Solved External USB Drive failed B/U's

[chefduane]

All, I just want to run a few things by you all to verify my next steps... My Hitachi Touro 1TB external USB drive has experienced multiple failed backups recently. I am using Win7 backup and restore and it has worked acceptably up until about the last 3 backup attempts. It gets to about 57% and then fails. I have run chkdsk on the drive with no errors. I have verified the NTFS file format. I have swapped it to a different USB port on my backplane (it is not running through a hub) with the same results. Are there any tests I can run to determine if it is truly a disk problem and not a controller problem? If the disk is still ok I can remove it from its enclosure and get a new enclosure with a new controller. But if the disk is truly toast (I know that the Hitachi's don't have a reputation for longevity) I will buy a new external drive. Any additional things that might be suggested before I buy a new drive? Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Ranger4]

Windows 7 back up it notoriously unreliable & often gives problems. Have you tried Macrium Reflect as an alternative. I & many other users on this Forum use Macrium. This website provides a download of Macrium free.

Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

I also have an Hitachi Touro 1 Tb external USB3 drive but it is not in an enclosure. I have used it for weekly images of my OS for over 3 years & it has been very reliable, but like all Hard Drives they are very fragile & even a hard knock or a slight dropping can cause failure.

I would suggest trying different back up software before blaming the Touro. From I remember reading Hitachi drives were considered among the better drives in longevity tests.

 

[chefduane]

I'll give Macrium a try but why would Win 7 suddenly become flaky after running fine for a number of years? Puzzling. Maybe I am being hardware-centric but my perception would be that the drive/controller would go bad before the software. Could be completely wrong assessment however.

 

[chefduane]

Ok, so I downloaded and installed Macrium but when I get to "Create a Backup, Disk Image, Select a Source Drive and Image Destination" there is no option to select the external drive. It is not listed. Am I correct in assuming that that tells me that Macrium is not seeing/finding my USB drive?

 

[Ranger4]

Have you got the USB drive plugged in. Open Disc Management & see if it showing there. When I plug my Touro USB drive in & I wait a few seconds it shows on the desktop.

There should be a section in the Macrium back up screen that provides settings for the destination. You do have to select the destination drive & your USB drive should be shown with a drive letter, so you can select it.

 

[chefduane]

I am positive the disk is plugged in. Disc Mgmt does not show it even after I unplug it and plug it back in. Macrium does not list the drive so I cannot select it. And I have also tried other USB ports on the MB to determine the USB connex is bad. Other than perhaps an odd failure of the cable itself, I think the disk and/or controller is kaput.

 

[Ranger4]

It's certainly starting to like your Touro USB hard drive might have failed, particularly as it's not showing up in disc management. Definitely try changing the connection cable as these can fail.

When you plug in or unplug it do you hear the usual USB double gong indicating a connection?.

 

[chefduane]

Late this aft I bought a Toshiba Canvio 1tb external usb 3.0 and it just completed a successful back up. Recognized in disc mgmt. and it shows when I open 'computer' from the start menu. So it was def either the drive, controller, or cable. I'll check the cable with my wife's laptop and see if it gets recognized. I appreciate the feedback and suggestions. No worries now tho. Thanks! I'll marked this as solved.

 

[Ranger4]

Thanks for the update. At least you have things under control again.

 

[mrjimphelps]

Create a Linux Live DVD or flash drive, boot into Linux Live, then plug in your Touro drive. You may be able to read it in Linux and get your files off of it, if that is what you want.

Once you have gotten everything you want off of the Touro, run GPARTED (in Linux Live), remove all partitions from the Touro, create one new partition (NTFS) for the whole drive, then format the drive (NTFS). Just pay close attention when you are doing this, so that you don't repartition some other drive!

After doing that, shut down, remove the DVD/Flash drive, and reboot into Windows, to see if you can now use the Touro drive.

 

[chefduane]

Thanks for the feedback but I am honestly not interested in doing any diagnostics and/or data recovery at this point. The new drive ran the back up fine and I am happy with that. At least I know I can now recover if I have a problem. Only needed a recovery from backup a few times in the past but when you need it, you need it! Thanks again.