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Seagate Free Agent Desk Drive Problem

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  uncleoflies 
#1 ·
I've been using a 1TB FreeAgent Drive as a system backup since early 2009. It's worked fine all that time. I've never had any problems with it. Several days ago, our home suffered a momentary (3-5 seconds) power failure while I was using my computer, shutting everything down. When I rebooted the computer, everything was working normally, EXCEPT for the FreeAgent Drive.

Under normal circumstances, it boots up with the computer, emitting that familiar whine as its logo lights up. Since the power failure, it refuses to activate. The device emits the telltale whining noise, but it does not light up, and clicks off, only to continue this cycle in an endless loop until either I shut off the computer or unplug the drive. Because the device is not active, the computer doesn't recognize that it's plugged into the USB port. I have my entire music library, hundreds of important documents, family photos and home movies in this drive, and if it's a lost cause, I might just break down in tears.

Does anybody know what exactly is wrong with my FreeAgent Drive, and if so, is there anything I can do to salvage my data without spending hundreds of dollars on a professional recovery service?

Thanks.
 
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#2 ·
First of all, files that you don't have backed up are files you should expect to lose. And the worst place possible to store them is on a drive like that which fails easier than any other that exist.

Since all drives will fail, you probably just lost your files sooner than later.

The power surge likely fried something. It may be the drive electronics, or just the case. It can cost into the $1000's to get files off the drive if the drive is affected. But you may be able to get them if it is just the case. But you will have to remove the drive from the case and attach it to another machine, either internally, or through an adapter for USB.
 
#3 ·
I didn't know the Free Agent Drive was such a notoriously unreliable back up device. It was given as a gift and I don't have a lot of money to go around buying extra hard drives. I've never had any problems with it until a few days ago, so it seemed reliable enough to me. Seeing as how I've never cracked open one of these things or installed a hard drive, do you have any tips as to how I should go about doing that? I figure that's worth a shot, at the very least.
 
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