Help me diagnose a cranky external 1TB Hitachi drive

[sekker]

I've been using this off and on as a large scratch disk for my media conversions.

Today, in the middle of a handbrake queue, it dropped from my MBP. Power seems good, and I can hear the spindle working. Drive is pretty silent. After awhile, I was able to mount it. Then it went down again.

The drive is not under warranty (1 year only, ran out last november). The data is not especially valuable, fortunately. Let me know your thoughts - should I just pop it into another case and see if the problem is the external system versus the drive (at first glance, the case seems difficult to pop without destroying it)? Do you know of any firmware updates for these drives?

Thanks!

[Biff Lugnut]

If the case is an external black one, tapered on the center sort of like an xbox 360, those cases are notorious for failure.

[Rick-o]

I've had similar symptoms that were caused by a wonky case, (although not Hitachi).

I would try a different external case and see if the problem disappears.

[hal]

Rick-o wrote:
I've had similar symptoms that were caused by a wonky case, (although not Hitachi).

I would try a different external case and see if the problem disappears.

same here...

[AllGold]

Biff Lugnut wrote:
If the case is an external black one, tapered on the center sort of like an xbox 360, those cases are notorious for failure.

:agree:

It's much more likely that the case is going bad while the drive is fine.

[sekker]

Thanks, everyone.

Popped the drive out and realized (of course) this has an SATA interface. I have plenty of IDE cases around, but those are now old-school.

Any favorite enclosures that includes good power management (i.e. the drive is in sleep when not in use but still connected)? I hated the Hitachi external case - the drive never spin down when it was on and plugged into a Mac.

[jdc]

im assuming firewire since you are using it as a scratch disc? FW 800?

FW400 for $40, about as cheap as they get: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20W...g/NP35SFW/

[sekker]

thanks
Searched the forum for revommendations and just ordered a macally enclosure. Could not find many options from our sponsor- most seemed to have drives already on their cases.

Still, $45 (shipped) seems steep when 1TB externals can be had for $89 new

[RAMd®d]

$89 external 1T drives are usually a USB case of questionable reliability.

[Robert M]

Sekker,

If you used a credit card to purchase the drive, it's likely covered under the card's "double the manufacturer's warranty for up to one year" program. Make sure you have your receipt showing it was purchased with the card and the warranty information. Give the card company a call and take it from there.

Robert