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My 1TB Seagate external hard drive cannot be detected and the light is blinking

Tags:
  • Light
  • Seagate
  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
  • External Hard Drive
Last response: in Storage
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June 28, 2014 2:30:04 AM

I used this hard drive a few days ago no problem but since yesterday I can't seem to get it to work anymore. I would plug it into my laptop and not get anything at all, I then noticed the light was blinking so I knew that isn't a good sign. So I tried plugging it to my desktop and it still had the same problem. Blinking light and no detection of the hard drive being plugged in.

Anyone have a solution for this sort of problem? I would hate to lose all my movie and work. I've had this drive for about a year and a half now. Another thing to note would be that I always usually leave it plugged into my desktop while I'm on it.

More about : 1tb seagate external hard drive detected light blinking

a b G Storage
June 28, 2014 3:00:38 AM

Right, There are two types of external drives.

A large external drive that requires its own 12v power supply contains in most cases a 3.5" Sata drive that can be fitted into any computer case providing it has sata connections on your motherboard.

There is a board inside the external drive case that contains what we call a bridge board.
It is used to provide power to the internal HD and also Data connection.
The board created a bridge between two interfaces IE sata to a usb connector on the external housing.
Now if this fails then its why the drive is not picked up by windows or is not accessed.
So to get it working, or test it remove bridge board and connect to the sata mobo and power feeds if using it with a tower based system.

The second type of drive in an external housing is of a 2.5" HD size, the ones found in a laptop.
Now it depends on the make, some come with a usb connector fitted to the Hard drive circuit board.
So if it fails its harder to repair.
While some external hard drives use a standard sata 2.5" drive with a bridge board from sata to usb.
If so the bridge board can be taken out once again and the drive can be fitted to a tower based system providing you have sata ports and power cables to drive the 2.5" drive.

Your not going to know till you open the external drive case.
Its worth a try, as often the culprit is actually the control chip on the bridge board from sata to usb has broke.
And will give you access to the drive to read its contents ect.
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a b G Storage
June 28, 2014 1:20:04 PM

It's probably a 2.5" (small) drive that is trying to run off USB power, and is not getting enough power.

1. Try it in a different USB port.

2. Try it with an external USB power supply.
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July 16, 2014 10:57:08 PM

Light blinking means its sleeping.

Please try what 'Recycled' had suggested.
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September 18, 2014 11:37:11 PM

HI,

my hard disk also same problem....continuosly light blinking and not detecting diskmanagement(in devicemanager)... any solution
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October 7, 2014 1:29:21 PM

Ideally try the drive on another PC or device to start with to confirm this is the issue is present on other devices.

Do you get the usb plugged in sound from your computer?

If yes then it's either not getting enough power to the drive
Or the windows needs to be told to re-import the drive

1) Not enough power - Add external power
a) Buy a power device
b) Or a cable that plugs into 2 usb

2) The hdd enclosure controller circuit is naff
a) buy a new hdd enclosure and move drive into that
b) use warranty claim


*Notes on Re-Import Drive - set to active
pressing the Windows & E
Right Click My Computer - Select Manage
Disk Management - Find drive drive in the list - Set to active

*Problem: often looses security tags meaning all files and folders require permission to move delete or edit files. there is software that can resolve this.
*Which takes about the same time as copying all files to another location - reformat and copy files back. (Copy not cut)
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