expatman Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) I dropped an external USB drive, now it's gone flaky.It works for awhile, but when I try to copy large folders I get "delayed write" errors.I was using this for backups, but now it's unreliable.Anyway to salvage this drive ?I've already tried chkdsk (reported errors were fixed) and reformat, but same problem reoccurs. Edited August 11, 2012 by expatman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) I expect the disk read/write head may have struck the platter(s) when dropped...this is never a good thing. If the manufacturer of the drive has a utility/program to do a "low level/physical format" that may help/fix the issue. Low level/physical formats are done at the factory but programs do exist to redo the low level format. Don't confuse a regular format (a.k.a., high level/operating system) like you probably did with a low level/physical format. If the manufacturer's support web site has such a low level/physical format utility (some do, some don't), download it, give it a try (which will probably take a couple hours to complete), then do another regular/high level format....you may get lucky and fix the problem. Edited August 11, 2012 by Pib Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 An external link has been reported as being problematic. It has been removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeBKK Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 (edited) Still on warranty? Most drives have around 3-5 years. ship it in. Edited August 12, 2012 by JakeBKK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expatman Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 I expect the disk read/write head may have struck the platter(s) when dropped...this is never a good thing. If the manufacturer of the drive has a utility/program to do a "low level/physical format" that may help/fix the issue. Low level/physical formats are done at the factory but programs do exist to redo the low level format. Don't confuse a regular format (a.k.a., high level/operating system) like you probably did with a low level/physical format. If the manufacturer's support web site has such a low level/physical format utility (some do, some don't), download it, give it a try (which will probably take a couple hours to complete), then do another regular/high level format....you may get lucky and fix the problem. Unfortunately I don't have the purchase receipt anymore, so the manufacturer (Buffalo) won't do anything. However, I did find a low-level format program on the internet and it is now running (3% so far). If it works it looks like it will also get rid of the annoying write-protected virtual CD drive which the manufacturer bundled with useless "utilities". But will it still be reliable as a backup disk (all bad sectors not used at all ?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywais Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Was the drive under power, that is disk spinning, when it was dropped? If not, the heads automatically move to a landing zone out of the way of the active surface of the drive and you may be ok regarding surface damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expatman Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 Was the drive under power, that is disk spinning, when it was dropped? If not, the heads automatically move to a landing zone out of the way of the active surface of the drive and you may be ok regarding surface damage. No, unfortunately it was running at the time. Won't the damaged spots be found by the format program and marked as not to be used ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywais Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Was the drive under power, that is disk spinning, when it was dropped? If not, the heads automatically move to a landing zone out of the way of the active surface of the drive and you may be ok regarding surface damage. No, unfortunately it was running at the time. Won't the damaged spots be found by the format program and marked as not to be used ? It should be able to. However, the bad sector information storage area is limited in size and if exceeds that amount that area can not be salvaged. Just have to wait for the low level format to complete and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expatman Posted August 12, 2012 Author Share Posted August 12, 2012 Was the drive under power, that is disk spinning, when it was dropped? If not, the heads automatically move to a landing zone out of the way of the active surface of the drive and you may be ok regarding surface damage. No, unfortunately it was running at the time. Won't the damaged spots be found by the format program and marked as not to be used ? It should be able to. However, the bad sector information storage area is limited in size and if exceeds that amount that area can not be salvaged. Just have to wait for the low level format to complete and see. OK, I'll let you know what happens. 18% so far ............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 I expect the disk read/write head may have struck the platter(s) when dropped...this is never a good thing. If the manufacturer of the drive has a utility/program to do a "low level/physical format" that may help/fix the issue. Low level/physical formats are done at the factory but programs do exist to redo the low level format. Don't confuse a regular format (a.k.a., high level/operating system) like you probably did with a low level/physical format. If the manufacturer's support web site has such a low level/physical format utility (some do, some don't), download it, give it a try (which will probably take a couple hours to complete), then do another regular/high level format....you may get lucky and fix the problem. Unfortunately I don't have the purchase receipt anymore, so the manufacturer (Buffalo) won't do anything. However, I did find a low-level format program on the internet and it is now running (3% so far). If it works it looks like it will also get rid of the annoying write-protected virtual CD drive which the manufacturer bundled with useless "utilities". But will it still be reliable as a backup disk (all bad sectors not used at all ?) The low level format utility would lock-out the bad sectors to where they would no longer be used. Even when you get to the point where you can apply the high level/operating system format that format won't see the bad sectors which have been locked out by the low level/physical format utility. Maybe you'll get lucky and this formating activity will fix your problem, but if the drive "head" was damaged it will just create more bad sectors when you start using the drive normally again. But if only the "platter" was damaged by the drop, then those damaged sectors/areas should be locked-out as if they didn't exist. A low level format does take a long time....sometimes up to 24 hours depending on the utility/thoroughness of the format....and hopefully it won't error out when it gets close to 100% which means it couldn't complete the format/the drive still has problem. After you complete all the formating I would save a bunch of files to the drive and then see if you can reopen them. Do some other save and delete activity and use some of those programs which check out a hard drive, like benchmarking the speed of your hard drive. If it continues to work properly for several days after you put it through a bunch of file tests, you should be OK. To be honest the odds are probably against you 60-40 that the drive will work properly; but hopefully that 40% comes up in your favor this time. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 Drives are so cheap these days that to trust your backup to one that has been dropped and then low-level formatted to disguise a damaged platter / head is truly a false economy. Take the drive out of the enclosure, buy a new drive, install in the enclosure, bin the old one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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