Member Avatar for oliabh

hi there,
I've looked at other responses but I'm not sure they help me, I'm hoping you can. I have a Seagate desk external hard drive which I store in my safe as it holds all my photos of my kids. I took it out today to put more files into it but it won't power up. I have tried using another computer and a wall socket but still nothing. I would appreciate any help in getting my most valued files back...thank you. Oliabh

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A desktop-class Seagate external drive that suddenly will not power up is most often a failed power brick or the USB-to-SATA bridge inside the enclosure, not the hard disk itself. Because you already tried a different wall outlet and computer, next isolate power and the enclosure before touching the drive.

Practical steps:

  • Verify the power adapter: match the exact voltage and polarity (typically 12V, center-positive) and use an equal or higher amperage rating. A weak or wrong adapter will prevent the 3.5 in drive from spinning. If you have a compatible known-good adapter, test with that. Seagate’s support site lists adapter specs and replacements (Seagate Support).
  • Swap the USB cable and try a direct USB port on the back of a desktop (avoid hubs). Watch for any LED activity or spin-up noises.
  • If the brick and cable check out, remove the drive from the enclosure (do not open the hard disk itself). The internal disk will almost certainly be a standard 3.5 in SATA drive. Use a powered SATA-to-USB dock or adapter, or connect the drive inside a desktop using SATA data and a SATA power lead (Serial ATA overview). If it mounts, copy your photos first before any repairs.
  • If the system struggles to read, clone the disk to a new drive with a read-optimized tool like GNU ddrescue, then recover files from the clone (GNU ddrescue manual). Avoid running chkdsk/repair on the only copy.
  • If the drive will not spin or clicks repeatedly, stop tests and consider professional recovery. Seagate offers in-lab services (Seagate Recovery Services).

Note: If you ever enabled encryption/password through Seagate software, you will need that same credential or original bridge electronics to access the data after removing the drive.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

my experience is that its usually related to the case ,so maybe removing it and hooking directly to a computer will help determine if its the drive or the external case malfunction

Member Avatar for oliabh

I have read that also but how does one do that? This will be the end of the box, right?

Member Avatar for kes166

I've never seen a seagate external drive, but ideally external drives should have screws that you can remove to take it apart. Inside will be the hard drive. It'll either be an IDE or a Sata hard drive. You'll need to plug it into your computer's power supply and mother board in order to read it.

Without actually being able to see what the inside drive looks like, I can't give much more information than that.

Member Avatar for oliabh

Is it easy to plug it into the motherboard?

Member Avatar for oliabh

I have looked into taking case apart and im pretty sure I can do that much. how do i connect the hard drive to the wall and computer. do i need a special connector for that? What do you think of buying a hard drive enclosure and connecting it that way. looking for the safest easiest way to make that connection as i really dont trust myself to open the laptop up to reveal motherboard.

Edited by oliabh because: n/a
Member Avatar for kes166

It needs to be plugged into a tower. I wouldn't recommend opening a laptop either.

If you are unsure on how to plug the hard drive into a tower, you can probaby get it done for a hundred bucks at a tech store, best buy, or some other place and have the data placed on some other form of media. A Jump drive or a few DVD's.

If, however, the drive is shot, you're looking at a couple thousand bucks for a data recovery group to try and recover data from the drive. With a litte luck, hopefully it's only the seagate frame and not the drive itself.

Member Avatar for oliabh

Thank you so much for your advice. I will bring it to a store to see what they can do for me. I was not looking forward to taking anything apart..hahaha...take care.

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