External Hard Drive with I/O error is powering on/off

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Pastrix

Commendable
Mar 11, 2016
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I have external HDD (Buffalo mini station) . When I plug it into laptop, it starts loading but needs up to 30 min to show on Windows Explorer. The files from the disk are accessible for some seconds until external drive disappears from Windows Explorer and HDD starts loading again. It sounds like it is powering on and off . I tried diff USB port, different cable, plugged into different laptop and always the same. At one point message came "cannot read the file due to I/O DEVICE error".
I really would like to recover my files but don't know how as 10-20 seconds I can see the drive is not enough to copy them. Can someone help please
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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Sounds like the enclosure has failed. If it's under warranty, I would RMA the unit. If it is not under warranty, I would disassemble the enclosure, remove the drive and connect it directly to one of your motherboard SATA headers via SATA cable to see if the problem is actually with the drive or the enclosure.

If your PC is a laptop, rather than a desktop, then you will probably either need to get a replacement enclosure or one of these in order to test the drive. Or, connect it internally on somebody else's desktop PC.

http://www.amazon.com/USB-2-0-SATA-Cable-Adapter/dp/B001OOXBBG
 
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Pastrix

Commendable
Mar 11, 2016
3
0
1,510
Darkbreeze, thank you for help. I am not very technical so can I just check - as I have no Desktop I could test it on my laptop if I get SATA cable/adapter, remove enclosure and connect to laptop. Alternatively I can get a replacement enclosure?
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

Retired Mod
Jun 24, 2014
80,414
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Yes. And the type you get probably depends on whether that Buffalo unit has a 2.5" or 3.5" drive inside. If it's a desktop, not mobile style, external drive, then it probably has a 3.5" drive inside, which means you'd need an enclosure for a 3.5" drive. You don't want to get the cheapest enclosure you can find either, as many of them are simply junk. Even halfway good enclosures, and Buffalo usually has fairly good products, can fail, as you've probably seen from your current situation.

Still, it's possible that it's actually the drive and not the unit. Before all that though, I'd try using a different USB cable. Cable failures are fairly common as well. Make sure there are no bent pins at either end of the cable or in the ports you're connecting them to. Might try a different port to connect to as well before going through the trouble of disassembling the enclosure.
 
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P

Pastrix

Commendable
Mar 11, 2016
3
0
1,510
hi again, as you suggested, I connected my Buffalo external hard drive with SATA to my pc and I have same problem. it shows as "usb drive" for few minutes, than it changes to "drive Buffalo" and I can see all info (total space 320gb, free 100gb) for 3-4 minutes only. then again changes to "USB drive" (unknown drive) for 5 min then again to drive Buffalo etc. Its like it is disconnecting and connecting every 3-4 min. When I disconnected external HDD from my pc (it was still plugged into electricity through SATA) I heard the same noise, powering on and off. I don't need this drive, I just want to copy all my stuff to my PC but don't know how. Professionally it would cost more than my laptop!!
Can someone suggest how can I copy my files please?
 
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