External hard drive problem: failure?

[waynechriss]

Ugh, i've had my Simple tech external hard drive for over a year but it just chose to not work anymore. I plugged it in and first i tried to put a movie on there but i got some error code 36. i also could not play any files on the drive. So i restarted my computer and now nothing shows up on the external drive. It says there is 150 out of 250GB of free space left but its clearly blank. Also when i try to eject it HAS to do a force eject because it says its opened with a program, which its not.

Did my hard drive fail or is there a way to fix this i have a lot of stuff on there ;______;

 

[gr8tfly]

Try using Disk Utility's First Aid to repair the drive.

Open Disk Utility, then select the external drive's volume you are having trouble with. In the "First Aid" tab, click "Repair Disk".

If the drive is successfully repaired, you can continue to use it - but check it every so often. If it continues to require repair, you probably will need to replace it.

 

[Wie Gehts]

assuming your drive has not physically broken, i suggest getting diskwarrior. it'll find and fix all kinds of problems that disk utility can't or even hasn't got a clue about finding.
i had a disk that i thought was going bad...getting errors, device removals, not mounting...and DW fixed it
but, like i say, if the hd has a mechanical problem and is failing nothings gonna help except fixing it with a hammer..

 

[waynechriss]

Its definitely not physically broken but Disk Utility isn't working so i guess my route is either Disk Warrior or a new drive. Now i will learn to do offsite backups xp

 

[gr8tfly]

Its definitely not physically broken but Disk Utility isn't working so i guess my route is either Disk Warrior or a new drive. Now i will learn to do offsite backups xp

I agree with the other poster - Disk Warrior is the next step. It's fixed problems for me, too, when Disk Utility has failed.

 

[milton.sheaf]

What interface are you using, firewire or usb? Hopefully not usb.

 

[waynechriss]

What interface are you using, firewire or usb? Hopefully not usb.

Unfortunately i guess USB is my only option, i have no firewire cable for this thing, why is that a problem for it?

 

[milton.sheaf]

Unfortunately i guess USB is my only option, i have no firewire cable for this thing, why is that a problem for it?

Because USB is horribly slow, plus it adds a translation layer in between you and your hard drive. Things like SMART commands don't go through USB. Makes data recovery nearly impossible unless you are only attempting filesystem repair / recovery.