Tips To Keep An External Hard Drive Working Well

[joko]

I have an external hard drive - it is the 4th one i have had - and they keep going wrong - once it was my mistake (plugged the wrong lead in) -but the rest it 'just happened', after very little usage, and i lost a lot of my stuff
i only used them very occasionally just to store stuff and back up etc

i now have a replacement, but I am almost afraid to use it!

I simply don't trust it with my stuff - so I intend to use is only as back up that i will hardly ever touch, but has anyone any tips to stop it going wrong?

it is a desktop type - i use other brand portable types all the time, day to day and they are pretty hardy.

i have it set to be able to just safely pull the lead out - but i still eject it properly anyway to be on the safe side.

thanks

[Hypognosis]

Any clues as to what might have damaged the previous drives.

Is this a workplace computer or at home?

Any cleaning staff, family members, kids, dogs, cats able to get near the computer when you are absent? (ie item knocked onto floor and then put back where it was).

How many hours per day do you keep the drive powered up and/or doing stuff?

[snags]

What do you mean exactly by ''they keep going wrong''? Are they randomly shutting down... are you not able to copy to and from... are you losing saved data?

[Old_Geezer]

Not had those issues, but there again I don't tend to unplug them once in (unless they get knocked out). Maybe you have just been unlucky ? Did you buy as a cheap external, or get a caddy and install your old quality but now small drive in it ?

[VHG]

NEVER unplug your external hard drive without doing the following.

If you are using Windows then in the bottom right corner, on the task bar, there is a small icon with a green tick against it.

Click on this icon and on the menu click on "Eject Desktop" (or whatever it says).

After a few seconds it should say "Safe to remove hardware".

Allow a few more seconds to let the disk stop spinning and then unplug the USB cable.

Then after a few more seconds unplug the mains lead (if you need to).

In fact I ALWAYS power down my PC and leave it for a few seconds before I unplug the USB cable on my external hard drive. That may be a bit paranoid but I have never had an external hard drive fail on me.

Note inside the case of an external hard drive is a small hard disk with a "platter" spinning at thousands of revolution per minute. Flying over this platter is a small arm hovering less than a hairs width above the disk. Any sudden movement, or dropping the hard drive, can wreck it.

Treat them carefully.

NEVER backup files to on only ONE external hard drive in case it fails.

Also if possible backup to CD or DVD for important files.

[joko]

thanks all
vhg - that is what i always do - i do that for every drive - even if they're set to allow instant removal

same here OG, i have had disks get accidentally unplugged in the past but usually they are ok, i may lose a file or two but the drives still work

they keep going wrong by turning into virtual drives and will no longer give me access to any files - the computer cannot read them and thinks its a CD drive
they still power up and whirr away, but cannot access anything - tried all sorts of stuff.
even eventually tried to reformat, so i could then run a data retrieval, but it wouldnt let me.
i gave up and sent them back

no idea why this happens - the drives do not leave the house and computer area - nothing and no-one goes near them, except me - ever.

as i say i rarely used the drives - i would back up and then leave them alone
i lost stuff because they all failed.

they were all made by western digital, so not a cheap drive. they are as is, not an internal one in a caddy.

[Old_Geezer]

If the drives are unaccessible as they are it might be worthwhle opening them and fitting them internally or even in a new caddy just to see if it is the drive or the interface electronics. Sorry, nothing else springs to mind at the moment.

[jno]

I have two hard drives, a Toshiba one permanently plugged in but switched off except when needed (it has its own switch), the other a little one that I plug and unplug when needed. I back up everything on to both. Losing stuff is awful.

[jno]

I installed MSE once and it wouldn't recognise the Toshiba hard drive. I repalced it with Avast and no further problem. Could it be some security programme issue like that?

[joko]

this is a laptop so they're usb and never permanently attached

this hasn't happened recently methyl - i have just received the new hard drive but i'm wary of using it.

i have pretty good security i think so i dont think virus's etc are the cause.

they just stop reading it as a drive, and seemed to get less responsive every time i plugged it in to try to sort it

i must have actually used them about 5-10 times or something - thats why i am so wary - if they were old i'd just think that was the reason.

i'd rather have a portable one - they seem more hardy.

i just wondered how people keep there's etc

i am considering attaching it permanently into my cupboard, so i cannot move it, for extra safety (well obviously not totally stuck)