Iomega 2TB external USB is drive silent and not recognized

mimi_p

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Nov 13, 2004
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Hi. Please help: my Iomga 2TB external (USB) drive is not recognized by disc manager and is making no sound, and no vibration. It has two cables: power (with a brick at the end) and USB data cable. One day it just wouldn't come up, no sound, no vibration, only the blue power light. Iomga sent me new cables, which didn't help. Have tried in Windows 7 and XP. Once Windows 7 disc mgr did see it and wanted to format it (which I didn't do), and never since then has it been seen at all. I foolishly have no backup for most of what is on this drive. I tried tapping it lightly while disconnected--didn't work.
 
Remove the drive from its enclosure and connect it directly to a SATA port on your computer's motherboard. This will eliminate the USB-SATA bridge board inside the enclosure as a potential culprit.

The fact that the drive is not spinning (?) would suggest that the problem is a board fault, but this contradicts your observation that Windows was able to detect the partition.

Does the enclosure show up in Device Manager?

How does Microsoft's UVCView utility see the external drive?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/UVCView.x86.exe
 

qwerty1234_23

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Nov 27, 2011
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I'm having basically the same problem, I have an Iomega external 2TB HDD that was working a few hours ago but then when i just tried it and plug it in it isn't recognized at all by my computer. the blue led lights up and stay solid blue but there is no sound and the harddrive doesn't seem to be spinning.
 

TechpriestGamma

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Sep 20, 2012
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Exact same problem; have a 1 TB Iomega External HDD that has suddenly stopped working. Does not appear in Device Manager or Disk Management, and the UVCView utility did not see it. If this is a board fault, does anyone have any recommendations? Is repair possible?

Additional information; the cables and power supply are both good, as is everything on my tower, as another HDD works just fine with the same cables and power supply and plugged into the same ports.
 
@TechpriestGamma, does your drive spin up, or try to spin up?

The UVCView utility tries to communicate with the USB-SATA bridge IC inside the enclosure. In most cases this IC is on a separate USB-SATA bridge board, but in some USB-powered enclosures (not yours) it is implemented on the drive's own PCB.

Some bridge firmware will identify the external mass storage device regardless of whether a drive is detected, but other firmware will wait for the drive to come ready. I don't know which category your Iomega falls into. Therefore, in order to eliminate the bridge PCB as a potential culprit, you should remove the drive and attach it directly to a SATA port.
 

TechpriestGamma

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Sep 20, 2012
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It does not spin up at all; all I get is the blue LED indicating power and data connection. I would prefer to not have to crack the casing to get at the SATA bridge, but if necessary I can. All I have is the power connection and a USB port (the 6-sided one) outside the case.
 

TechpriestGamma

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Sep 20, 2012
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Will do. Thank you!

Edited after I cracked the enclosure: What had happened was the actual drive was separated from the USB converter at the front. All I had to do was reconnect the sata bridge inside the housing and everything was good.
 

jonescdc

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Feb 8, 2013
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I know this is an old thread, but I was curious- do you remember which brand of hard drive IO Mega used in this external? I was thinking of voiding the warranty by taking it out of the enclosure, to use it inside my PC. I'm just not sure it's worth it or not.

Chris