2TB Seagate Hard-Drive with Blinking Icons

strtrodder49 · Dec 17, 2017

I have a 2TB Seagate External Hard Drive that when I open it up to look at a file, after a short period of time, the icons on the External Hard-Drive start to blink. In time, the icons on the Desktop also start to blink and, the PC then freezes up, which results in my having to close it down manually by shutting off the power. I do have a 1TB Touro External Hard-Drive that I also sometimes use for retrieving files and, I have no problem with this - other than it holds less documentation. I have Bitdefender Total Security and, have run a virus scan and, nothing shows up. I even provided a BIOS Scan to Bitdefender and, they too can't seem to find out what the problem is either. Can someone respond back to me in "Layman's Terms" (I am 68) as to what might be causing this problem and, what I can do to correct the issue without losing documentation. Additionally, I have noticed duplicate and triplicates of the identical same information on the Seagate External Hard Drive and, literally have thousands of duplicate files when I should only have 1-file to open up. Thanks for any feedback anyone can provide to me.

Mark RM · Dec 17, 2017

Is the drive powered by a separate adapter or just by USB power? Does the drive work correctly on other computers?

strtrodder49 · Dec 17, 2017

Mark RM :

strtrodder49 · Dec 17, 2017

Thanks for your response. The External Hard Drive is power by USB Power only. There aren't any other computers in our home and, no it's not powered by a Separate Adapter either (as I thought all External Hard Drives are attached to a PC - either directly or through a Hub. In my case, it's plugged directly into a USB Plug on my PC.

Mark RM · Dec 17, 2017

Did the hard disk come with a USB Y cable like this one ;
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-1-Feet-Cable-External-USB2HABMY1/dp/B003WV5DMO

One scenario
I have found the power requirements of some drives exceed the ability of the USB port to power them and this can cause errors. By plugging two ends of the Y into different USB ports, you double the power available to the drive.

Second scenario
your USB ports or something plugged into a USB ports has a minor short to ground and is causing instability on the USB bus as a whole, thus your errors. I would test the drive on a different computer.

strtrodder49 · Dec 17, 2017

Mark RM :

Did the hard disk come with a USB Y cable like this one ;
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-1-Feet-Cable-External-USB2HABMY1/dp/B003WV5DMO

One scenario
I have found the power requirements of some drives exceed the ability of the USB port to power them and this can cause errors. By plugging two ends of the Y into different USB ports, you double the power available to the drive.

Second scenario
your USB ports or something plugged into a USB ports has a minor short to ground and is causing instability on the USB bus as a whole, thus your errors. I would test the drive on a different computer.

strtrodder49 · Dec 17, 2017

Unsure what you mean by "plugging two ends of the Y into different USB ports, you double the power available to the drive", as I only have a single line that plugs into the PC Port with the other end plugging into the Seagate Port? The same goes for my other External Hard Drive "Touro" 1TB.

Secondly, as mentioned to you, I live here in the Philippines and, not close to anyone else that might have a PC - the closest being 30-miles away. So, I can't just arbitrarily test the drive on a different computer. Having a computer here in the Philippines for all Filipinos is an Additional Luxury Item which most people can't afford. Whereas with myself, I am Retired U.S. Air Force / Retired Civil Service and, my wife and, I elected to permanently retire back here to the Philippines from the U.S. in 2014. Since the voltage is different, we had to go out and purchase several heavy duty step-down transformers for our U.S. Made Electrical Items to work efficiently (which up to this point have - including the two External Hard-Drives that I have until the SeaGate Hard-Drive started saving triplicate or quadruplicate files instead of just filing one item away, to use at a future point in time).

Any other suggestions?

Mark RM · Dec 17, 2017

While I understand not everything is easy due to you particular living arrangement that doesn't change a diagnostic process.

the cable I describe is cheap and fixes many problems with USB attached disks. It plugs into two ports on the PC, instead of one, ensuring stable power to the drive. The local electrical current has no impact on what I'm saying.

Let me put it this way....put the problem on the back burner... what outcome do you want?

strtrodder49 · Dec 17, 2017

Mark RM :

strtrodder49 · Dec 18, 2017

Well, I guess the first thing is to find out if either two Computer Stores have a "Y-Plug" that can plug into two Ports on my PC. If not, then I am up the creek. The other option is to find out why, when I open up the Seagate External Hard Drive is to find out why the numerous files start to blink almost right away (when I try to open up a file) and, then cause the rest of the icons on my desk top start to blink, thus causing the PC to freeze up.

Mark RM · Dec 18, 2017

the reason for the problem you describe is that the disk is introducing some type of instability into the PC's USB bus, a minor short or overdrawing current perhaps.

Either the PC is having an error or the disk is having an error... My suggestion was targeted at trying to fix one type of many potential errors with the disk.

strtrodder49 · Dec 18, 2017

Mark RM :

strtrodder49 · Dec 18, 2017

Well, I guess then, that'll I have to wait until I get to downtown Ozamiz City to check with one of two electronic stores to see if they sell a "Y" Type USB plug to plug into the PC. However, I have noticed that when you handle the USB, I get a feeling that something isn't quite grounded correctly and, there might be a short in the External Hard-Drive. Either way, I will get back with you in a couple of weeks time.

Have A Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year too!

Mark RM · Dec 18, 2017

strtrodder49 :

Merry Christmas to you as well Sir.

strtrodder49 · Dec 19, 2017

Well, I went to a Microsoft Website and, asked the same question and, guess what? I received an answer from a person who provided me a website to check or repair my 2TB Seagate External Hard-Drive. I then changed around the configuration with the the 2TB Seagate External Hard-Drive plugged into a USB Hub (which is considered a "no-no") and, the other (Touro) External Hard-Drive plugged into a USB Port on the PC and, thus far no blinking, as it's been almost 5-hours since I received this information from the Microsoft Community: I suggest that you download and run SeaTools to get an idea of the health of the external drive. SeaTools comes either as a Windows program or as a program that runs from a bootable device with its own operating system. Given the problem you describe, I'd be inclined to use the "SeaTools for DOS" version.

You can download both the software and guides for using it here: https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/ - with this information that was presented to me, everything works like it should and, did before my problem started. So, a "hat's off" to the Microsoft Community, for helping me out and, providing me with the correct information. Consider this issue closed.

Mark RM · Dec 19, 2017

I had no idea you had a hub.

strtrodder49 · Dec 19, 2017

Mark RM :

strtrodder49 · Dec 19, 2017

Yes, I do have a Hub as it's used for the Touro External Hard-Drive that I use for other items - mainly photos as all my documents are located on the 2TB Seagate External Hard-Drive.

Either way, this issue is closed. Now just have to figure out how to close this out on Tom's Hardware as this is the only third time that I have used this particular website over the past couple of years.

2TB Seagate Hard-Drive with Blinking Icons

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