External HD Gone Bad: What To Try ? (and, regarding cloud storage ?)

[Robert11]

Hello,

For several years now, I have been backing up to an external Seagate HD.
Drive has only been plugged in during the backups, and left unplugged normally.

So, today, I wanted to backup some more, but...!
Sounds like it is whirling from the sound I can hear, but the icon light on the case does not light.
Also, my PC will not recognize it.

So, is there anything to try before just admitting that it has gone bad ?
Any tricks, hints, etc. to try ?

And, just wondering.

a. Are USB Memory Sticks considered more reliable for long term storage ? Sandisk still the "best" ?

b. It seems like for "large" storage, or even for the larger memory stick sizes (say for the 64 GB ones)
the only thing that makes sense for me, now, and for the future, is to probably sign up for some Cloud Storage.

The Cloud storage concept has never sat very well with me, due to security concerns, and also the time it would take to upload to their Servers several hundred GB. Ugh.

Any thoughts on this ?

Who offers a really good, not too expensive service ? I know there are many, many, that offer cloud storage these days.

I really know nothing about cloud storage. What should I be aware of, make sure of getting, caveats, etc. with the particular services as I go about picking one ?

Much thanks.
Appreciate the help,
Bob
than the typical external HD ?

 

[GokAy]

There are knowledgeable people who might help you with the disk, however try the obvious:
- did you check the Device Manager, all ok there?
- can you use a different cable?
- a different USB port?

USB sticks are not reliable backup devices. Sandisk Extreme's are the best performing sticks atm. 2 years old test but hopefully still is true 31 USB 3.0 Thumb Drives, Tested And Reviewed - 31 USB 3.0 Thumb Drives, Rounded-Up.

Can't say anything about Cloud storage as I would literally time-out and die of old age before I could upload my data to cloud (1Mbit upload )

 

[americancritic2]

Hello Robert11 maybe this will help you on the noise your hard drive is making.

Failing hard drive sounds - Datacent.com - Datacent

 

[ignatzatsonic]

a. Are USB Memory Sticks considered more reliable for long term storage ? Sandisk still the "best" ?

b. It seems like for "large" storage, or even for the larger memory stick sizes (say for the 64 GB ones)
the only thing that makes sense for me, now, and for the future, is to probably sign up for some Cloud Storage.

The Cloud storage concept has never sat very well with me, due to security concerns, and also the time it would take to upload to their Servers several hundred GB. Ugh.

Any thoughts on this ?

A: No, they aren't. Never were. They are the rankest of disposable commodities and horribly flimsy. The testing you will find has nothing to do with their reliability. All anyone tests for is speed. Their only advantage is low cost and portability. Even if they weren't flimsily constructed, you still have to deal with the quality and type of memory cells they use.

B: You've about got it figured out on the cloud--slow to upload, dependent on an Internet connection, security concerns, concerns about the viability of the cloud provider, etc. I'd never trust it as my only backup, but maybe OK as a secondary if you can swallow your security concerns.

You might consider using a hard drive dock into which you can insert any standard internal hard drive. Maybe use 2 hard drives on a rotating basis. Connects to a PC via USB 3.0 or eSATA. Pretty fast----maybe 200 to 250 GB per hour via eSATA.

 

[Robert11]

From OP: Re HD Docks Approach ?

Hi,

Thanks for help with this.
Never a dull moment.

The HD Dock is very interesting, as, frankly, I've never used one, or even thought
about this approach.

Questions:

Why would this be a more reliable approach, than having separate HD's ?
I'm not sure that I see the advantages, other than them sharing some power components.

Might you please give me a bit more on them, pros and cons ?

Best regards,
Bob

 

[MoxieMomma]

Hi:

As the others have pointed out, no one backup modality is 100% foolproof.
There are disadvantages and advantages to all strategies.

External USB hard drives have fewer theoretical security issues than cloud backup, and the data are immediately available.
However, these drives can and do fail. Even expensive, "enterprise" devices can go bad (though they typically offer good support that is often lacking with the consumer models).
One way to minimize risk would be to have more than one and to "rotate" them as backup devices.
That way, if one fails, you might have one usable device, albeit with a slightly older backup set.
Moreover, the software can fail, too -- whether the native Windows backup utility or the drive manufacturer's software or even 3rd party software.
Or, for some products, the backup can be "hardware dependent", such that data can only be restored to the same computer. So, if the computer fails, it will be hard to recover the data from the External UHD to a different computer...

Cloud backup raises at least theoretical security issues, though there are ways to improve that (e.g. by encrypting data prior to transfer), and a number of vendors (such as MBSB*) offer encrypted storage with good security controls.
Data upload speed is not bad, depending on your internet connection speed.
Download -- if you were ever to need to recover your data -- is often throttled and much slower.
BUT cloud backup does provide another layer to one's data backup, should your house burn down or flood or be broken into, and/or in the event your local data storage fails.
And they are less "hardware dependent", as one can typically restore data from one computer to a different computer, if necessary.

USB thumb drives -- even the "good" ones -- really are more data transfer devices than they are "backup" devices, as was already pointed out. I always have at least 2 working ones available, just in case. In general, you get what you pay for with these - a reputable brand name device will PROBABLY last longer than a really cheap one.

My personal strategy is to use all of the above.

Hope this helps.

(*No financial relationship with the company or the product.)

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Might you please give me a bit more on them, pros and cons ?

I started using a dock because I had a spare retired (but working fine) hard drive laying around and wanted another backup method.

The dock was $25; a new external hard drive would have been $100. I saw no reason to waste the perfectly good retired drive.

A drive in a dock is exposed to open air and not as subject to heat concerns as a drive inside an enclosure.

Docked drives can be used just as if they were internal--you move files to and from them by drag and drop with the mouse. No need for auxiliary software of any type.

You can use any brand or size drive as long as the dock supports that drive size and interface. Some docks won't support 3 or 4 TB drives, so you need to confirm that. You can use very fast HDDs in a dock, while I'm not sure externals feature the fastest drives in the manufacturer's product line.

Some docks will accept both 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives. Some docks will accept 2 drives, so you could replicate one to the other, but I don't need that functionality.

Docks and external drives are equally portable---I'd suggest you keep them in a closet and unfurl them only when you actually want to use them---rather than keeping them connected and powered on all the time.

I periodically hear of problems with external drives where the drive itself appears to be functional, but the enclosure has a failure of some type that prohibits use--something in the connection chain. I can't say that I've heard of similar problems with docks, though I expect they can and will ultimately fail as well.

If you use an eSATA connection on a dock, you can boot and run your PC from a docked drive, just as if it was an internal. I did this recently. My SSD boot drive had failed, so I restored a Macrium image of it to a standard HDD in the dock and ran my PC directly from the dock for a week or so while I was awaiting a new replacement SSD. Performance was better than anticipated through the dock, pretty much like an internal HDD.