BoredCollie
Solid State Member
- Messages
- 16
Ever since I bought my first computer in 2001, I have had *endless* problems with hard disk drives. I kept taking my computer to the repair shop and they couldn't work it out; they had never encountered such problems with anyone else. Anyhow, much of this seemed to ebb away and in my new premises, with my computer some distance away from me (in the next room), I thought it had gone away permanently.
However, I have also had endless problems with external drive caddies. They always seem to have loose connections. Also all my usb connections come and go intermittently, especially when I have done an action that puts the computer under a sudden amount of strain -- it's really irritating. I used to have the same issues with my laptop and I was advised, on each occasion, to reinstall the OP (this was an effective measure, at least for a time); however this is my Desktop I'm talking about. It's an XP, with SP3 installed.
I wonder whether the poor connectivity of my caddie contributed to what happened yesterday. (It's quite an expensive caddie but I certainly had a hard go at the power connection on one occasion. I put a plug on it which, for a second or two, might have been the wrong way round, i.e. the wrong pins connecting. But I reversed it again and nothing happened -- that was about 3 weeks ago, and I've been using it a lot; and I put the original cable back, making sure it was the right way rounsd.) I suddenly started hearing strange noises from my external HDD. It wasn't the death click, but rather similar, involving a whirring; it was a constant repetition of the noise you hear when it starts up. After a while, this stopped. However, WIndows could no longer read the drive. I managed to recover almost all my data using a data recovery programme. This time I had to attach it to my computer via the internal connections; but in both cases the computer said it had to check the disk for consistency on bootup, and found it all unreadable.
Now I am a) thinking of performing a diagnostic test with Seatool (but can't get Seatool to run -- I think it might have been the installation; something popped up saying I had to undo some installation brought in with Service Pack 2); b) thinking of connecting my new hard drive internally, without the caddie.
My questions are as follows.
-- Are there any issues with regard to having my disk connected internally? Will my data be equally accessible and safe -- I mean, might power surges be an issue? Might it be more vulnerable to virus attacks or corruption is my C-drive fails again?
-- Is it plausible that something to do with my caddie and/or the things I have been doing with the connection, that caused the trouble with my old external drive?
-- Have I done the right thing by agreeing to undo whatever it was (to do with SP2) Seatool wanted undoing, when I installed Seatool?
With many thanks in advance.
However, I have also had endless problems with external drive caddies. They always seem to have loose connections. Also all my usb connections come and go intermittently, especially when I have done an action that puts the computer under a sudden amount of strain -- it's really irritating. I used to have the same issues with my laptop and I was advised, on each occasion, to reinstall the OP (this was an effective measure, at least for a time); however this is my Desktop I'm talking about. It's an XP, with SP3 installed.
I wonder whether the poor connectivity of my caddie contributed to what happened yesterday. (It's quite an expensive caddie but I certainly had a hard go at the power connection on one occasion. I put a plug on it which, for a second or two, might have been the wrong way round, i.e. the wrong pins connecting. But I reversed it again and nothing happened -- that was about 3 weeks ago, and I've been using it a lot; and I put the original cable back, making sure it was the right way rounsd.) I suddenly started hearing strange noises from my external HDD. It wasn't the death click, but rather similar, involving a whirring; it was a constant repetition of the noise you hear when it starts up. After a while, this stopped. However, WIndows could no longer read the drive. I managed to recover almost all my data using a data recovery programme. This time I had to attach it to my computer via the internal connections; but in both cases the computer said it had to check the disk for consistency on bootup, and found it all unreadable.
Now I am a) thinking of performing a diagnostic test with Seatool (but can't get Seatool to run -- I think it might have been the installation; something popped up saying I had to undo some installation brought in with Service Pack 2); b) thinking of connecting my new hard drive internally, without the caddie.
My questions are as follows.
-- Are there any issues with regard to having my disk connected internally? Will my data be equally accessible and safe -- I mean, might power surges be an issue? Might it be more vulnerable to virus attacks or corruption is my C-drive fails again?
-- Is it plausible that something to do with my caddie and/or the things I have been doing with the connection, that caused the trouble with my old external drive?
-- Have I done the right thing by agreeing to undo whatever it was (to do with SP2) Seatool wanted undoing, when I installed Seatool?
With many thanks in advance.
