Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with seagate

Seagate Hard drive Mac

yegga — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:10:15 -0800

How to get a Seagate FreeAgent Desk external hard drive to work with my Mac? I have this model: Link.

The drive came without any installation disks. Apparently compatible only with Windows.

How do I get this working with Mac OSX? Help!

My Maxtor drive (Seagate disk??) won't mount. Where should I send it?

skylar — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:05:20 -0800

My Maxtor Basics 1 terabyte external USB 2.0 drive no longer mounts. I have been through all the usual stuff with tech support (including disk management and device management) and I've tried it on multiple computers. Although the green light comes on when it's plugged into USB, apart from that it's not talking to the computer. There has been no strange noise, clicking, smoke or smell. Maxtor tech support say it's a failed drive. A data recovery company I phoned said it's probably damaged firmware but the data on the disk is probably safe. I'm nervous about sending it to a data recovery company because I seem to be looking at about GBP £179 minimum or maybe many, many hundreds more. Is it likely to be a matter of simply soldering something here or replacing something there, ie a job that I could take to a local geek? Or should I be looking to take this to a major data recovery centre? I'm in London, UK.

Synology 409 vs. Seagate Black Armor 440

monkeybutt — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:14:50 -0800

Help me decide: Synology 409 vs. Seagate Black Armor 440 for my next NAS? I currently have a mix of Terastations and other NAS hardware with small drives. i'm looking to add a multi-terabye device (4-6TB) to my home network to store all my digital photos and music and maintain backups.

I'm torn between the Synology DS409 and the Seagate Black Armor 440 configured with 4 1.5T drives to give it the same capacity of the Synology.

Both devices seem to top out the charts with regards to throughput on a gig-E network, which is very important for me. The Synology has been out for longer and is about 1/3 cheaper than the Seagate device when you buy the drives yourself. I am leaning toward it unless something compels me to get the Seagate.

One feature that i'm interested in is robust error-reporting. Currently my Buffalo devices do not have the ability to email out error reports with SMTP authentication beforehand, which is a must because my ISP requires authentication before it will pass mail. This means I need to check the HDD status of my drives weekly to avoid data loss (as opposed to getting an email alerting me of the issue immediately).

If anybody out there has any first-hand experience with either of these appliances i'd love to hear it.

Thanks

What's left to try on a dead SeaGate before paying for data recovery?

Avenger50 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:30:53 -0800

500GB internal SeaGate hard drive disappears from Windows, Linux, and the BIOS. What can I try before I pay to have the data recovered? Tested it with a few different operating systems and a few different machines, and though it always "spins up" this year-old SeaGate drive, configured with no operating system and a single partition, doesn't show up anywhere to mount or browse, like it's just not there. Besides the well-documented freezer trick, what's left to try before I send it to one of several MeFi-recommended recovery companies for $1000 or more?

A Momentus Hard Drive Decision

alms — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:21:37 -0800

Do any retailers have the Seagate Momentus 7200.4 hard drive in stock? If not, should I just give up and buy a 5400.6? I need a larger hard drive for my MacBook Pro. Thinking to get the best, I decided to wait for the 500GB 7200 RPM drive from Seagate, the Momentus 7200.4. Unfortunately, I've been waiting for about two months now, and there's still no indication of when I might be able to get a drive.

Does anyone know where I can get one of these? Has anyone heard any rumors about upcoming availability? Seagate did ship some, and people seem to love them. Why aren't they producing any more?

I really need more hard drive in my laptop. At this point I'm considering just giving up and getting the 5400.6. Any thoughts on the tradeoffs? Will I regret settling for second best?

Diagnosing a faulty hard drive

ArmyOfKittens — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:34:25 -0800

My PC is no longer recognising one of my SATA hard drives. This morning when I turned on my PC it did not recognise any of the SATA devices - OS HD (200gb Seagate), storage HD (500gb Seagate), and DVD writer (a cheapo Samsung job). After a bit of messing about I discovered that I can boot fine with just the OS HD and the DVD plugged in, but plugging in the storage HD - whether it's the only SATA device plugged in or in any combination with the others - causes the system to stop seeing any SATA devices (and once caused it to power off as soon as it powered on).

I have nothing on the PATA port. My motherboard is a Gigabyte P31-DS3L, my PSU is a Corsair VX450, and I run Windows XP SP2. The 200gb (working) drive is about three years old, the 500gb (broken) one is a little less than a year old. The PC has not been moved recently. I've tried them all on different SATA cables and off different sockets (although the mobo only has four) and with different power cables off the PSU. I've reset the bios to "failsafe defaults". Running Windows on the working drive seems as stable as usual.

Last night I left the PC downloading, set to hibernate when it had finished getting the file.

I'm assuming the drive has just flat-out died at this point, but before I RMA I'd love some ideas to get it working again, even just for long enough to rescue some data (the data on the drive isn't important enough to actually spend money on a retrieval service, but there are some photos and documents and things it would be nice to rescue; and yes, I've learned my lesson about backing files up now!).

What kind of power adapter is this?

devilshgrin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:38:34 -0800

Can anyone tell me what kind of power adapter this Seagate 3.5-Inch Pushbutton External Hard Drive uses? Getting ready for a move, I came across this external hard drive that I haven't accessed in a long time. I can't locate the power adapter. I have called Seagate customer service and they weren't able to tell me how to get one. I tried RadioShack and they don't sell them. They recommended taking it apart to get the hard drive. I tried to do this, but the tiny (torx) screws seem stripped.

Anyway, I'm thinking that if I know what kind of connection that this power adapter uses, I might be able to find where I can purchase a new using google.

The Seagate support person told me it was a 12v 3amp cord.

swapping controller cards, voiding warranty?

grandsham — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:49:55 -0800

Can I temporarily swap out the controller board on my seagate hard drive without voiding the warranty? I have a Seagate 7200.10 500GB hard drive that I fried the controller board on (fed 12V into the 5V connector, blew what appears to be a fuse or voltage regulator). I have made an RMA request, and a replacement drive is coming on monday

while I had most everything backed up, there are a few things I still want to get off of the drive. I have an identical drive that I could swap the controller board for, but I don't want to invalidate my warranty by doing it. so my question:

1) will removing the controller board invalidate my warranty if I reattach the broken board before I send it back?

2) will Seagate be able to tell if I have removed the board if I reattach it (there are no "this will void your warranty stickers" on the board, but I am worried about tamper-evident screws and the like)?

Help Me Set Up Auto Backup on a 10.4 Mac

sjuhawk31 — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:31:35 -0800

BackupFilter: My boss has a Seagate FreeAgent external drive attached to her Macbook Pro. Using the drive manager software that came with it, I set up scheduled backups for her on MWF at noon. Problem is, it doesn't follow the schedule and won't back up at all. I've already lost a battle with IT to have Leopard installed on the office computers, so I'm trying to find a way to let my non-savvy coworkers do automatic backups. I thought this was the solution. Where am I going wrong?

My best guess is that you have to have the program open for it to run the scheduled backup. But doesn't that defeat the purpose of the schedule?

I'd really like to not invoke other software, if possible.

My Seagate FreeAgent external HD may have been damaged in a move. Making clicking noises and not being detected by my computer.

Mr_Crazyhorse — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:21:11 -0800

My Seagate FreeAgent external HD may have been damaged in a move. Making clicking noises and not being detected by my computer. My Seagate FreeAgent is not being recognized by my computer and is making clicking noises and light is flickering accordingly. This is after a move where the HD

Other computers cannot recognize the drive.

There is a great deal of work-related data and my music collection on this HD. [WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!]

Is there any chance of physical recovery?

help me see if this is a good deal

irie1972 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:37:34 -0800

Can you tell me if this is a good harddrive and a good deal? Or even better, how would you go about finding out if its good? Thanks. From dealnews: Seagate 1TB Serial ATA 3.0Gbps Internal Hard Drive + $8 s&h ZipZoomfly.com cut its price on the Seagate 1TB Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive, model no. ST31000340AS, to $149.99. With about $8 for shipping, that's a $10 drop since last week and the lowest total price we've seen for this drive. This drive features a 32MB cache (more than most) and runs at 7200 rpm.

How to protect these drives?

estherbester — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:28:21 -0800

Where could I purchase a bunch of Seagate's Seashell plastic hard drive cases? I want to store a bunch of bare hard drives with data that will probably be accessed only intermittently (the data would be transferred to new drives every few years, if all goes to plan).

Some of my Seagate drives came in those Seashell cases and from what I can tell they seem to be a better way to protect my drives than in those static-shielding bags. Is this true, and if so, where could I buy these Seashells separately? Seagate doesn't seem to sell them, and I don't know why they wouldn't.

Alternatively, what would be a good way to store all these drives?

amateur hard drive swap, or road to sorrow?

Admiral Haddock — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 13:06:06 -0800

Can/should I re-use the enclosure for a hard drive I have outgrown as a housing for a new hard drive, or should I just buy new? Either way, what should I be buying? I have a MacBook, and I need more storage (looking for 500GB to 1TB). I have a credit with the Apple Store, and I had been thinking about the 500 GB G-Drive. Call me flighty, but its most recent review was negative, and I got a little spooked. I searched the various older posts on the green, and nothing quite addressed this situation. I would be using the drive for backup and storage of media files.

Then I got to thinking, why buy a pre-made unit, when I have a perfectly usable enclosure with a too-small hard drive in it? The enclosure was for a firewire LaCie Studio Drive (circa 2002). The drive inside is an 80GB IBM Deskstar Ultra ATA/100 EIDE drive. The G-Drive would have been $300 at Apple. A 500 GB Seagate drive is just $125 or so at NewEgg.com.

I am comfortable with a simple swap and setting jumpers etc. What I don't know is:

1) whether ultra ATA / EIDE is a current technology or some relic that I should avoid;

2) what the difference is, if any, between EIDE and IDE and whether they are compatible etc.;

3) if I just add my own drive, what drives are good/bad? Is Seagate OK?;

4) would it be better to start fresh (i.e., not with a 5 year old enclosure)? If so, what enclosures would be good? USB 2 might be preferable, as I would like to set it up with one of the new airport base stations that allow a networked drive via USB 2.

5) is this just a dumb idea?

Thanks in advance.

External hard drive has split personality

Joleta — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 20:18:44 -0800

Why does the drive letter for my external hard drive keep changing? I have a Seagate external hard drive hooked up to my Dell Dimension 8400 PC running Windows XP Media Center SP2. Occasionally, the drive letter for the Seagate will change for no apparent reason. I'm using Memeo backup, and since Memeo is currently looking for an E: drive and the Seagate has decided to be the J: drive, nothing is getting backed up. Previously I've sighed and created a new backup plan on the current drive letter, but this is getting old and isn't solving the problem. Does anyone have an idea why my hard drive has a split personality? Is it something with the drive, or with my computer? I've had the drive for 15 months and the computer for about two and a half years. I started using Memeo about a year ago.

A tough drive to mount . . .

drewcopeland — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 12:12:27 -0800

Every time I boot up my Intel Imac, I have to unplug and then replug my external hard drive in order for it to mount. It's a 160GB Seagate SATA internal that I put in an iRocks 3.5 enclosure (USB). When I open up Disk Utility, the drive is not displayed in the left column (until I unplug, then plug). It's just storage for my EyeTV files, but still annoying to have to do that every time. Ideas?

What is the port on this hard drive?

sian — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 23:06:03 -0800

Attempting to plug my old hard drive into an enclosure, but I don't know what this port is or how it connects. Pictures inside. I'm pretty hardware-useless, so hopefully someone can send me in the right direction. I bought this enclosure. My hard drive is a Seagate ST94Q11A that came with an HP 2100 series notebook.

[1] - The drive and the weird port.

[2] - Close-up of the port

[3] - The port on the enclosure.

[4] - The two ports are the same size, so one cannot plug into the other.

[5] - Probably the clearest picture.

I'm really sorry for the webcam pictures! I thought they would do; my camera is loaned out until next week.

Is there an adapter that I need? How do I get this darn thing connected? From the reviews on Newegg, it looks like it should just plug in easily, but the port on the hard drive is goofy and my geeky pals could not identify it, either.