Failing USB HDD...

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 9:05 pm Post subject: Failing USB HDD...

I have a nagging problem. I had a client bring me a USB disk that is being a pain to recover via ddrescue. It is an old Verbatim Store-n-go 2GB disk that apparently has a platter in the plastic housing. I hear it spinning and clicking when accessed. However, after about five minutes the device disappears from /dev and reappears a few minutes later. Below is a clean attempt to capture the device.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 9:26 pm Post subject:

The_Great_Sephiroth,

That the drive vanishes from /dev indicates that it goes not ready.
That's either an intermittent electronics problem or a spin motor issue.
Lets not allow for two faults.

If the drive in normally operated in a particular orientation, rotate it (not around the spin axis) so it rests on another face.
This will change the way gravity and the air bearings interact. It may allom you to gen more than 5 min operation at a time.

If its an intermittent electronics problem, its probably a thermal issue. Consider how you can improve cooling.
Possibly remove at least parts of the case?
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Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 9:32 pm Post subject:

It is cooling. If I unplug it and wait ten minutes, it goes longer than if I simply wait for it to reappear. I already tried different orientations to no avail. I cannot figure out how to disassemble this stupid thing either, making matters worse. I can't even find a picture of this unit online. It only shows me flash drives, not a mechanical one like this, and the model number is useless. It is silver and gray with maybe a one-inch USB cord. It also has a red LED on the front.

*EDIT*

I grabbed the disk. The model number is "094933". It is a 2.1GB Store'n'go disk.
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Ant P. · Watchman Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 6920

A 2GB mechanical disk sounds ancient, and probably not likely to be just a commodity ATA disk in a USB enclosure. I wouldn't recommend pulling it apart.

You could try the old "leave it in the freezer for a while" trick (requires some condensation-proofing) to get more runtime out of it.

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 11:07 pm Post subject:

I thought about the fridge, but am hesitant due to it possibly losing magnetism. I may try something though. The client may just be out of luck.
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Ever picture systemd as what runs "The Borg"?

The_Great_Sephiroth · Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 12:41 am Post subject:

Just an update. I put it in the fridge and, once cooled, tried it. It went four minutes instead of three. This gave me an idea. I put it into my freezer, coupled it to an active repeater USB cable, fed that out through the door seal, and down to my laptop on the floor. Seems to be working!

*UPDATE*

We made it to ten minutes! I am going to upload a YouTube video of this shortly. Should get some laughs!

*UPDATE*

It stopped at 18min, 34secs. Going to let it cool and try again. Much better now though, and I am using a mapfile, so it can resume each time.
_________________
Ever picture systemd as what runs "The Borg"?