I/O Device Error

WhiteWood

WhiteWood

Carbonite Member
Ok, short and simple. I have a Seagate 250G FreeAgent External HD. I've had it anywhere from 6 months to a year... I don't remember.
I captured a video file for this music video that I'm shooting on it about 3 days ago. Since then, it's corrupted the entire project folder. I can't get anything in or out.

Error:
"The request could not be completed because of an I/O device error."

I deleted the file SOMEHOW by scanning the drive for errors, but it must've spread. Because I try to take the files and move them to another drive to at least finish the video up and save my edits (I was like 75% done with the video) and they won't come off. The stat bar movs so slow that if it DID come off, I'd be 27 by the time it did.

I want to fix this drive WITHOUT having to delete ANYTHING. I KNOW it can be done. In the meantime, I'm saving up to buy the BEST HD there is available to buy EVER for the rest of my LIFE! But my entire life is on this drive (My company files). Please help.
 
What operating system are you using? What kind of I/O ports do you have on the external drive? If you have multiple ports, have you tried all of them?
 
herbalmedia said:
What operating system are you using? What kind of I/O ports do you have on the external drive? If you have multiple ports, have you tried all of them?
Click to expand...


Windows XP. I tried all ports. Same issue. How do I find out what kind of ports I have??
 
Last edited:
The only kinds of ports you are likely to see on an external HDD are USB, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, and eSata. And sometimes ethernet.

If this were me, I would probably take apart the external enclosure, get a new enclosure, put the hard drive in that, and then try again. I would definitely not recommend this if you aren't comfortable playing with computer guts though. Maybe you have a friend who is?

It sounds like either the board that controls your I/O ports is busted (that's why it might be worth the $75 for a new enclosure) or else the hard drive is screwed. You could try one of a number of utilities to recover the info on the hard drive like Disk Warrior, but not sure how much good that will do you. Sorry I can't be of more help - I am better at this on a Mac.

Also, instead of saving for the best hard drive out there, save up to get two hard drives, and back up everything often. I have learned this lesson the hard way (more than once, unfortunately).
 
So you're saying that the problem is the way that the drive connects to the comp? (USB) And if I were to take the drive out of my HD and put it into the comp, then that prob won't exist?
 
I'm saying MAYBE that's it. :)

It's very hard to say and in my experience, trying to figure out why a hard drive is failing is all too often a guessing game. It could be that there is damage internally, or it could just be a corrupted file system, in which case you will probably not be able to recover much.

I would try a free trial of a product like Disk Warrior before anything else. Taking the drive out of the external enclosure can be very risky if you don't know exactly what you are doing. If you are comfortable doing that though, it may be worth a shot if nothing else works.

If this drive has all of your company files, it might be worth the scratch to take it to a pro.
 
herbalmedia said:
I'm saying MAYBE that's it. :)

It's very hard to say and in my experience, trying to figure out why a hard drive is failing is all too often a guessing game. It could be that there is damage internally, or it could just be a corrupted file system, in which case you will probably not be able to recover much.

I would try a free trial of a product like Disk Warrior before anything else. Taking the drive out of the external enclosure can be very risky if you don't know exactly what you are doing. If you are comfortable doing that though, it may be worth a shot if nothing else works.

If this drive has all of your company files, it might be worth the scratch to take it to a pro.
Click to expand...

About to go see what that Disk Warrior is all about! Thanx!
 
First thing is to pull the drive out of the enclosure and put it in the computer (direct IDE or SATA connection, whichever is appropriate). If it still doesn't work, I believe Seagate has some free recovery tools you can try, on their site. If that doesn't work, try this:

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm
 
Okay, I'm running off of a PC, so that Disk Warrior wouldn't have worked for me

How sure are you about this inserting the disk STRAIGHT into the comp thing? You see, it's not the inserting it into the comp thing I'm scared of, it's the GETTING IT OUT of the HD box thatv I'm worried about. I'm scared I'm going to break it, trying to open the casing.

I'm about to try that link you provided. Details when I finish.
 
That link tok me to something I had to pay for. I don't pay for ANYTHING so um, lol, yeah. I'm taking the files that it WILL allow for me to remove OFF of my old harddrive and putting it on my new one. Only thing is, the FIRST file in EVERY FOLDER can't be moved. I/O error. So I have tons of folders with one file in each of them (sometimes two files).
 
Certainly, get what you can off the drive before doing anything to the hardware. Then you have to weigh cost/benefit (including time as a cost as well) to recover what is left. After you have copied whatever you can from the disk, I would consider the drive to be junk (worthless in the enclosure) and go from there. If you take it out of the enclosure and the disk works fine in the computer, great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top