Need new HDD's. Recommendations please ? External HDD failed "I think" UPDATED

[MentalIlness]

So I had a Western Digital Passport 320GB External drive recently fail, and lost all my important files. First of all....the drive was working perfect, it has been fine in the 2 1/2 years I had it. Last night, I was rearranging my bedroom and unhooked the PC. Well, all said and done, moved PC to different location in the room, hooked it all back up, plugged in the USB external drive, and Windows 7 will not recognize it.

Disk management "sometimes" shows the disc as Disc 1, sometimes it dont show anything. If I click on Disc 1, it says initialize disc, when I do, it says "incorrect function" error

It shows up in device manager as either "WD" or "Disc Drive"

Uninstalled the drive, rebooted, reinstalled the drive, its a no go.

It doesnt show up in Devices and Printers, however it does show a drive listed as "external HDD"

No matter what I do, I cannot access the drive.

When I first plug it into USB, USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 "any on my case or PC" the drive has a "musical buzz or beep to it" then makes a "tick" noise twice.

Sort of like this....

BUZZ buzz BUZZ tick tick

Tried it on another PC, same thing. Unplugged the PC from a surge protector, and directly to the wall outlet "some say it cant provide enough power from a surge" and the same thing happens.

So...Am I right to assume it is bad ? Dead ? And it is also out of warranty.

-----------------------

So, now I need a 1TB external HDD. I dont care about brand, but read recently that Western Digital makes horrible portable drives. What do you guys recommend ?

And I also need a new 2TB internal HDD. And a SSD for Windows only.

So, my needs are....

1 x 1TB External HD
1 x 2TB Internal HD
1 x SSD Drive for Windows only "and enough room for Windows updates"

What do you all recommend ? And needless to say, ill be backing my stuff up A LOT more often now.

Thanks in advance.

 

[C1]

Before you give up the ghost on the 320 read this:

Re: How to eliminate potential problems on USB Powered Drives and keep them healthy

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-Porta...roblems-on-USB-Powered-Drives-and/td-p/118262

 

[abekl]

For the internal 2TB drive. Either the Western Digital WD2003FZEX or the Seagate ST2000NM0011 would be best.

For the 1TB external drive, either Western Digital WDBBEP0010BBK-NESN or the Seagate STBU1000101 would be good choices.

For the SSD, a good choice is the Crucial M550 Model CT128M550SSD1or the SAMSUNG 840 EVO Model MZ-7TE120KW​

 

[Elixer]

Most likely, it is dead since it is making clicking noises... however, you might be able to spin it up one last time to get some info out of it. (Though, it is also possible for pros to get data back, but, that is really expensive)
What you do is throw it in a double sealed ziplock bag, (so no moisture can get in) and throw it in the freezer for a day or so. Then, take it out, and hook it up, and you may be able to get some info back.

This did work on a drive that I tried before, but, it also didn't work on another drive.
There are various theories on why this works for some drives...but, it isn't worth going into here.

 

[Coup27]

If you get the stage where you're about to throw the drive in the bin, have a look in this thread. It maybe what your problem is but you'll have to look into how to strip the drive down so you can connect it back up again afterwards.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2378513&highlight=platter

 

[phis6]

Might be a possible enclosure problem. You could try to remove the HDD out of the external enclosure and connect it via an available SATA port on your PC for you to get those valuable data off from the drive.

 

[MentalIlness]

Well, the HD was in the freezer for about 18 hours or so, retried it and it was a no go.

After reading the page linked below, I realized the HD is actually a SATA HD. So I took off the USB - SATA bridge and hooked it up through SATA and power supply. Still a no go. Although it made "different noises" this time. :/

The drive itself is a Western Digital 320GB Scorpio Blue SATA with a USB bridge. Are these "Blue" drives really any good to begin with ?

Anyway, I suppose all is lost with it, so Ill be placing the order for the drives recommended above next week. Except for the WD Raptor. It seems to have a high failure rate. Also, Im not sure I have the know how to take it apart like mentioned above and try to repair it.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6121

 

[MentalIlness]

This is my EXACT hard drive. Only mine is dated for 28 Aug 2009

 

[Coup27]

Also, Im not sure I have the know how to take it apart like mentioned above and try to repair it.

If you have already stripped it out of its USB enclosure to find a standard SATA hard drive, you are half way there in that youtube video. If the drive is going in the bin anyway, just get the relevant screwdriver and take the lid off and see if the heads are stuck on the platter. You haven't anything to lose other than the cost of the screwdriver.

 

[ShadowVVL]

I have a 320gb passport and yeah they don't last long.I had mine about 9 months and it still works but it clicks then dismounts after 3 mins.

If it is just a sata drive inside with an adapter I might try using sata.

 

[PliotronX]

If you have already stripped it out of its USB enclosure to find a standard SATA hard drive, you are half way there in that youtube video. If the drive is going in the bin anyway, just get the relevant screwdriver and take the lid off and see if the heads are stuck on the platter. You haven't anything to lose other than the cost of the screwdriver.

Before doing that and risking dust contamination, I'd perform the freezer trick. And before that plan what data you are going to transfer from which directories as you have about 20 minutes before the drive reaches operating temperature and could possibly violently crash the head and then not even the freezer trick will work. I've had that happen once out of the times I've used the freezer trick but I got the data I needed off of it so no need for a lab visit

edit- shoot didn't see the freezer trick was employed. Sorry man