How Can I Access Seagate Barracuda LP Internal Drives?

[magentawave]

I have seven Seagate 2 TB 3.5" Barracuda LP internal hard disk drives that I am trying to access using an Inateck dock with my Macbook Pro (running Mojave) and a Windows machine. The HDD doesn't appear on the desktop of my Macbook Pro or in Disk Utility. I can see the drives on a Windows machine but still can't access them. These were originally used in a super high-end home theater system and should have a ton of movies on them.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can access these drives?

Here are the specs: https://hddfaqs.com/seagate-st32000542as/

 

[Arctic Moose]

What model dock is it?

What type of home theater system? Perhaps it used a file system that is not readable in Windows.

 

[John Kotches]

Is it possible these were in a RAID configuration for redundancy? That would explain the observed behavior.

 

[magentawave]

What model dock is it?

What type of home theater system? Perhaps it used a file system that is not readable in Windows.

DOCK: Inatech FD2002, USB to Dual SATA HDD with Offline Clone. SN: 7H23KTU1 https://amz.run/6llH

Its been a few years, but I am fairly certain he was using Windows. I don't remember what system it was but he was using very high-end theater equipment, like McIntosh, etc.

 

[magentawave]

Is it possible these were in a RAID configuration for redundancy? That would explain the observed behavior.

No idea, but if it was RAID, is there a way for me to read them?

 

[John Kotches]

You’d need a compatible RAID adapter and have to import the drives as an existing (often referred to as foreign) configuration.

If it was done via software RAID you’d need to know the software used and have it installed.

For either case all disks would have to be attached simultaneously.

 

[magentawave]

You’d need a compatible RAID adapter and have to import the drives as an existing (often referred to as foreign) configuration.

If it was done via software RAID you’d need to know the software used and have it installed.

For either case all disks would have to be attached simultaneously.

The video below is on how to setup RAID on a Mac. Thing is, he is able to see the external drives on his desktop and in Disk Utility while I can do neither.

 

[John Kotches]

The video below is on how to setup RAID on a Mac. Thing is, he is able to see the external drives on his desktop and in Disk Utility while I can do neither.

This isn’t new. This is from another machine.

You’re free to set it up and destroy the data if that’s what you want.

 

[magentawave]

You’d need a compatible RAID adapter and have to import the drives as an existing (often referred to as foreign) configuration.

If it was done via software RAID you’d need to know the software used and have it installed.

For either case all disks would have to be attached simultaneously.

The guy that originally owned the equipment and set it up is long gone. He was renting office space from a friend of mine and stopped paying rent so in exchange my friend got the equipment. My friend isn't a tech type at all so knows nothing about it.

So you're saying that without knowing and acquiring the software used to run the video files on these disks that I'm stuck? If so then I might as well initialize them and sell on Craigslist.

 

[John Kotches]

You don’t understand RAID? I’m not trying to be flippant here; there’s either a communication or a knowledge gap and I’m not sure which is the case.

Without knowing the specifics of the implementation it’s rather difficult to provide useful guidance. RAID can be implemented in many different ways by different hardware and software vendors. That’s why I’m not giving you a direct answer.

 

[magentawave]

You don’t understand RAID? I’m not trying to be flippant here; there’s either a communication or a knowledge gap and I’m not sure which is the case.

Without knowing the specifics of the implementation it’s rather difficult to provide useful guidance. RAID can be implemented in many different ways by different hardware and software vendors. That’s why I’m not giving you a direct answer.

No, I don't "know" RAID. I have heard of RAID but never had a use for it, I guess. If you're referring to the previous "implementation" then I only know what I stated previously and that is that the disks came out of a high-end home theater system that was probably running Windows and definitely not a Mac. If you're referring to current "implementation" then it is for me to able to read what is on these hard drives.

 

[satcomer]

Raid was made in old days when NAS devices came online to 5 or 10/15/20/50 drive in it so computer user wanted redundancy in data backups! 2 disk were raid Raid 1 go to a user it was one disk but if that disk failed the user had a backup to switch too! Raid 0 was two or more disks shipped and looked like ONE drive that was faster to write/read from! Raid 5 was made for 5 identical disks in a NAS! Raid 10 was 5 disks of different sizes melted as one drive to the user!

 

[John Kotches]

Raid was made in old days when NAS devices came online to 5 or 10/15/20/50 drive in it so computer user wanted redundancy in data backups! 2 disk were raid Raid 1 go to a user it was one disk but if that disk failed the user had a backup to switch too! Raid 0 was two or more disks shipped and looked like ONE drive that was faster to write/read from! Raid 5 was made for 5 identical disks in a NAS! Raid 10 was 5 disks of different sizes melted as one drive to the user!

So much wrong in this. Are you serious?

 

[John Kotches]

No, I don't "know" RAID. I have heard of RAID but never had a use for it, I guess. If you're referring to the previous "implementation" then I only know what I stated previously and that is that the disks came out of a high-end home theater system that was probably running Windows and definitely not a Mac. If you're referring to current "implementation" then it is for me to able to read what is on these hard drives.

If the drives aren’t readable in any form that you have access to it was almost certainly using some form of RAID.

Either that or they’re encrypted and can’t be recovered though Id be willing to bet on the former.

 

[magentawave]

If the drives aren’t readable in any form that you have access to it was almost certainly using some form of RAID.

Either that or they’re encrypted and can’t be recovered though Id be willing to bet on the former.

Ok, so if they are RAID is there a way for me to access them even though I can't see them on my desktop or in Disk Utility?

 

[satcomer]

So much wrong in this. Are you serious?

You telling me as a retired Network Administrator I am wrong about Raid?

 

[John Kotches]

You telling me as a retired Network Administrator I am wrong about Raid?

I do large scale virtualization compute and storage.

Raid 0 is stripe sets. No redundancy. Lose a disk lose the data.

Raid 1 mirrored pair of 2 disks.

Raid 10 either mirror pairs striped together or stripes of disks mirrored together. I’ve seen both options depending on the vendor. Requires a minimum of 4 disks.

Raid 5 is a single distributed parity across 3 or more disks.

Some vendors use the marketing term RAID 6 for 2 or more distributed parity disks.

So yes you’re wrong.

 

[John Kotches]

Ok, so if they are RAID is there a way for me to access them even though I can't see them on my desktop or in Disk Utility?

If it’s hardware raid you need a compatible controller which can import the existing configuration. If it’s software RAID you need the correct software to match these up. You haven’t indicated what brand and/or model of movie storage systems these came out of. That makes it difficult to determine how it was implemented.

The other option is that the drives are encrypted and keyed to the old computer. That would be an anti-piracy/theft tactic. Keeps someone from pulling the drive and stealing the content.

TBH with you they aren’t worth that much. Brand new the 2.5” 2 TB Barracudas @ 5400 RPM are new for $65 at Amazon. The 7200 RPM versions usually for servers are showing much higher new ($150-200) but they also generate a lot more heat. You can look at the drives and they’ll list the spindle speed.

 

[magentawave]

If it’s hardware raid you need a compatible controller which can import the existing configuration. If it’s software RAID you need the correct software to match these up. You haven’t indicated what brand and/or model of movie storage systems these came out of. That makes it difficult to determine how it was implemented.

The other option is that the drives are encrypted and keyed to the old computer. That would be an anti-piracy/theft tactic. Keeps someone from pulling the drive and stealing the content.

TBH with you they aren’t worth that much. Brand new the 2.5” 2 TB Barracudas @ 5400 RPM are new for $65 at Amazon. The 7200 RPM versions usually for servers are showing much higher new ($150-200) but they also generate a lot more heat. You can look at the drives and they’ll list the spindle speed.

If rotational speed is the same as spindle speed then it is: 5900 RPM. Specs: https://hddfaqs.com/seagate-st32000542as/.

I have 7 of these Seagate 2 TB 3.5" Barracuda LP (LP=Low Power) 3.5" ST32000542AS internal drives. I don't want to throw them in the trash. If I can't access the movies on them without going through hell then I'll just sell em Craigslist or OfferUp for something like $25 each. I know they had very very little use on them.

What would you do with them?

 

[John Kotches]

Yes spindle and rotational speed refer to the same thing.


Your price is fair to me. It’s kind of a roll of the dice as to how much success you’ll have selling them.

 

[magentawave]

Yes spindle and rotational speed refer to the same thing.


Your price is fair to me. It’s kind of a roll of the dice as to how much success you’ll have selling them.

It just occurred to me that if I can't access these HD's on my Mac or a Windows machine then how could someone that buys them from me access them? Meaning, are these HD's basically paper weights now?

 

[Arctic Moose]

DOCK: Inatech FD2002, USB to Dual SATA HDD with Offline Clone. SN: 7H23KTU1 https://amz.run/6llH

No reason this shouldn't work, especially if you can see the disks on a Windows PC.

Could you please connect this to your Mac with a two disks in it, open Disk Utility, make sure "Show All Devices" is checked in the View menu and post a screenshot of what you see in the left pane?

If you are using one or several adapters/hubs you may also want to try getting something like this to connect the dock directly:

JSAUX USB 3.0 Cable B Male to USB-C, 6.6ft USB 3 Type B Cord Nylon Briaded Compatible with Docking Station, External Hard Drivers, Scanner and More

c to b 3.0 cable

www.amazon.com

It just occurred to me that if I can't access these HD's on my Mac or a Windows machine then how could someone that buys them from me access them? Meaning, are these HD's basically paper weights now?

If you don't care about (or have given up on) the contents you can just format them, assuming the disks are not faulty.

 

[magentawave]

No reason this shouldn't work, especially if you can see the disks on a Windows PC.

Could you please connect this to your Mac with a two disks in it, open Disk Utility, make sure "Show All Devices" is checked in the View menu and post a screenshot of what you see in the left pane?

If you are using one or several adapters/hubs you may also want to try getting something like this to connect the dock directly:

JSAUX USB 3.0 Cable B Male to USB-C, 6.6ft USB 3 Type B Cord Nylon Briaded Compatible with Docking Station, External Hard Drivers, Scanner and More

c to b 3.0 cable

www.amazon.com

If you don't care about (or have given up on) the contents you can just format them, assuming the disks are not faulty.

The dock is connected directly to the USB port on the Macbook Pro.

I wasn't able to see the disks on the desktop or in Disk Utility before when my Macbook Pro was running Mojave last week. I just replaced this Macs internal HDD with an SSD and updated to Catalina and now I can see the disk with Disk Utility.

Here's what I'm seeing with Disk Utility now...

 

[magentawave]

So, the questions now are...

1) Based on what you see there, do you think there is anyway to access the contents?

2) If it's not possible to access the contents then should I erase and format to MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT and select Master Boot Record for the Scheme?

 

[Arctic Moose]

1) Based on what you see there, do you think there is anyway to access the contents?

Assuming the contents have not been corrupted there certainly is, but without knowing exactly how they have been used previously, and the means to recreate that scenario with either software or hardware, my guess is that it will be a steep uphill battle.

What you could do with a little effort is to run one of the many tools for file recovery that looks for recognizable file information even if no file system information is available, which may be able to recover files assuming the disks were not previously encrypted, or used in a way that spread files over more than one disk for speed or redundancy.

2) If it's not possible to access the contents then should I erase and format to MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT and select Master Boot Record for the Scheme?

That depends on what you are going to do with them. If you plan to sell them, MBR and MS-DOS is a safe bet. Depending on how paranoid you are about someone else retrieving the contents, you may want to do a format that zeroes out every bit first.