Lacie 160 gig external USB 2.0 Drive

[chucknorris]

I recently purchased a reconditioned hd from the lacie online store due mostly to the fact that it was a great deal.
The device worked flawlessy for the first week I had it (woohoo! ). Today though, when I powered it on and connected it to my computer, it began making a grinding noise and produced a series of tones (almost like music). I'm assuming the tones must have some kind of significance, but this has made me quite anxious. What should I do at this point? Should I try to salvage my data or just keep it powered off for now? Am I just totally s.o.l.? Please help me!

 

[SpaceMagic]

First of all, turn it on and salvage your data ASAP. Then phone LaCie support.

 

[chucknorris]

First of all, turn it on and salvage your data ASAP. Then phone LaCie support.

Thank you for the response! I was thinking about something along those lines...

Current obstacles are:

a. Lacie phone support is closed for the night
b. I don't have another hd with me that can hold the data I need to back
up

 

[SpaceMagic]

Thank you for the response! I was thinking about something along those lines...

Current obstacles are:

a. Lacie phone support is closed for the night
b. I don't have another hd with me that can hold the data I need to back
up

Just save it onto your computer... or was the point of getting the external drive so that you can get all the info off your comp and upgrade to Tiger or something like that?

Otherwise, if you need to back it up desperately consider DVD, CD or internet transfer (if you have a fast internet connection).

 

[chucknorris]

I recently purchased a reconditioned hd from the lacie online store due mostly to the fact that it was a great deal.
The device worked flawlessy for the first week I had it (woohoo! ). Today though, when I powered it on and connected it to my computer, it began making a grinding noise and produced a series of tones (almost like music). I'm assuming the tones must have some kind of significance, but this has made me quite anxious. What should I do at this point? Should I try to salvage my data or just keep it powered off for now? Am I just totally s.o.l.? Please help me!

Anybody have any specific information about this? I'm really worried!

 

[emw]

Not sure I can help, but at least I can sympathize. I have a LaCie d2 160GB at home that's worked flawlessly for the past several months. I just got one for work yesterday, backed up my Powerbook, then went today to hook it up and it starts clicking and won't mount. Still waiting for a response from LaCie support...

 

[chucknorris]

Not sure I can help, but at least I can sympathize. I have a LaCie d2 160GB at home that's worked flawlessly for the past several months. I just got one for work yesterday, backed up my Powerbook, then went today to hook it up and it starts clicking and won't mount. Still waiting for a response from LaCie support...

Thanks for the sympathy...I'm doing the same

 

[chucknorris]

Anybody have any specific information about this? I'm really worried!

Anybody?!

 

[CanadaRAM]

The "musical" tones have no particular significance other than being mechanical noises.

I assume you have turned the drive off? (you didn't leave it on when it started screaming, did you?)

Shut the lot of it down and wait until tomorrow when you can call LaCie. Recovering data now vs. tomorrow won't make any difference. However, monkeying around with it now may make it impossible to recover.

Check with local shops or with buddies and see if you can rent or borrow a Firewire drive long enough to copy the data onto before you send it off to LaCie for warranty repair.

Get all of your recovery/drive/CD-R rig prepared BEFORE you turn the LaCie back on. You might have only one chance to copy the data from it.

 

[chucknorris]

The "musical" tones have no particular significance other than being mechanical noises.

I assume you have turned the drive off? (you didn't leave it on when it started screaming, did you?)

Shut the lot of it down and wait until tomorrow when you can call LaCie. Recovering data now vs. tomorrow won't make any difference. However, monkeying around with it now may make it impossible to recover.

Check with local shops or with buddies and see if you can rent or borrow a Firewire drive long enough to copy the data onto before you send it off to LaCie for warranty repair.

Get all of your recovery/drive/CD-R rig prepared BEFORE you turn the LaCie back on. You might have only one chance to copy the data from it.

I have the drive off right now with no plans on powering it back on until I have a capacious enough hd available. Lacie tech support says that it is likely a drive failure, but that I should try something very similar to what you're suggesting. Successful or not, I'll be calling back to get a refund (so I can purchase a firewire drive for use with my new iBook).

Anyway CanadaRam, thanks for the help. You seem to have the most knowledge of any poster I've come across.

 

[CanadaRAM]

Thanks, that comes of doing this gig for <rant> too bl**dy long</rant>...
To put it in context, the first graphics systems I troubleshot were Mac 512/800 dual-floppy machines running PageMaker 1.0, networked with the newly-released PhoneNET system to LaserWriter Plus printers that cost $12,000 each. Can you imagine - publishing a daily newspaper with machines that boot from floppies?

Back to the present day...

Basically, if the drive isn't spinning or the heads have been damaged, you're hooped. But if you can get the drive to spin and be recognized by the OS at all, then you may be able to use DataRescueX to scavenge data from it.

Trick: if the drive won't start to spin, pick it up while it is turned on, and hold it so the drive mechanism is parallel with the ground (flat, like). give the case a quick 1/4 turn around the axis of the drive spindle -- again, in a flat orientation -- you are trying to transfer some momentum to the platters in the direction they should be turning, to overcome their being "stuck"
It has to be plugged into the machine, so take a care not to pull the cables out as you 'flick' it with your wrist.

This of course is a last-ditch procedure, but I did save 200 Mb of graphic projects for a client from their dead-won-spin-up-drive with this method once.

 

[chucknorris]

Thanks, that comes of doing this gig for <rant> too bl**dy long</rant>...
To put it in context, the first graphics systems I troubleshot were Mac 512/800 dual-floppy machines running PageMaker 1.0, networked with the newly-released PhoneNET system to LaserWriter Plus printers that cost $12,000 each. Can you imagine - publishing a daily newspaper with machines that boot from floppies?

Back to the present day...

Basically, if the drive isn't spinning or the heads have been damaged, you're hooped. But if you can get the drive to spin and be recognized by the OS at all, then you may be able to use DataRescueX to scavenge data from it.

Trick: if the drive won't start to spin, pick it up while it is turned on, and hold it so the drive mechanism is parallel with the ground (flat, like). give the case a quick 1/4 turn around the axis of the drive spindle -- again, in a flat orientation -- you are trying to transfer some momentum to the platters in the direction they should be turning, to overcome their being "stuck"
It has to be plugged into the machine, so take a care not to pull the cables out as you 'flick' it with your wrist.

This of course is a last-ditch procedure, but I did save 200 Mb of graphic projects for a client from their dead-won-spin-up-drive with this method once.

Cool! Thanks for the info. I'll gave it a SPIN (chuckle) when I get back home.