My External Hard Drive is having a problem , need help

[AA001]

Greetings Everyone ,

This is my first time posting in this forum.

Here is my case for my problem :

I have a 2 TB Buffalo External Hard Drive, in the last couple of days especially at night
my External hard Drive produce a noise like "TikTik" sound which followed by a "beep!" and it wont stop.

Which i decided to unplugged the external hard drive usb cable and tried to plug it again in my personal computer including the HDD external power source.

However , it does not solve the problem.

I could still access my files at that time but at the worst moment , once i clicked a single folder , it was loading for a long period of time which makes the windows explorer is not responding or crashed.

Then i decided the same method unplugging the HDD external usb cable and the power source and try to reconnect it again. Surprisingly, as soon as the HDD external rebooted , it does not appear in the Windows Explorer and decided to use the device manager but still it does not help.:shock:

Anyone help and support will be appreciated.

 

[HAVOC]

Sounds to me like the drive is dying. I would grab any files off of it before they are no longer accessible.

 

[MightyMiroWD]

Hi @AA001!

I'm sorry to hear about the drive issues your having.

Since it's hardly recognized in your computer, crashing everytime you try to access the data or simply not appearing in Explorer I'd say it's failing. So if you have any important data there I'd suggest to consult with a data recovery company and see if they can help you in this situation. Here's a link where you can check few if you want:

Support Answers

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

[AA001]

Grateful for the answers

Thanks for anyone replying my thread and any answer is appreciated .


So , based on the answer provided is that my external hard drive is failing. Though , that news is made me kinda depressed on not able to access the files inside it.

From what i search on google so far is that there is a solution which is kinda ridiculous and that is :

Putting your hard drive into the Freezer for a couple of hours but i am sure that method is not recommended .

Since i found out about that method , does anybody had tried it ? and does it work including how long does it last ?

 

[MightyMiroWD]

I am not a fan of the freezer method because it is not a generic solution for a failed drive. Also keep in mind that you can damage the drive further if any moister gets on it since any changes in humidity and temperature can cause irreplaceable damages to the hard disk.

 

[AA001]

Okay , I have found that the external hard disk on the device manager. However , the Usb Cable is in a warning sign which after i click it and it says " Device Cannot Start(Error 10) ".

I have also installing the Latest Driver through the troubleshoot steps.

But still it does not help .

Contact the customer service of the company does not help also, since no body is answering. Even though , i call them during their work office hours.

This is getting complicated. Yet , i am not sure if Open the External Hard disk would be a great idea.


So any Suggestions ?

 

[Anak]

Hi AA001, welcome to 7F!

Yes, it sure does sound like the drive is failing, a word of advice; Do not do what you are thinking,

This is getting complicated. Yet , i am not sure if Open the External Hard disk would be a great idea.

There is nothing inside that can be repaired by you, even if you worked at Buffalo. The tik, tik or clicking you hear sounds like the read and write heads are trying to work, and the beep could either be coming from the drive or BIOS, how many beeps?

• HDD Beep Codes | google search

• BIOS Beep Codes | google search

Do you have a different/newer USB cable to try?
Do you have access to another computer? If you do, plug the HDD in and see if it will start up. If it does start up okay then you have problems with your machine's system.

Use the beginning list on this page to help figure out your next steps: Hard drive repair & data recovery information - hard drive repair diagnostics

1. Does the hard drive spin?
2. If so does it click?
3. Does the armature kick out?
4. Do the hard drives heads vibrate to initiate?
5. Is there an odd smell to the drive?
6. If it doesn't spin do you hear a slight or faint ticking sound?
7. Does the BIOS see the hard drive?
8. Does the BIOS see the hard drive as the correct model?
9. Are there funny characters showing on boot?
10. Does the operating system blue screen?

Some good advice from that site:

Why take the lid of a click hard drive exposing its delicate components to dust & contaminants when the System area was at fault... or the printed circuit board had failed.

 

[AA001]

Hi AA001, welcome to 7F!

Yes, it sure does sound like the drive is failing, a word of advice; Do not do what you are thinking,

This is getting complicated. Yet , i am not sure if Open the External Hard disk would be a great idea.

There is nothing inside that can be repaired by you, even if you worked at Buffalo. The tik, tik or clicking you hear sounds like the read and write heads are trying to work, and the beep could either be coming from the drive or BIOS, how many beeps?

• HDD Beep Codes | google search

• BIOS Beep Codes | google search

Do you have a different/newer USB cable to try?
Do you have access to another computer? If you do, plug the HDD in and see if it will start up. If it does start up okay then you have problems with your machine's system.

Use the beginning list on this page to help figure out your next steps: Hard drive repair & data recovery information - hard drive repair diagnostics

1. Does the hard drive spin?
2. If so does it click?
3. Does the armature kick out?
4. Do the hard drives heads vibrate to initiate?
5. Is there an odd smell to the drive?
6. If it doesn't spin do you hear a slight or faint ticking sound?
7. Does the BIOS see the hard drive?
8. Does the BIOS see the hard drive as the correct model?
9. Are there funny characters showing on boot?
10. Does the operating system blue screen?

Some good advice from that site:

Why take the lid of a click hard drive exposing its delicate components to dust & contaminants when the System area was at fault... or the printed circuit board had failed.

OK,here are the answers based from your question:
in a single pattern of the sound is tik, tik, tik and end with a single beep which came from the external driver itself.

1. It does spin during start then it slows down and become silent
2.yep only when the external hard drive is warming up and spinning
3. armature ? i don't really get it but all frames and the structures is still on a good condition
4. Head Vibrate ? more like the default entire body vibrate as usual as always/ normally
5.It smell clean nothing odd
6. No, just silent
7.BIOS ? i am not clearly understand what BIOS is, but the computer recognize the driver but it was mention like the error 10, status not available (When clicking the USB Mass Storage in the Device Manager and "Device cannot Start".
8.Well , in the Device Manager is the Correct Model but it does not show on the desktop
9.Funny Characters ? you mean text ? None except that the loading process is long if opening a folder/ device itself on the desktop. Which eventually the Windows Explorer not responding or perhaps crash.
10. Blue Screen ? well,i am not sure , but yeah i got blue screen like last month. Which i don't know the cause but now is running in a good condition.

 

[Anak]

Are you using a USB port in the back or front of your machine? If front try any/all of the ones in back as they usually have a higher power output.

Next, that beeping noise, does the noise sound like this?

If it does, what you're hearing is the sound of the drive's head actuator trying to free itself from the platters and failing. Some suggestions before totally giving up on that drive:

• Remove the drive from its case and hold it flat in your hand, give it a couple of quick, sharp flat turns of your wrist, which may cause the platters to move, and then try reinstalling the drive again.

• If that doesn't help, give it a couple of sharp raps, but not too hard! on the side of it's frame with your knuckle, or with a piece of wood or plastic, and try it again...

Hopefully, this will free the read/write heads, and the drive will be able to spin-up again.

If you're successful in getting the drive to spin-up again, back-up your data immediately, and get it replaced via an RMA from Buffalo. You may or may not be able to do these suggestions a second time.