Portable hard drives.

[Excalibur]

My oldest hard drive, a WD 160Gb portable is no longer seen by any PC's. Light comes on, and nothing happens.

It was working fine when last used. Am I going to have to dip my hand? :confused: :( :( :( :( :(

[Megamix]

although I don't know whether your hard drive has failed - my understanding is that any drive will eventually fail - its just a matter of time. I usually go by the sound - if there is no sound, its clicking or generally sounds unhealthy that would ring alarm bells to me.

[ppentertainments]

Had the same with one of mine last month. Every now and then comes to life then goes back to sleep.

With the price of them (and not coming from Yorkshire :D :D ) I went out and bought and exchanged three £10 notes for a nice new one in Staples clearance bin.

PS - Peter, York in August ;) Will let you know details. Last 2 have been postponed for various reasons.:mad:

[Totally Plucked]

Pete

Pm sent

http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/storage/simpletech_250/

[discomobiledj]

Have you tried changing the USB cable?

[Excalibur]

Have you tried changing the USB cable?

Update: Yes. Surprisingly, a change of cable sorted it.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

If its one that draws power from the USB then they are notoriously tempermental when it comes tob the cable, and will only operate over short cable runs as the draw gets lost alongb the cable.

[Excalibur]

If its one that draws power from the USB then they are notoriously tempermental when it comes tob the cable, and will only operate over short cable runs as the draw gets lost alongb the cable.

Indeed so, it would appear. ;)

[CRAZY K]

Update: Yes. Surprisingly, a change of cable sorted it.

Silly boy;)

What happened to fault finding in Yorkshire:confused:

Good job you werent on a gig--

The spare back up would be sitting on the shelf at home to comply with
Pro dub rules obviously, so you would have to drive home for it.

:Laugh: :Laugh: :Laugh: :Laugh: :Laugh:

CRAZY K

[Larry B Entertainment]

although I don't know whether your hard drive has failed - my understanding is that any drive will eventually fail - its just a matter of time. I usually go by the sound - if there is no sound, its clicking or generally sounds unhealthy that would ring alarm bells to me.

I have a nice bit of freeware that monitors and takes serveral readings from the hard disk and will flag up a warning if a critical error occurs or the hard drive is about to pack up.

[markdj60]

I have a nice bit of freeware that monitors and takes serveral readings from the hard disk and will flag up a warning if a critical error occurs or the hard drive is about to pack up.

what program is that may i ask?

[dj keevers]

maplin have a great deal on atm, seagate 1tb 7200 rpm usb2 for 69.99. just bought 1 and its very fast for an external

[CRAZY K]

maplin have a great deal on atm, seagate 1tb 7200 rpm usb2 for 69.99. just bought 1 and its very fast for an external

1tb of music.

Now thats what I call a collection--dont forget your very expensive pro dub licence;)

:) :) :)

CRAZY K

[Excalibur]

1tb of music.

Now thats what I call a collection--dont forget your very expensive pro dub licence;)

:) :) :)

CRAZY K

Might be .wav files ;) A lot bulkier than mp3. As storage prices tumble, there'll doubtless be quite a few people suggesting we re-rip our collections to .wav, in order to play our music at CD quality.

[CRAZY K]

Might be .wav files ;) A lot bulkier than mp3. As storage prices tumble, there'll doubtless be quite a few people suggesting we re-rip our collections to .wav, in order to play our music at CD quality.

Hmmmm-The usual question--will anybody really notice when they are drunk out their heads at a Wedding Reception;)

Which after all is the British tradition:D :D :D

CRAZY K

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Hmmmm-The usual question--will anybody really notice when they are drunk out their heads at a Wedding Reception;)

Which after all is the British tradition:D :D :D

CRAZY K

More to the point, unless your playing out on a super high end sound system, the sound will be negligable.

[Larry B Entertainment]

what program is that may i ask?

HDtune.

Its free to download from the net.

[AnthonyG]

Folks - Be aware that WD drives are picky with which USB cable you use. i.e, try to not lose the short USB cable provided when purchased.

The USB cables lose quite alot of power, and USB cant supply the wattage neede to spinup the WD drives (The 160gb ones were really bad for this). Hence WD manufactured shorter USB cables to get the drives goin.

Thanks, Anthony

[deltic]

More to the point, unless your playing out on a super high end sound system, the sound will be negligable.

i find the difference between mp3 audio and uncompressed audio to be quite noticeable,even mp3's encoded at 320 still loose a fair bit of quality.

[Charlie Brown]

I have this...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=261046 for school work etc.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280483906951&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Just as good though...

[scoopd]

Folks - Be aware that WD drives are picky with which USB cable you use. i.e, try to not lose the short USB cable provided when purchased.

The USB cables lose quite alot of power, and USB cant supply the wattage neede to spinup the WD drives (The 160gb ones were really bad for this). Hence WD manufactured shorter USB cables to get the drives goin.

Thanks, Anthony

My WD drive crashed on me so personally I wouldn't recommend that one

[Excalibur]

Folks - Be aware that WD drives are picky with which USB cable you use. i.e, try to not lose the short USB cable provided when purchased.

The USB cables lose quite alot of power, and USB cant supply the wattage neede to spinup the WD drives (The 160gb ones were really bad for this). Hence WD manufactured shorter USB cables to get the drives goin.

Thanks, Anthony

I think I referred to this in the other HD thread. Good advice, it turned out to be exactly right in my case ( WD160Gb drive )

[scoopd]

the thing is they may work perfectly for some people but there is nothing worse than losing your data when you least expect it.So no more WD for me!

[Excalibur]

the thing is they may work perfectly for some people but there is nothing worse than losing your data when you least expect it.So no more WD for me!

I can live with replacing a cable, since that involves no data loss. I don't know your circumstances, they may easily be different.