# Urgent help needed! Seagate Portable Drive!



## Sandmaninthehouse (Dec 6, 2022)

Hi folks!

My Seagate 2tb portable drive doesn’t show up on my iMac, I’m running Mojave.

I’ve had no issues with it, haven’t dropped it or anything like that.

When I plug it in the light turns on and it’s a solid white light, I don’t hear any weird wurring or beeping sounds, seems to be running normal but my Mac doesn’t recognize it.

Troubleshooting steps I’ve tried:

1. Rebooting computer, doing the nvram reset, booting into safe mood, still nada.
2. Tried different cables, plugging it into different usb ports, still nada.
3. Tried using it on my MacBook Air, still doesn’t show up, I also tried plugging into a HP laptop, the portable device seemed to be recognized under devices and printers, but still could not access it via my computer.

I really need the my logic project files and samples on this device as I’m working on a deadline. 

Any suggestions?


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## Alchemedia (Dec 6, 2022)

Q. Did you happen to experience a blackout or install any new devices just prior to this issue occuring? Any error messages? You are using a surge protector, right?

Have you tried this?
*Finder>Applications>Disk Utilities
Select ext drive and choose "First Aid"
Click Run to repair*


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## Sandmaninthehouse (Dec 6, 2022)

Alchemedia said:


> Q. Did you happen to experience a blackout or install any new devices just prior to this issue occuring? Any error messages? You are using a surge protector, right?
> 
> Have you tried this?
> *Finder>Applications>Disk Utilities
> ...


Thanks for your reply.

No blackout, my I did have to do a hard reset on the power button as my computer did freeze, but other than that nothing else happened. And yes I am using a surge protector, had 3 other drivers plugged in and they are all working normally. I’ve never had issues with this one.

I tried the first aid technique but the driver is not showing up at all. The white light turns on when I plug in the drive and I hear it working, no beeping or flashing light. 

I’m at a loss.


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## Axl (Dec 7, 2022)

You could download a program like https://www.prosofteng.com/mac-data-recovery or https://www.ontrack.com/en-us/data-recovery/software and see if that finds your disk.
there you can also check what can be recovered if you buy the full version.
There are similar programs that can also help you.

Have a fresh disc ready with more than enough space if you can recover the files, and copy over everything.

It could also be the controller of the disc, that is further down the line. Then you would have to use a caddy and remove the disc from the enclosure.

I would search for similar problems on Mac forums, and see if you get some helpful hints that is better than my Mac knowledge.

Hope you solve it!


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## Garlu (Dec 7, 2022)

Recommending Disk Drill here. I recently had an issue with a 2tb drive which it wouldn't mount... and was able to see it on Disk Drill and copy all data safetly to a new drive. Heaven!


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## Living Fossil (Dec 7, 2022)

Sandmaninthehouse said:


> No blackout, my I did have to do a hard reset on the power button as my computer did freeze, but other than that nothing else happened.


If the hard disk was in midst of a writing process when the computer froze, chances are high that it's lost. I had this on occasions. You can try the mentioned first aid programs, but probably they won't help.
As a last solution there are some companies specialized in recovery, but they usually cost lots of money.


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## CSS_SCC (Dec 7, 2022)

If it's a data corruption issue, try IsoBuster (they have a free version that has limited functionality for you to see if it's able to read the data): https://www.isobuster.com/isobuster.php
I have been using it for more than 15 years and it's very comprehensive. Unfortunatelly is Windows only.


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## marclawsonmusic (Dec 7, 2022)

If the computer can't see the drive at all, one easy thing to try is a different USB cable. I've had cables and hubs go bad before - not too frequently, but it does happen.


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## Alchemedia (Dec 7, 2022)

marclawsonmusic said:


> If the computer can't see the drive at all, one easy thing to try is a different USB cable. I've had cables and hubs go bad before - not too frequently, but it does happen.


OP already tried that.


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## PaulieDC (Dec 7, 2022)

While this is on the Windows versions, I have been able to recover data for people in this situation, using any one of the utilities out there (I use GetDataBack for NTFS), and it looks like some others have suggested Mac data recovery software. The trick is getting it to mount... one thing to keep in mind: if you can somehow get the drive to mount with one of those utilities, but it says unreadable, and your only option is to format the disk, DO THAT. A standard format does not delete any data on the drive. It simply removes the "Table of Contents" and so the drive is technically blank, but really you are writing over the I's and O's that were there before the format. With formatting the drive, you at least get it to mount. THEN a recovery utility can access the disk, bypass the new clean table of contents, and scour the drive to recover the data. It seems scary to format, but it doesn't touch the data. I have recovered data for people countless times this way. Just don't WRITE any data after the format. So your one task right now is to try utilities to get that thing to mount, and then you can format the disk and then you should be able to recover.


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## YaniDee (Dec 7, 2022)

I've had 2 external Seagate (2&4 Tb), and a 2Tb Internal Barracuda die on me in the last 2 years! They replaced one, but I don't trust them anymore..Put your hand on it, can you feel it spinning? If so, there's hope, if not..


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## Alchemedia (Dec 7, 2022)

Drive Savers in Novato CA is the last resort. Best data recovery service on the planet. If you're interested PM me and I'll give you a discount code.


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## Alchemedia (Dec 7, 2022)

YaniDee said:


> I've had 2 external Seagate (2&4 Tb), and a 2Tb Internal Barracuda die on me in the last 2 years! They replaced one, but I don't trust them anymore..Put your hand on it, can you feel it spinning? If so, there's hope, if not..


I've seen more Seagate failures than any other brand. That being said, _portable_ external hard drives in general are more prone to failure than internal drives.


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## marclawsonmusic (Dec 7, 2022)

Alchemedia said:


> I've seen more Seagate failures than any other brand. That being said, _portable_ external hard drives in general are more prone to failure than internal drives.


My Seagate died recently too. But I was able to recover it by using First Aid and reformatting. It will probably die again soon.


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## Alchemedia (Dec 7, 2022)

marclawsonmusic said:


> My Seagate died recently too. But I was able to recover it by using First Aid and reformatting. It will probably die again soon.


In addition to the moving parts, the USB connectors on these drives are also prone to failure and a short can fry the drive.


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## CSS_SCC (Dec 7, 2022)

Somehow off topic but anecdotal evidence is just that. If you really want to have a better overview of the failure rate for a particular brand/model, please have a look at Backblaze as they are publishing their data every quarter:








Backblaze Drive Stats for Q3 2022


Q3 2022 Drive Stats: Read the latest insights and check out the data.




www.backblaze.com


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## elucid (Dec 7, 2022)

It does sound like a drive failure but as a very, very long shot it’s always worth trying a restart with Opt-Cmd-P-R held down. Let it restart three times without releasing the keys then let it complete the restart.

I’ve had some remarkable results with that over the years. Things that look like hardware failures can come good.


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## YaniDee (Dec 7, 2022)

T


Sandmaninthehouse said:


> When I plug it in the light turns on and it’s a solid white light, I don’t hear any weird wurring or beeping sounds, seems to be running normal but my Mac doesn’t recognize it.


So you can feel it spinning, right?
Yes, file corruption, bad cables, etc, can usually be fixed..but hardware issues, such as the spindle motor seizing, a defective controller chip on the drive, etc cannot be remedied without expensive data recovery methods. I took out my internal Seagate, hooked it up to a Sata to usb powered adapter, and saw that the drive would spin a few times then stop..at that point I realized that no amount of software recovery was going to bring it back..

More info here:








[Solved] Hard Drive Not Spinning: What to Do If a Hard Drive Will Not Spin


If your Hard Drive Won't Spin, check out a client data recovery case that came to our lab after suffering a hard disk drive failure. Our experts can help.




www.gillware.com





They (esp Seagate) just don't make them like they used to..I have some old internal drives going back 15 years that still work.

On an optimistic note..the cases for external drives, usually open up fairly easily, and it's just a plain Sata drive inside..if all else fails, you can get a Sata to Usb adapter (pretty cheap) and see if that works..


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## Sandmaninthehouse (Dec 7, 2022)

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I really appreciate it.

I ended up taking it in to a computer repair shop and they told me I would need to send it off to one of those Darta recovery companies, probably would cost $500-$1400, so I guess I won’t be doing that.

Live and learn, I will not be buying Seagate again, the quality has obviously gone down hill.


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## HCMarkus (Dec 7, 2022)

The problem isn't Seagate. The problem is you didn't have a backup. 

All storage devices will fail; it is just a matter of time.

So, buy whatever drive you want to replace the one that failed. Then buy another one, a big one (like the 8TB Seagate selling at Costco for $130), and make it the Time Machine drive on your Mac. And if you truly value your data, subscribe to a Cloud backup service like BackBlaze, too.

Your data is at risk if you don't have three copies, at least one offsite.


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## ZeroZero (Dec 7, 2022)

I have had these troubles. Try this. Use the original cable, some other cables do not work. Plug in to a direct USB port. Take a contact cleaner spray and spray your connections between the drive and the cable. Judiciously get a needle and try and get out any crud inside. I find my seagate, crap that it is, has a dodgy cable port and if I push It to one side it works, the other side it stops.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2022)

YaniDee said:


> They (esp Seagate) just don't make them like they used to..


Seagate has sucked for a long time.


HCMarkus said:


> The problem isn't Seagate. The problem is you didn't have a backup.


Yeah you need backups, but the problem may well be Seagate.

I had four of their drives fail within days, literally just out of warranty, all different drives on three different machines. Not only did they refuse to make good, they were really nasty when I contacted them - and I mean aggressively nasty.

Any company can have bad manufacturing runs. The problem is the way they handled it after that.

This was probably ten years ago. I will never buy another Seagate product.


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## HCMarkus (Dec 8, 2022)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Seagate has sucked for a long time.
> 
> Yeah you need backups, but the problem may well be Seagate.


10 years ago, HD manufactures were in a tough spot:









Thailand's devastating floods are hitting PC hard drive supplies, warn analysts


Charles Arthur and agencies: Country is centre of world hard drive manufacture but factories have been seriously affected by floods, which could affect supplies early in 2012




www.theguardian.com





Reliability hit a nadir then. Times are different now.

I've been using Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital drives for years. I've had two WD failures. Zero Toshiba or Seagate failures. As of late, I've been using Seagate's external USB3 8TB drives, which work nicely as Time Machine and Long term Storage drives and are very reasonably priced ($130 at Costco, with built in USB Hub.) Haven't had one fail yet. 

OTOH, I also have a backup strategy so when one does fail, which it inevitably will, I won't be left up the creek without a paddle.

I took a quick look at the BackBlaze stats (link provided by CSS_SCC on page one of this thread.) Yes, some drives have higher failure rates than others. But no drive type - except ones that haven't been long in service - has zero failures.

When one considers how much time and energy goes into our music, it is unforgivable to not maintain local and off-site backups. As I said before, every drive will fail at some point. So, facing the Dirty Harry of lost data, you can ask yourself... "Do I feel lucky?..." Or you can back up.

Nick, your report of the treatment you received from Seagate is of greater significance than the fact you had some drives fail years ago. Since I haven't dealt with the company's customer service, I defer to your experience in that regard. But it IS possible Seagate's approach has changed over the years. It is also possible, even likely, that their drives have failure rates very similar to those made by every other HD manufacturer.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 8, 2022)

HCMarkus said:


> Nick, your report of the treatment you received from Seagate is of greater significance than the fact you had some drives fail years ago. Since I haven't dealt with the company's customer service, I defer to your experience in that regard. But it IS possible Seagate's approach has changed over the years. It is also possible, even likely, that their drives have failure rates very similar to those made by every other HD manufacturer.


Yup.

As I said, it wasn't that the drives failed, it was that their customer service people were total bastards to me - on more than one occasion. Maybe they are better now, who knows, but they haven't done anything to motivate me to find out.

Also, this was multiple spinning drives bought at different times, so it can't be because of a flooded factory. Thinking about it, they weren't all just out of warranty, maybe two of them were.

But you know Toni Morrison's quote about people remembering feelings long after they forget the details? That's me here - I remember how pissed off I was at them but not the details of the drives that failed.


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## JSTube (Dec 9, 2022)

I like how nobody as of yet has brought up that enterprise grade drives of increased durability/longevity actually exist.

If you use the shoddier consumer-tier of anything in lieu of an 'enterprise grade' and that's the risk you take. If you're going to use old fashioned spinning disks in your machine then I'd recommend at least getting a quality one.

"Oh, but HDD storage is so cheap they said!" -- Yeah, that's because it's been made cheaply. When you send that 8 TB drive you scored for $100 on eBay to DriveSavers (hint: they don't quote 3-digit figures for any knid of recovery operation) you'll find out how cheap it is to cheap out on data storage. All the better reason to store things in the cloud, where data never just 'disappears' for no good reason (unless it's in the form of FTX crypto) 

Better yet get a higher quality SSD, moving parts are so ... 1990's. Even fans feel like silly remnants of a bygone age.


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## YaniDee (Dec 9, 2022)

JSTube said:


> If you use the shoddier consumer-tier of anything in lieu of an 'enterprise grade' and that's the risk you take.


Quite true..when I see an 8Tb going for cheap, instead of thinking, 'boy that's a good deal", I think, "boy, that's a lot of stuff to lose"...In the long run, you're maybe paying more for cheaper drives, because you have to do more backups on several drives, not to mention the time and effort to store /retrieve..


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## HCMarkus (Dec 9, 2022)

JSTube said:


> I like how nobody as of yet has brought up that enterprise grade drives of increased durability/longevity actually exist.
> 
> If you use the shoddier consumer-tier of anything in lieu of an 'enterprise grade' and that's the risk you take. If you're going to use old fashioned spinning disks in your machine then I'd recommend at least getting a quality one.



BackBlaze has been using consumer-grade drives for years. They have stats that fly in the face of the above claim:









Enterprise Drives: Fact or Fiction?


Last month I dug into drive failure rates based on the 25,000+ consumer drives we have and found that consumer drives actually performed quite well. Over




www.backblaze.com





In reality, every drive will fail. Back up + Redundancy is the key, regardless of the drives chosen. 

Sure, SSDs are better for active work, but for local long-term and backup I don't see any advantage, and they are certainly more costly than HDs. I use multiple local HDs to backup my many terabytes of personal and client data. Best Long-term is probably Cloud Backup; BackBlaze is good for a single computer... unlimited and encrypted data storage for a low monthly cost.


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## CSS_SCC (Dec 9, 2022)

HCMarkus said:


> BackBlaze has been using consumer-grade drives for years. They have stats that fly in the face of the above claim:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yes, great, cloud back-up, the only issue is that currently I have about 70TB of data.

On top of that, every day I generate somewhere between 5GB and 1TB depending on the project I am working on. I had a week in July when I had generated 2.2TB of data in 4 days.

Please upload that to the cloud or restore it from the cloud to Backblaze. Even with the mailed in drives, just copying it back to my own storage, it still takes probably about two weeks in ideal conditions.

I know that I am not a regular user, but cloud storage is not a solution for everyone, it depends on the use case and most of the time for me is cheaper and less time consuming to just post the finished project or deliver it personally than to try uploading it.

For the moment, I have built myself an UnRaid server as cold storage (it's only started at the end of each week to transfer the data generated that week). As a secondary back-up, I have a few 10 to 18TB external drives where I copy the data every day. And about once a month I get an updated drive to a friends house for off-site storage.


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## HCMarkus (Dec 9, 2022)

CSS_SCC said:


> Yes, great, cloud back-up, the only issue is that currently I have about 70TB of data.
> 
> On top of that, every day I generate somewhere between 5GB and 1TB depending on the project I am working on. I had a week in July when I had generated 2.2TB of data in 4 days.
> 
> ...


1TB would probably backup overnight to BackBlaze. 70TB would take a while to upload, for sure! It would get there eventually (how fast is your Internet connection?), but I get it, you are storing more data than most. 

You have a plan, That is good. I just hate to see folks, like this thread's OP, who lose their work unnecessarily. For most, Cloud backup is a very good idea. As is Time Machine for Mac users.

I had a wildfire rip through my studio in 2003. I "only" lost two weeks' work because I was able to grab my backups before the fire got 'em (I wasn't doing daily backups back then). I learned my lesson.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 10, 2022)

CSS_SCC said:


> Yes, great, cloud back-up, the only issue is that currently I have about 70TB of data.
> 
> On top of that, every day I generate somewhere between 5GB and 1TB depending on the project I am working on. I had a week in July when I had generated 2.2TB of data in 4 days.



That's a lot! You're making holograms, I assume? 

Seriously, I can't imagine there's any good backup solution for 70TB other than just to store a bunch of drives in a bank vault.



HCMarkus said:


> 1TB would probably backup overnight to BackBlaze.


Less than overnight if you have fiber optic internet.

I use iDrive (in addition to local Time Machine backups), and a couple of weeks ago I backed up about 3TB from a new drive in a few hours.

That's over Wi-Fi - I haven't got around to connecting wired Ethernet to my new machine.


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