Seagate Backup Plus Drive Clicks and Does Not Respond

[libindaniel2000]

I am having issues with Seagate Backup Plus Drive. MBP stopped recognizing the disk a few weeks ago. I could go on Activity Monitor and quit a process that would not let me mount the disc (called chkdisk or something). Once that process quit, a popup would show up saying that my drive is not repairable and only read only.

So, I got another external disk to copy all my data from the old one to the new one. Once I did that, I formatted the Seagate Backup Plus Drive (old drive) to OSX Journaled format. I copied all my data back into it, and activated Time Machine on this old disk. Everything was working like usual for a few hours, by now.

Since everything was working fine, I wiped the data off the new disk (using Disk Utility and stage 2 cleaning) and returned it to my friend.

This morning, the old disk was not being recognized in the computer and Time Machine was giving the error could not find disk. So, I switched off my MBP (13" 2012 model) and connected the disk again. The disk spun up, clicked around 8-10 times and then spun down and nothing happened. Everytime I plugged it back in, same thing happened.

Things I have done:

1. Put it in a freezer bag and tried again. No luck.

2. Pulled out the hard drive from the enclosure and opened it up to see if the headers are stuck on the platter. They are not.

3. Played around with two different USB ports, USB cables, power supply. No luck. Power is coming straight from the wall and USB is being plugged right to the MBP.


Is there any way I can recover data from this old disk via software? Retail technicians are asking quite a bit to fix this. Will Disk Drill help? Will Data Rescue help?
Also, I am trying to use my friend's disk to salvage my data, but no luck so far. I have used Disk Drill (not the Pro version) and Seagate File Recovery app to see what comes up, but so far nothing has showed up. So, I think that stage 2 cleaning wiped clean the new drive.


Is there any way, other than taking to a data recovery specialist, I can get to my data?

 

[Taz Mangus]

I am having issues with Seagate Backup Plus Drive. MBP stopped recognizing the disk a few weeks ago. I could go on Activity Monitor and quit a process that would not let me mount the disc (called chkdisk or something). Once that process quit, a popup would show up saying that my drive is not repairable and only read only.

So, I got another external disk to copy all my data from the old one to the new one. Once I did that, I formatted the Seagate Backup Plus Drive (old drive) to OSX Journaled format. I copied all my data back into it, and activated Time Machine on this old disk. Everything was working like usual for a few hours, by now.

Since everything was working fine, I wiped the data off the new disk (using Disk Utility and stage 2 cleaning) and returned it to my friend.

This morning, the old disk was not being recognized in the computer and Time Machine was giving the error could not find disk. So, I switched off my MBP (13" 2012 model) and connected the disk again. The disk spun up, clicked around 8-10 times and then spun down and nothing happened. Everytime I plugged it back in, same thing happened.

Things I have done:

1. Put it in a freezer bag and tried again. No luck.

2. Pulled out the hard drive from the enclosure and opened it up to see if the headers are stuck on the platter. They are not.

3. Played around with two different USB ports, USB cables, power supply. No luck. Power is coming straight from the wall and USB is being plugged right to the MBP.


Is there any way I can recover data from this old disk via software? Retail technicians are asking quite a bit to fix this. Will Disk Drill help? Will Data Rescue help?
Also, I am trying to use my friend's disk to salvage my data, but no luck so far. I have used Disk Drill (not the Pro version) and Seagate File Recovery app to see what comes up, but so far nothing has showed up. So, I think that stage 2 cleaning wiped clean the new drive.


Is there any way, other than taking to a data recovery specialist, I can get to my data?

When you say "stage 2 cleaning" are you referring to 2 pass erase?

Not sure much can be done at this point if you erased with zeros the hard drive. You could try a data recovery specialist but I suspect the data is really lost at this point. You don't have a Time Machine backup of the data?

 

[libindaniel2000]

When you say "stage 2 cleaning" are you referring to 2 pass erase?

Not sure much can be done at this point if you erased with zeros the hard drive. You could try a data recovery specialist but I suspect the data is really lost at this point. You don't have a Time Machine backup of the data?

Yup, I meant 2 pass erase.
I did have a Time Machine backup. But, it was on the drive that clicks..

 

[Taz Mangus]

Yup, I meant 2 pass erase.
I did have a Time Machine backup. But, it was on the drive that clicks..

I have had this happen to me where I had my Time Machine backup on a external hard drive that failed. I now do double Time Machine backups. One is automatic and the other is on a completely different external hard drive that I plug in every few days and use Time Machine to manually backup to. This way if one backup hard drive fails I have another backup.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote above:
"Yup, I meant 2 pass erase."

You aren't getting the data back, because you have erased it.
Not once, but TWICE.

I'm not familiar with Seagate's utilities, but if this was a "secure-style" erase (which writes "ones" and "zeros" to each block in succession), there is "nothing left to recover".

A data recovery outfit isn't going to be able to help you. It's easy for them to recover when only the directory has been re-initialized, because the data itself is still "left alone" on the drive's platters. But if the data has been specifically "zero'ed out", it's gone.

From this point, go forth and learn, a sadder but wiser man.

From now on, keep ALL data that is important to you in AT LEAST TWO PLACES.
That means on two or more separate drives.

 

[libindaniel2000]

So, Data Rescue 4 (on the new disk) did not come back with anything.
At this point, I think, my only option is to send that clicking disc to Seagate and shell out that $600 to see if they can recover it.
Will this work? The data in there worth a lot more to me (childhood pictures, my music and school work etc.) and I am OK with giving data recovery a shot..if that is what it will take.
Currently, the clicking drive is not even accessible via disk utility and I have no idea how to get to the data in that clicking disc.
Any suggestions on data recovery guys that you have had success with, especially when it comes to hardware damage?

 

[libindaniel2000]

I have had this happen to me where I had my Time Machine backup on a external hard drive that failed. I now do double Time Machine backups. One is automatic and the other is on a completely different external hard drive that I plug in every few days and use Time Machine to manually backup to. This way if one backup hard drive fails I have another backup.

Have been agonizingly thinking over how I could have avoided this situation. And yeah, this is the only thing that makes sense to me as well. It is not automated and it is tedious, but I think moving forward I will have to manually create that (second) backup once a month.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Have been agonizingly thinking over how I could have avoided this situation. And yeah, this is the only thing that makes sense to me as well. It is not automated and it is tedious, but I think moving forward I will have to manually create that (second) backup once a month.

There isn't really anything tedious about it:

1. Plug-in the external hard drive that you will use for the automatic backups. This is the primary backup hard drive.
2. Plug-in the external hard drive that you want to do manual backups. This is the secondary backup hard drive.
   
3. Open System Preferences->Time Machine.
   
4. Press Select Backup Disk... and select the hard drive that is the secondary hard drive. Yes that one will be selected first.
5. Press Add or Replace Another Backup Disk... Select the primary backup hard drive. A popup will ask you if you want to add or replace the disk, choose add the disk.

What you now see is 2 disks listed, the first one is the secondary hard drive and the second one is the primary automatic backup disk. Unmount the secondary disk and do your initial backup which will be on the primary backup hard drive. When that finishes, plug in the secondary backup disk but don't eject the primary backup hard drive. Click on the Time Machine icon in the menubar and select to do a manual backup. Time Machine will now to a initial backup to the secondary backup disk. When that backup finishes unmount and unplug the secondary backup disk and store it somewhere safe.

What now happens is that Time Machine will do automatic backups to the primary backup disk every hour. When you are ready to do the secondary backup, plug-in the secondary backup disk (do not unmount or unplug the primary backup disk) and select to do a manual backup from the Time Machine menu. Time Machine will do a quick manual backup. When it finishes, unmount and unplug the secondary backup disk.

So you see where this is going. Very easy to do once you get it setup properly which looks harder than it really is. You will have to decide how often you want to do the secondary Time Machine backup. I try to do it every few days.