Advice Please: Need Enclosure For Unresponsive External Seagate USB Drive

[Christopher11]

I have a Seagate Backup Plus Slim drive, 2 TB, that won't show up on the desktop. Disk Utility doesn't see it either, although its own LED light comes on it seems to be dead. Can you share with me please a solution to recover some important data? I believe there is something I can buy that will let me take out the disk and retrieve the data. Thank you.

 

[Bigwaff]

In Disk Utility, menu View > Show All Devices .. does the drive appear?

 

[chrfr]

I have a Seagate Backup Plus Slim drive, 2 TB, that won't show up on the desktop. Disk Utility doesn't see it either, although its own LED light comes on it seems to be dead. Can you share with me please a solution to recover some important data? I believe there is something I can buy that will let me take out the disk and retrieve the data. Thank you.

Chances are goos that the disk itself has failed and if so there’s really nothing you can do with it. You could try a new cable and/or a new enclosure, though, if you don’t have a backup. An enclosure like this would work: https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-express/usb-3.1
You’d just have to open up the Seagate disk enclosure and put it in the new one.

 

[Christopher11]

That link just opens a listing for a 15" Macbook. I can google owb express usb 3.1 though. Is that just an empty enclosure? I don't need an additional HD.

 

[Christopher11]

In Disk Utility, menu View > Show All Devices .. does the drive appear?

Thank you, I tried that and it doesn't.

 

[Fishrrman]

Important question:
Is the Seagate drive enclosure "open-able"?

Or... will you have to pry it apart to get at the internals...? That may make "access" much more difficult.

BE AWARE
Some of these Seagate drives -may- have an internally-designed core drive that cannot be put into other enclosures. But you might have to open it to find out.

 

[Christopher11]

Good question. There are no screws, so it looks like I'd have to pry it open. Fishrrman, can you send a link to an enclosure you think would work? Since the drive may be dead, I prefer to spend as little as possible on what is potentially a fool's errand. Thank you.

I should mention I do have an identical drive that does work. I don't use it much, nothing critical on it, so i could potentially 'sacrifice' it to try and retrieve this one. Seems like a natural solution since I already have it? Thank you.

 

[Christopher11]

By the way, I should also mention, this drive stopped working when it was dropped for probably the 3rd time. Does that suggest the data won't be retrievable due to the drive being dead? Again, the LED light comes on but can't see the drive.

 

[Bigwaff]

If the enclosure has been dropped, it's possible the drive is fine but has become unseated inside the enclosure. Either way, you'll have to get it out in order to test.

I would consider something like this -

Voyager by NewerTech - HD Dock for SATA Devices

Use and swap 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives with ease with Newertech Voyager. Both Mac and PC compatible.

eshop.macsales.com

I've got one and it is indispensable when dealing w/ bare drives.

 

[Christopher11]

If the enclosure has been dropped, it's possible the drive is fine but has become unseated inside the enclosure. Either way, you'll have to get it out in order to test.

I would consider something like this -

Voyager by NewerTech - HD Dock for SATA Devices

Use and swap 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives with ease with Newertech Voyager. Both Mac and PC compatible.

eshop.macsales.com

I've got one and it is indispensable when dealing w/ bare drives.

Good news, thanks so much. However, that link just opens the page: configure your own 15 inch macbook.

 

[Christopher11]

Good news, thanks so much. However, that link just opens the page: configure your own 15 inch macbook.

Is it this? "

Newer Technology Voyager S3​

---

Mfr P/N: U3S3HD OWC SKU: NWTU3S3HD

• 
• 
• 

Use and swap 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives with this USB 3.0 / USB 2.0 drive dock."​

If I get the drive out, I just stuff it in this dock and it should read it? Any special considerations? It will be my first time.

 

[Bigwaff]

However, that link just opens the page: configure your own 15 inch macbook.

Posted in Safari on Mac. Link works in Google Chrome on Mac. Link works for me when pressing the link on my iPhone and iPad. Dunno what to say... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Christopher11]

I tried it in Safari also, it just opens a general link to OWC, but not blaming you for that. Can you just answer me, is the description / product I posted above what you had in mind? That dock that loads the drive vertically? Does that pretty much work with all SATA drives?

 

[Bigwaff]

I just stuff it in this dock and it should read it? Any special considerations? It will be my first time.

Woah.. slow down. Didn't your parents give you "the talk"? ;-) Ok, enough of that. Yes. If the drive is operational, it should be seen in macOS. Either the file system will mount or you'll be able to see the device in Disk Utility.

 

[Christopher11]

Woah.. slow down. Didn't your parents give you "the talk"? ;-) Ok, enough of that. Yes. If the drive is operational, it should be seen in macOS. Either the file system will mount or you'll be able to see the device in Disk Utility.

lol. If only you'd gotten to me before this weekend... Okay so take the drive out of the Seagate casing, stick it in that dock, fairly straightfoward?

 

[Bigwaff]

Okay so take the drive out of the Seagate casing, stick it in that dock, fairly straightfoward?

Yup. Easy-peasy.

 

[Christopher11]

Thank you.

 

[chrfr]

By the way, I should also mention, this drive stopped working when it was dropped for probably the 3rd time. Does that suggest the data won't be retrievable due to the drive being dead? Again, the LED light comes on but can't see the drive.

Yes, dropping a hard disk can absolutely cause damage to the the point that the data is irretrievable.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

The USB3/SATA docking station shown above is one of many, many out there.
They are cheap and plentiful, and very useful.

BUT AGAIN:
You're probably going to have to pry open the case of the dead Seagate drive to "get into" it.
If you are convinced that there's "no other way", DO SO.

And then...
Take a pic of the connections (perhaps MORE THAN ONE pic) and post it here.
Make sure the pics are well-lit and relatively close up so we can see what you're seeing.

Do this, and then we can advise further.

 

[ChrisA]

I have a Seagate Backup Plus Slim drive, 2 TB, that won't show up on the desktop. Disk Utility doesn't see it either, although its own LED light comes on it seems to be dead. Can you share with me please a solution to recover some important data? I believe there is something I can buy that will let me take out the disk and retrieve the data. Thank you.

The most sure way is to buy another IDENTICAL Seagate Backup Plus Slim drive and swap parts.

Many times you find a standard SATA drive in the Seagate enclosure, but not always. You could open the Seagate box and look at the model number of the drive and see if it is just a plain old SATA disk. If so, any enclosure would work, if not only an identical Saegate enclosure would work.

It might also very well be that the drive itself is dead. There are data recovery companies that can disassemble a dead drive and recover the data from the parts but this is not cheap.

Why is there not backed up? Was the data not important enough at the time to back up? The rule is always that
1) Data should exist on three different physical media and
2) Data should exist at more than one geographical location
Always make sure this is true, even (especially) while the backup copy operation is in progress, This may mean never writing a new backup over top of an existing backup, So you might need t add a drive into the rotation or do only incremental (non-destructive) backups.

My prediction? Few people do this, and in 100 years there will be almost no 100 year old photos.

 

[Christopher11]

The most sure way is to buy another IDENTICAL Seagate Backup Plus Slim drive and swap parts.

Many times you find a standard SATA drive in the Seagate enclosure, but not always. You could open the Seagate box and look at the model number of the drive and see if it is just a plain old SATA disk. If so, any enclosure would work, if not only an identical Saegate enclosure would work.

It might also very well be that the drive itself is dead. There are data recovery companies that can disassemble a dead drive and recover the data from the parts but this is not cheap.

Why is there not backed up? Was the data not important enough at the time to back up? The rule is always that
1) Data should exist on three different physical media and
2) Data should exist at more than one geographical location
Always make sure this is true, even (especially) while the backup copy operation is in progress, This may mean never writing a new backup over top of an existing backup, So you might need t add a drive into the rotation or do only incremental (non-destructive) backups.

My prediction? Few people do this, and in 100 years there will be almost no 100 year old photos.

You're quite right. This is a backup drive, which should have been redundantly backed up. Life happens and priorities change, and one project became more important than I thought. But you are right.

I do have an identical drive. Maybe that's the way to go... will it be fairly self explanatory the way the drive 'plugs in' to the enclosure?