Secret of "dead" external HARD DRIVES! How to QUICKLY fix the problem, its cause and solution

Secret of "dead" external HARD DRIVES! How to QUICKLY fix the problem, its cause and solution
discussions.apple.com/docs/DO...
discussions.apple.com/docs/DO...

[@jdl9623]

Thanks to this video I saved my hard drive but ironically burned my bacon watching this while preparing breakfast.

[@kathodosdotcom]

Wahahaaaaaa

[@CarlJohnson-mf4qd]

A life for a life.

[@democratpro]

good muslimz dont eat pork!

[@joeyrobin1]

I don't comment on KZbin very often. But this time I had to offer my thanks and express my deep relief. After my 4TB external Seagate refused to mount, I lost all hope. Even though I've lost extremely valuable data before when another external drive was dropped on a concrete floor, I still somehow managed to fall way behind in backing up my Seagate. I knew I'd lost years of work but the thing that bothered me most was that I couldn't remember what else was on the drive. There's no feeling quite like losing hard drive. After a desperate search I found this video and was afraid to believe it could be so simple. Long story short, it was! I cracked open the case, removed the SATA bridge card and plugged the drive into a dock at work. It mounted immediately and I couldn't be happier. Thank you!

[@jamesdewall1035]

Thanks! Problem solved for $35; I was quoted "anything up to $2k to fix." You deserve a medal.

[@jamesbenner7370]

I'm sure you won't see this and I don't usually leave comments, but I do want to say THANK YOU! Fallen upon this video gave me enough information to try to save an old hard drive once again... After accepting that thousands of pictures of my son from the ages of 1-5 were gone forever I actually managed to get them back today. It was indeed that SATA bridge, and they are all backed up now on a working drive, and soon to be going into even more redundancy in a RAID 6 NAS that I'm building.... So anyway, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU !!! (on a side note it is my birthday today, and I could not have asked for a better gift)

[@DialthebarSoap]

Hi excuse me but does the hard drive has a lifespan? I mean after it gets disconnected or something. I'd be disappointed if I lost all my sister's childhood photos.

[@acffh]

@@DialthebarSoap No they work forever. You should not ever make another copy, because the drive you bought is fine and will never ever fail. *** NOT TRUE!*** Make three copies of all data that's important. If you move photos from your phone and delete them, that is not a backup.

[@hollywoodpleasecomehome4028]

Brilliant! Bought a new SATA bridge connector from Amazon ($10), removed casing around Seagate external, disconnected old SATA, connected new one, worked like a charm! You really saved me a lot of headache. Thanks a million!

[@michaelbattista1334]

You wouldn't happen to have a link on what Sata bridge connector you bought on Amazon would you 4 years later? lol I also have Seagate external drive 5 TB.

[@surangadesilva9518]

You saved my decade old data backups, few hundreds of dollars and gave me peace of mind brother... I have no words to thank you for reminding this simple but never think fact that these so called external drives are the same internal drives wrapped with fancy enclosures.. Due to lockdown, I was thinking when I could send my external drive to a pro for recovering data for an unprecedented bill.. Being a tech fan, fortunately I have a robust hard drive dock and the stripped drive worked like a charm... Thanks a billion !

[@snsm6730]

THANK YOU ...for taking time to do this vid as many of us have these old drive sitting on a shelf with data

[@JubileeGiggles]

For real. Was just gonna say, I've never heard or seen this information, and its so simple. Thank you

[@ReikiGemWellness]

Best Buy Geek Squad just quoted me 600-10K for data recovery of my failed external hard drive. They literally said there was nothing to be done if the hard drive won't power up. I had a spare, working hard drive. I followed the instructions in this video and I had my data back in minutes. Thank you!

[@Beesting4789]

Thank you, this worked for me! I retrieved about 10 years of photos and data by purchasing a $30 AU SATA adapter. Very happy I came across your video. So thanks again :)

[@awill2329]

I'm going to try this - THANK YOU THERE IS HOPE YET :D You share such beneficial information, thanks again

[@Rubi747HVY]

I just lost access to my portable hard drive, you were right! Fixed it! Thanks

[@MajorEasley]

You're amazing. That was my failure also. Wouldn't know it. I thought it was the drive gone bad. 👍👍👍

[@Mag0Lag]

Amazing! Have just got what you have shown me to work! I even had a USB-Sata adapter ready, having needed one for connecting to internal HDD from old PCs. Many thanks.

[@colincreed10]

Brilliant, thank you so much. What an easy solution and well explained. Cheers from the UK

[@hoylee5801]

You're amazing thanks for sharing your video. So glad I found your video, my external hard drive was fine and the fault was the sata bridge. In the end I bought a caddy and everything was working as normal. Cheers👍

[@ShadowIsatis]

You, sir, have saved my bacon. Thank you for the very informative video. Followed your instructions.

[@TanyaKatherine]

Divine intervention must have brought this video to me right now, today. I am going to try this, and if it works... you are in need of major compensation for making this video and beating the system, and exposing the secret. This data loss is not just a small thing this is a SPIRITUAL WAR against losing our memories as human beings and being in a constant state of AMNESIA. Back when we had photos and photo albums, you drop a photo on the ground and it floats to the ground, unscathed, now you drop a hard drive and in a blink of a second years of memories are gone. We need to reclaim our power and stop giving our precious memories to these devices and do like retro times and have things in analog. You are an amazing person for exposing this secret. I don't know how I must have found your video but by chance, my prayers may be answered.

[@GabrielBarbaro]

Thanks so much - awesome work! I have to pick up one of those handy drive toasters!

[@Robertsmith2100]

Very useful video. Thanks. A USB-SATA conversion cable ($10) also works to get data off. When I hacked open my Seagate 3.5" 2TB, I blew the dust off the SATA Bridge PCB, pulled it out and put it back and the drive started working again for a short time. This might help someone copy data across if they are in a hurry. I then bought a powered 2.5/3.5" USB3.0 to SATA conversion cable ($10) to replace the broken SATA Bridge PCB for my 3.5". It was cheaper than a dock and I don't access the drives often. I also decided to get naked and bought 3x 2TB 3.5" internal hard drives and some nice colourful plastic boxes to store them in and use the cable to access them when/if needed. The article you link to is also interesting and useful.

[@AZTEC_ARTS]

Cool info to know !! Thanks Do you have a video of the actual procedure ? (disconnection of the SATA card) ?

[@OnDownTheRoadProductions]

Thank you for this video. Our WD Black P10 sata bridge has gone bad, will any bridge work? This has a 2.5 inch HDD. Thanks!

[@MoonlitVibe]

This was a good help video in that it didn't piss about with intro sequences (which are completely redundant on this post TV media platform) and didn't bury the speech with unnecessary background music. I happen to still have an external harddrive case with a SATA card so I can check if this is the problem.

[@teethofthelamb]

Well, your tip JUST SAVED MY BACON. My external seagate drive stopped working, so I opened it took the drive out and installed it in an external case, it works just fine, I’m backing it up as I write this note of great gratitude and thanks.

[@pawpawpawt]

While the video was a little repetitive, you eventually covered all the points and saved me a lot of money, the article was also very helpful and detailed!

[@steamer2k319]

What about the SATA bridge? Would replacing that save my bacon?

[@pawpawpawt]

​@@steamer2k319 to be honest I had to write off the data on the drive. Not sure if a new sata bridge would let you recover what's on your drive

[@CozyEars]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, saved my data!! You are brilliant!!

[@MrBurk3y]

excellent ! thank you... the world needs more honest people out there like you to help save a dollar instead of throw money away

[@amosfeldman5075]

Please add a link in description for the external drive dock / bay that you recommend

[@scorpio76140]

I held on to my segate external hard drive for years without success, but after watching your video I was able to save my hard drive. Thank you so much🙏🏽

[@anonnymouse6139]

Awesome! I was able to resurrect my 'dead' external drive. Thanks!

[@stepanstepanenko3961]

Just had the depeche mode - violator album playing over the top of this, not realising both are on. They make a good combo :D

[@cuboid3043]

Do you have any experience with WD My Passports for Mac? Would this process work similarly if I were to purchase a specific Doc?

[@vashon_photo]

This worked and saved my drive, thank you!!

[@helderfilipe2000]

what do i need to do or to buy to save my powerless 3.5 external hard drive

[@Phoenixm1200]

So could I just clone my external hard drive that isn’t mounting to a new external with a hard drive dock?? Thanks for the info very helpful 👍🏽🙏🏽

[@MuhammadAli-xw4yc]

I absolutely love this video. Thanks for this informative video. Hell I was late to the party. But in 2022 this video is still relevant . Much appreciated.

[@TheSinkingGarage]

Have you been able to reflash dead chips or is it something with the capacitors and other components?

[@parallelnative]

Very glad I found this video, thanks for the info and recommendations.

[@dedenhaedar37]

What if I replace the old casing with the new one? It's just same or I should replace 'em with the dock?

[@IMWH1T3xK1LL3R]

You keep saying how its this damn sata card well how do you fix the damn thing 😤😤

[@cyberwolf9591]

you get the little device he shows and you plug in the naked drive into it and plug in the machine to your computer

[@iamco698]

@@cyberwolf9591 What's that little device called?

[@heritagetourswexford]

@@iamco698 This might help you. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5S3i3WDnpKLrbM

[@heritagetourswexford]

@@iamco698 This also: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqi0pmZtiZaUa5I

[@yesjorn]

Hey, great to see your video. However, I have one of those hard drive docks. When I had two in there (it has a cloning function but was not touched) there was a short shortcut sound and now neither one (128 gb and normal 2.5 inch 1 tb) are showing up in finder, system information or disk utility. I have a sata cable and use the bare disk. It lights up, spins but is just not recognized. Any idea?

[@stephanest-laurent266]

You just saved my data with pictures and iTunes folder. My Portable Samsung just stopped working, it happened a few weeks ago where it wouldn't mount, but after a few plus / unplug it worked again and I forgot about it, till yesterday or it didn't wanted to mount. Disk seemed to be ok, but little light didn't blink, so after listening to your video, it all made sense, now it's ok, but I'll make a second copy for sure. THANKS!

[@V3ryM3tal]

I know this is an older vid, but thank you. I've been dealing with a WD external that went down on me a week ago. Most I've been able to ascertain is something about a damaged partition table. I'll give the adapter a shot!!

[@sammatthews7392]

Matt Palmer I havevv vs the same problem. Did the hard driver reader work

[@BridgeOps]

Man, I bought the converter, now the comp will see the drive is there, but it's inaccessible. CMD prompt says it's RAW. I don't want to format it... any advise? Thanks! Btw, thanks for making these vids, you give more technical insight into issues!

[@Azerath2]

thank you so much, this isn't the first video of yours i've seen, but i recognize that truth always points in the same direction. :)

[@georgesolano1309]

My hard drive wasn't being recognized by any computer. A local data recovery guy asked me for $250 to recover the data. I watched your video, bought a dock for $50, popped the naked hard drive in and Instantly accessed my data. Thank You!

[@possummanrld]

Good information, but not very explanatory. I did save one of my external hard drives by taking the factory bridge card out and using a powered one. But what about regular 2 and 1/2 inch drives? I don't see any real information that helps on that subject here.

[@Aflaten]

Thank you :D I had no idea!!

[@northernfreelance5788]

i took mine apart and connected to sata to usb module. will this work to get into the drive? I tried it but no luck. should i connect it directly to my pc

[@LeJimster]

I bought my Orico sata dock years ago and it's super handy. I have several ssd and hdds that I've collected for various projects over the years and being able to access the data within seconds by just plugging it in and powering the dock on is really good.

[@evelynraymond]

Awesome video Thanks so much for posting it.

[@fransvernooij9652]

Great video, thanks! Just revived a failing 2007 HDD with all my picture backups! Totally perfect

[@1977TA]

I have a WD USB 3.0 powered external drive. It works for about 5 mins then stops. Sometimes I can get it to remain spinning by unplugging it then plugging it back in. It will work fine for a few days then the problem returns. Sometimes I hear clicking noises coming from inside it. I'm not sure if that means it is dying or if the cable is bad or the random failure is the result of the component you highlighted in this video.

[@uhmgawa6533]

This is relevant for drives circa 2012 which are still in use today.. The separate SATA/USB bridge found in that vintage drive has since been been integrated on the drive PCB as a reliability and cost reduction improvement.

[@cresk]

The only video data rescue companies don’t want you to watch 😅 Thanks for another gem on YT dude.

[@Katracho727]

I got macbook pro ,so I can jst buy a hardrivedock to transfer my info from my macbook to harddrive dock ..? So get naked harddrive? To install on hardrivedock..but which drive 2.5or 3.5?

[@dcentvideos2122]

currently getting a Critical Hardware error when trying to initialize a few SSDs , thought it was just bad luck -- never thought it was the SATA bridge.. The hdd dock is brilliant just ordered one .. I hope this works!

[@NatediMaggio]

ive just watched you vid bout the sata bridge card as i need to see if my xbx external hhd works, so i ordered one from amazon hopefully that will work..

[@TanyaKatherine]

I am going to try this AFTER I move, and maybe this backup drive falling is a sign to stop obsessing over my objects and files before I move houses, and to focus on sorting through my memories and files after I move and enjoy the last moments in my childhood home.

[@alejandrocampos2231]

I have an old Seagate Barracuda Hdd that would not connect to my PC. It would make a sound like it wanted to start spinning and then it would stop and make a faint click. After watching this vid I went to Best Buy got a hard drive dock, I removed the SATA bridge from the hdd and docked the hdd and it fired right up. I have to mention that I first tried it on an old W7 laptop and the laptop would not read it. Tried with W10 laptop and it worked. Thank you for making this vid.

[@shine_uno]

question. after 6 months i left my *death* hard drive inside a magnetic bag for a while , i was thinkin on send it to a data recovery service, but i bought this *SATA to USB 3.0, SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Converter for 3.5/2.5 Inch HDD/SSD with 12V/2A Power Adapter* and it worked perfectly fine for like 6 hours :( any idea what coul happen? its i worth to buy the dock in this particular case? and the dock its a recommendation for the rest of my life to save some problems in the futere? gracias!

[@sethaldarith6778]

What dock would you personally reccomend?

[@newyorkdrew1056]

Hey T, I just wanted you to know...... I am an avid follower. Turned pro 2 years ago and have 8 regular clients. AND, I want to say Thank you. I shoot Ballet and other stage type events in NYC. I bought a D7100. Because....YOU WERE RIGHT!!! I'm going thru some lens mistakes right now and am watching your series on lenses. But, I have a few questions if you have the time.

[@dottiem9777]

How do I convert my data on my external hard drive (all the back up data was when I had a Windows software) now I have an Apple iMac? Thank you!

[@cspjkd]

So I have a dead Seagate External and I bought a new drive case and put my old damaged drive in there and still the clicking...Will a SATA Bridge help or what else do you recommend???

[@TanyaKatherine]

I wonder if this works for a Seagate Backup Drive that is like standing upright, that fell off my desk, manufacture date: 2012. It looks like a black box standing upright on my desk. It is not a portable hard drive. I would want to try this method ALSO with my other two portable drives as well that fell off my desk in 2015, and in 2021.

[@HipHopSavesLivestv]

Thank you for this but I have opened my hard drive and took it to a tech store and they say the SATTER BRIDGE you speak of is part one my hard drive. That the hard drive I have is all one piece. Can you please give me some advice...

[@eyewas9245]

Bro, you are so awesome for this. Thank you so much!

[@anomalyphenomenon5827]

Hello,I have an 8TB from 2019 and the arm is stuck( short buzzing sound). I took it to Gadget Pros and he said there was no way to get into the drive to manually move arm, no screws, Are theses things sealed so that they can't be opened, beyond the shucking? I pealed back the label and only found one small disc like piece with a small rivet in center. Thank you ETA: I assume if the arm is indeed stuck,plugging naked HD into dry dock will do no good?

[@AmbassadorOfChristJesus]

Hey bro I gotta dead drive and bought the Sabrent Dual Bay Docking station but my dead drive shows up but its not highlighted... the light is turning on, but the cloning light is not turning on... its not cloning for some reason... any suggestions??

[@rickgrimes120]

Hey - thanks for this. What about Sata compenents for the old type of USB? The one that is sort of square ended? I'm aftaid I don't know the correct name for this.

[@vienna01550]

OMG! I spent 2 hours with apple tech support, they never mentioned this - she just said it's an external hard drive crash, probably dead. Bring it to an apple store. Thank you, I feel like now, I might be a little more educated, I don't feel like a sitting duck :-) your awesome. How much should I expect to be charged by them or should I put my head down and TRY to understand the fix and do it myself? I noticed it sounds like a car in the wrong gear. I tried all the R, P holding...Turning off and on, unplugging, blahhh, blah, but the cursor is still in the upper left hand corner and not responding. Also, the bluetooth icon at the top of the (screen to the date) has a squiggley line thru it. the wifi is gray and not communicating. Could your video be what I need? BTW, I ate bacon twice yesterday!

[@Magnificent1393]

Thank you! I got a WD (4TB) HDD, 2017 model, it suddenly stopped showing the files on my macbook pro, I mean it shows the partition with a weird symbol on it like minus curved symbol! I don't know why? I recently discovered that the hdd usb is attached straight to board, not a usb3-sata board! And I just found out about CMR and SMR drivers! So I don't know it might be a SMR drive!! Can you help me please?

[@danielaf81]

turns out I have a toshiba with a built in sata bridge. Do you have any advice on swapping the controller board before I potentially break this thing? TIA

[@arthurdent6447]

have mains powered 4tb seagate hdd, whe first connecting the light is steady after 15-20 seconds it starts flashing then device manager says its not connected to the pc, not showing in windows or seatools any thoghts please

[@coyoteguy1111]

Yes. I saved my data cracking open the case of external Toshiba HD and using a SATA to USB card! Thanks!

[@northernfreelance5788]

I did the same but no luck. nothing, it started spinning but wont open or show

[@FreshtexBlackman]

But will it save my Bacon?

[@kentellis9071]

But will it save my goat meat, its so sweet to the taste.

[@MayMayRomero]

My hard drive is saying corrupted or unreadable, will changing the Sata bridge solve the issue.

[@ISLAMMaachou1]

Thanks man this is true , That connect was the problem i tried my Hard drive into old pc and worked

[@elsuperman-sama9656]

if i have a 2.0 usb External HD and my device requires a 3.0 will changing the SATA fix that? or is that something in the drive itself?

[@MaximoBrazil2000]

My external 2 tb seagate HD writing speed is 355kb/s. It doesn't work at all, but softwares from seagate (Sea Tool) reports it is healthy. Do you think this sata bridge is the answer of this issue?

[@jvon3885]

I dropped mine and ever since its been gone. I still have it though, I wonder if I can save it.

[@WizKid1258]

i have a Seagate Expansion SCSI portable hard drive, but the light keeps flashing and my PC doesnt seem to recognise it. is that a SATA Bridge Card issue?

[@DennysPlantBasedJourney]

I have a WD My Passport Ultra that has failed. You said in the article to buy a similar model and swap the HD. Can you provide some info on how to do this? @Theoria Apophasis

[@TheRealPac3]

may i ask what camera did you use for this tutorial ?

[@robertopacheco2943]

Thank you very much for the info.

[@JohnDoe-qc3bo]

What about the WD external drives that don't have the bridge any more but JUST a USB connector? How reliable are they? I have just gotten a 2.5 inch Easystore 5 TB drive from Bestbuy on sale for $89.99. Really I would have gotten a Seagate if it was cheaper or a very similar price per TB. Then I could use it in my desktop or laptop someday if I wanted to.

[@WhittyPics]

Interesting. I had a WD external drive I was using for my Time Machine backups stop working after I moved. I cracked the thing open and took the 2 hard drives out and bought a dock to run them in. I didn't realize why the original casing failed. I only had the things for a few months and I didn't think the hard drives inside failed, that it was something else. It was a 4TB drive that had 2TB drives inside.

[@Tscha99]

what if my hard drive is clicking, is this a fix for that as well?

[@mb3gee]

seem the link to the article you are showing is not working, How can i review article that you are reading from apple site??

[@matthewtorres6438]

Bacon Man, I just gotta say, this is Incredible. Why didn't I try and find this information seven years ago? You just got my one drive back up and running no problem with a dock, and I'm looking forward to trying to crack open a Lacie.

[@styleago-go3028]

I don't think I understand where the instructions are other than the info that is just explaining how the hard drive looks inside. Great....but mine fell and unplugged while I was editing a video and now its reading empty. I am not sure where in the video you are saying how to get files back, just that you can rip it open and see the parts. If I do that, I'm screwed. Can you tell me where (minute count) in this video are the steps I can take? All my business files are on this one drive that I treated like a baby till it fell unexpectedly. I only have some of my info backed up. Thanks

[@loquito1966]

Good video. I need some help. I accidentally put in my laptop power cord in to my external hard drive and now it won’t work ?

[@praisemedia580]

hey dude, what straight edge or hardcore band were you in in 2008?

[@hiilikeyourbeard]

thank you so much for this truth brother. God bless your continued success

[@C.D.J.Burton]

Holy shit this saved me a million times over. Not necessarily because the usb-sata bridge was broken, but I think previously I was underestimating how easy it is to get a bad connection of one due to incorrect USB power supply or wires or something. Either way I came here in the hope I could save a huge database of (manually recorded to WAV) music records. Plugged the thing back in with a new setup expecting corruption and voila... it bloody worked.

[@cresk]

The video every data rescue companies don’t want you to watch! Thanks amigo!

[@jlenertz]

How do I see the published info displayed on that iMac ?Is there a linc?

[@martinhommel9967]

You saved my bacon today. Thank you. Thought I had lost my family pics

[@kathodosdotcom]

Glad I could help

[@therustymarmot]

I have a Gtech RAID drive box (with two hard disks) that has gone to the dogs... do you think this is worth a shot to recover data?