Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems

Paramount · 03-20-2009, 08:10 AM

My external drive is not playing any of my audio files. (I am a Audio Producer) And when it does play the music it will freeze up the program that it is playing on. ive tried to download other audio playing programs like Windows Media Player like Itunes and it does the same. The music on my external drive is VERY IMPORTANT and i can't afford to lose any of the information on it. is there any way i can fix the drive with out losing my information on it? if someone could help me it would be greatly appreciated.

This message appears

(The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error)

ncaissie · 03-20-2009, 09:00 AM

I have an external that is causing problems also.
When I try to copy or use specific files it crashes and disappears.
I have to restart the HDD to get it to go again.

I'm hoping installing the drives in the PC will solve that.
I think it is because the HDD is 1TB.
My 60GB externals don't give me problems.

**raptor_pa** · 03-20-2009, 10:30 AM

First thing is to copy the data off the drive while you have access, if the data is critical and there is still access, copy it off now - then we can begin to trouble shoot the drive. An I/O error could be related to playback, see if you can copy them to another drive.

Paramount · 03-21-2009, 06:56 PM

Okay ive been trying to copy everything it will allow me to copy on to my computer hard drive ill post again when everything that can be copied has been copied

Morgenstjerne · 03-22-2009, 06:56 AM

In my experience most of the drives we get back from customers work, but the controllers are defect. So if you are able to open up the hdd enclosure and put the disc into a computer or another external drive bay that should fix it.. if the disc is younger than a couple of years it's almost always a s-ata type of hdd and they sell very handy docking stations for those :) oh and if you've never tried anything like this before get someone tech-savy to open the drive enclosure for you as it can be quite tricky at times..
are you getting alot of errors trying to copy data off?

Paramount · 03-22-2009, 11:17 AM

Yea I am experiencing the I/O device error on some of the files

**linderman** · 03-22-2009, 02:58 PM

if the data is more important than the drive .......... open the enclosure .......remove the drive and connect it internally to a desktop computer ......... then back up the data with an image program like the one I have in my sig

ncaissie · 03-23-2009, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgenstjerne

In my experience most of the drives we get back from customers work, but the controllers are defect. So if you are able to open up the hdd enclosure and put the disc into a computer or another external drive bay that should fix it.. if the disc is younger than a couple of years it's almost always a s-ata type of hdd and they sell very handy docking stations for those :) oh and if you've never tried anything like this before get someone tech-savy to open the drive enclosure for you as it can be quite tricky at times..
are you getting alot of errors trying to copy data off?

Can you tell me what to do if there is two drives partitioned as one?
If I take the drives out and put them in the PC it stops working.
While connected via USB the computer management sees two drives together as one big one. I want to un partition them but I'm afraid if it screws up I will loose the drives altogether.
If they were IDE I would have no problems but I'm new to SATA drives.

Do you think the controller will let me separate them?

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

Thanks for the info.

**linderman** · 03-23-2009, 07:02 AM

@ ncaissie

Please start your own thread in the hard drive forum .............. mixing threads makes things very messy for us ........... you will get plenty of responses dedicated to your problem:

In your thread please elaborate more on the following ?

Can you tell me what to do if there is two drives partitioned as one? please elaborate on this "two drives partitioned as one? are these drives external drives ? one or two drives ?

If I take the drives out and put them in the PC it stops working.

While connected via USB the computer management sees two drives together as one big one. I want to un partition them but I'm afraid if it screws up I will loose the drives altogether. did this drive always have two partitions and did they each have a drive letter ?

If they were IDE I would have no problems but I'm new to SATA drives. sata drives operate much they same way as IDE drives; except each drive is on its own channel instead of sharing a channel and the sata drive has a thinner data cable / other than that; they are very similar and can be "expected" to act as such

03-20-2009, 08:10 AM	#1 (permalink)
Paramount Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 3 OS: xp	Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems My external drive is not playing any of my audio files. (I am a Audio Producer) And when it does play the music it will freeze up the program that it is playing on. ive tried to download other audio playing programs like Windows Media Player like Itunes and it does the same. The music on my external drive is VERY IMPORTANT and i can't afford to lose any of the information on it. is there any way i can fix the drive with out losing my information on it? if someone could help me it would be greatly appreciated. This message appears (The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error)

03-20-2009, 09:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
ncaissie Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 12 OS: Windows vista 64	Re: Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems I have an external that is causing problems also. When I try to copy or use specific files it crashes and disappears. I have to restart the HDD to get it to go again. I'm hoping installing the drives in the PC will solve that. I think it is because the HDD is 1TB. My 60GB externals don't give me problems.

03-20-2009, 10:30 AM	#3 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,792 OS: XP	Re: Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems First thing is to copy the data off the drive while you have access, if the data is critical and there is still access, copy it off now - then we can begin to trouble shoot the drive. An I/O error could be related to playback, see if you can copy them to another drive. __________________

03-21-2009, 06:56 PM	#4 (permalink)
Paramount Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 3 OS: xp	Re: Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems Okay ive been trying to copy everything it will allow me to copy on to my computer hard drive ill post again when everything that can be copied has been copied

03-22-2009, 06:56 AM	#5 (permalink)
Morgenstjerne Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1 OS: Vista SP Win7 beta	Re: Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems In my experience most of the drives we get back from customers work, but the controllers are defect. So if you are able to open up the hdd enclosure and put the disc into a computer or another external drive bay that should fix it.. if the disc is younger than a couple of years it's almost always a s-ata type of hdd and they sell very handy docking stations for those :) oh and if you've never tried anything like this before get someone tech-savy to open the drive enclosure for you as it can be quite tricky at times.. are you getting alot of errors trying to copy data off? Last edited by Morgenstjerne; 03-22-2009 at 06:57 AM. Reason: missing word :P

03-22-2009, 11:17 AM	#6 (permalink)
Paramount Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 3 OS: xp	Re: Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems Yea I am experiencing the I/O device error on some of the files

03-22-2009, 02:58 PM	#7 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,434 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems if the data is more important than the drive .......... open the enclosure .......remove the drive and connect it internally to a desktop computer ......... then back up the data with an image program like the one I have in my sig __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

03-23-2009, 07:02 AM	#9 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,434 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Serious Help Needed Immediately, External Hard Drive Problems @ ncaissie Please start your own thread in the hard drive forum .............. mixing threads makes things very messy for us ........... you will get plenty of responses dedicated to your problem: In your thread please elaborate more on the following ? Can you tell me what to do if there is two drives partitioned as one? please elaborate on this "two drives partitioned as one? are these drives external drives ? one or two drives ? If I take the drives out and put them in the PC it stops working. While connected via USB the computer management sees two drives together as one big one. I want to un partition them but I'm afraid if it screws up I will loose the drives altogether. did this drive always have two partitions and did they each have a drive letter ? If they were IDE I would have no problems but I'm new to SATA drives. sata drives operate much they same way as IDE drives; except each drive is on its own channel instead of sharing a channel and the sata drive has a thinner data cable / other than that; they are very similar and can be "expected" to act as such __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial Last edited by linderman; 03-23-2009 at 07:07 AM.