i'm doing but I'm hoping it works.
 
Ok, so I finished repairing the drive and it was successful, but it still won't mount.
 
If the drive doesn't cooperate, then whatever backup you might have on it won't be worth keeping, because you can't get at it in its current condition. That would make a "backup" less than worthless, at least on that drive.
I would suggest that you should just abandon your present set of backup files, erase that external (reformat).
If the newly formatted drive still won't mount, then it will be your clue that drive is gone. If it does mount, then use the newly erased drive as your Time Machine drive.

(Hint - I see quite a few problems with the Seagate GoFlex, so you may want to consider replacing the seagate with something else. Just my opinion... )
 
OP:

Just some random questions:

Was the problem drive just used for TM backups?

Is there anything on the backup volume that isn't currently represented on your internal drive? In other words, is there anything on the backup that you can't afford to lose?

If not, would you have problems if you just re-initialized the backup drive (I suggest you run Disk Utility's "repair drive" on it about five times in succession, and make sure you get a "good report" each time) -- and then just put a completely new backup onto it ???
 
Fishrrman said:
OP:

Just some random questions:

Was the problem drive just used for TM backups?

Is there anything on the backup volume that isn't currently represented on your internal drive? In other words, is there anything on the backup that you can't afford to lose?

If not, would you have problems if you just re-initialized the backup drive (I suggest you run Disk Utility's "repair drive" on it about five times in succession, and make sure you get a "good report" each time) -- and then just put a completely new backup onto it ???
Click to expand...

Hi,

The drive was primarily used for TM backups, yes, however, on the hard drive, I had one folder for TM backups and then 7-8 folders with stuff stored on them (photo's, videos, stuff i've moved off my hard drive for years), I wouldn't be concerned with losing the TM backup's as much as I am with the other folders - actually, the stuff in those folders is probably also in the TM backup's because it was probably saved on there at some point - correct?

Anyway, I can't get the drive to mount, even after doing the repair drive - it was successful, but I am getting the invalid content journal message in red, even though it says the repair was successful. I've read some instructions online on how to go into terminal and run a command to remove the journaling - didn't work for me - kept asking me for a password. The info is not gone, but I spent hours last night trying stuff.
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DeltaMac said:
If the drive doesn't cooperate, then whatever backup you might have on it won't be worth keeping, because you can't get at it in its current condition. That would make a "backup" less than worthless, at least on that drive.
I would suggest that you should just abandon your present set of backup files, erase that external (reformat).
If the newly formatted drive still won't mount, then it will be your clue that drive is gone. If it does mount, then use the newly erased drive as your Time Machine drive.

(Hint - I see quite a few problems with the Seagate GoFlex, so you may want to consider replacing the seagate with something else. Just my opinion... )
Click to expand...

I've gotta say, my Seagate drive, has really been pretty good - I had it for almost 6 years I believe and I think the reason it is damaged is because of the little computer/power issue when trying to wake it from sleep - I know that an external device should never not be properly ejected before "removing" - but I think that's what happened. The computer reset while the drive was plugged in. I have, i'm sure, in the past shut down my computer without "ejecting" the drive and haven't had problems but I guess this time I didn't have any luck.

I actually went last night and bought Apple Airport Time Capsule - haven't set it up yet, but will once I lose all hope on getting my data off the other drive.
 
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