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General discussion

Simpledrive 1TB External HDD Problem...

Feb 11, 2009 6:43AM PST

Ok so.. I recently purchased a simpledrive 1TB external HDD. When I first hooked it up to my computer through USB, it was automatically recognized, and a few seconds later, I got a message saying that it was installed successfully. So I went on to use it for a couple months, and it worked fine. Earlier today, I wanted to put a couple vids on it, so I opened the folder, and drag and dropped the files (like I've done many times before), and I get a message saying that one of the files could not be copied to the HDD. I didn't think it was that big of a problem, but when I tried to navigate the folders on my HDD, I got a message saying that the files are "unreadable and corrupt". So I tried shutting it off and turning it back on, but when I went to open the HDD folder, a message came up saying that the HDD was not formatted and if I would like to format it.

I was wondering if anyone knew about this problem having happened before, and a possible solution that does not involve reformatting it and losing all my files...

Discussion is locked

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I suppose you can use a professioal service for this or..
Feb 12, 2009 2:13AM PST

get some recovery software/s and do it yourself (I am not familiar with this). But if the stuffs in the harddrive isn't that important then I would just go ahead and start all over and format the thing.

I might also add that I am not a fan of usb connection for ext. Hdd. I just think they are just too slow for large video files.

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Simpledrive 1TB External HD can't be seen
Feb 8, 2010 5:00AM PST

I am having problems with my USB Simpledrive 1TB External HD. My laptop can't seem to see it anymore. Yesterday is was fine, I was backing up my files no problem and today it just can't see the drive when I connect it up. I had filled it with important stuff that is work related so I really need this to work. Is there anything I can do without losing the info on it?

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possible fix
Feb 19, 2010 11:50AM PST

Change the orientation of the drive. i.e. if you had it standing vertical lay in flat. It worked for me. Hope this helps. You could always buy another case for it and transfer the hdd. The problem with this drive is its case not the drive itself.

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SimpleDrive possible solution: unplug drive from power
Feb 26, 2011 4:27AM PST

See below "Simple solution, IF IT WORKs".

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I had same problem. Fixed...sort-of
Jul 1, 2010 7:39AM PDT

My simpledrive had the exact same problem that was intermittent. I found out with some experimentation that the drive inside the case was ok. I took it apart and removed the drive (which is just a regular SATA drive) used a USB to SATA drive kit that I purchased on eBay for like $15 to access the drive.
On mine and I'm betting on yours too the drive interface/connections failed and thats all.
Hope this helps.

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Drive errors
Jul 2, 2010 2:02PM PDT

Just a couple thoughts.
If your drive is under warranty, send it back, after getting your files off with a recovery program.
I wouldn't rely too much on the IDE to SATA converters, as they tend to die too easily. I'd get another case elsewhere (Geeks, Cyberguys) before I'd use one of those as primary dependence.
Additional thought. Make sure your USB is 2.0, not 1. Even my thumb drive gets antsy with anything less than 2.0.

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Simple solution, IF IT WORKs
Feb 26, 2011 4:15AM PST

I have had this problem with a SimpleTech 1TB SimpleDrive external hard drive with USB connection to a MacBook, and found this solution in another forum. It's simple if it works, but don't spend too much time with it if it doesn't -- it's then a more complicated situation that other folks' answers (here or elsewhere) address.
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1) Power off the computer.
2) Power off the SimpleDrive and disconnect it from the computer (or just disconnect it if your drive [like mine] doesn't have a power switch).

3) THIS IS THE KEY STEP! Unplug the SimpleDrive from it's power supply.

4) Wait a minute or a few [sorry, I haven't timed it] with everything powered down, especially the SimpleDrive disconnected from power and computer.
5) Reconnect everything as usual: power up the computer, reconnect the SimpleDrive to its power supply, reconnect the SimpleDrive to the computer.
6) If it works, good. If not, try other posted solutions.

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Why I think this works.
a) My SimpleDrive does not have an on/off power switch, so the drive is constantly on, even though it doesn't indicate this in any way when it's not plugged into a computer. (The drive is constantly on to detect when it has been connected to a computer.)
b) The drive gets into a bad state [the drive's internal software gets confused], which is solved by rebooting the drive. Since there's no on/off switch, you have to unplug the drive from power.

Part of the "simple" of my SimpleDrive is not having a power switch, but rather the drive's detecting the USB connection to a computer. But SimpleTech's driver software is faulty in being able to get into a bad state that can only be corrected by fully powering down, which only happens when fully disconnected from power.

And this is a hard solution to find because we've been trained to use the on/off switch to power things down, not unplugging them. Way back when, since programming microprocessors, I've discovered that some
computer problems are only solved by turning the durn things off. The high tech version of banging on them with a hammer til they work.

Good luck! I keep my SimpleDrive disconnected from power whenever I'm not using it, and this problem has gone away for me.