I/O Device Error on Surface Scan

[dajahump]

I have an external USB Seagate drive (500GB) that suddenly just stopped working yesterday. I can't access any files on it and when it shows in Hard Disk Sentinel it has a health of 5%.

I couldn't even access it running HDS on Windows 7, but am now able to at least run tests on it from an old XP box.

When I run the surface test, I get "I/O Device Errors" on every sector.

Is there anything else I can try to save this drive? I'd really like to get the data off... I've tried a bunch of other tools (windows check disk, HDDScan, Seagate Tools) in vain.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

[hdsentinel]

The best thing would be to take the drive off from the external enclosure and connect it directly to the motherboard and power supply of the computer. This may increase the chances of accessing data because of the better power source and direct connection as the USB converter may not tolerate the problems/slowly accessible disk areas well.

Checkdisk is one of the worst things you can do. It is even possible that it destroyed data which could be saved previously because it started to modify/overwrite the MFT.
(that's why HDSentinel offers option to disable automatic chkdsk).

Seagate tools will not help to get the data. It may be able to overwrite the disk but it does not really help in this situation.

Using Hard Disk Sentinel and be notified before this situation is the best way to avoid data loss.

[dajahump]

Hi,

Thanks for your quick reply. It's a Seagate FreeAgent Go 500GB (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/produc ... eagent_go/) - I'm not sure I can take it out of the case.

I've definitely learned from this experience to have HDS on my machine to identify these issues ahead of time, but for now I'm just hoping there is something I can do for this drive.

Dave

[hdsentinel]

I see.
Excuse me, I thought it is a separate SATA drive and an USB->SATA enclosure which would allow disassembly.
Of course this situation is different: if you would disassemble, you'll surely lose the warranty.

Do you have an Y USB cable for that (which is connected to 2 USB slots to provide enough power for the drive)?
Otherwise the 2.5" drive may not have enough power for proper operation and this cause instability or malfunction.

[dajahump]

I plugged it in using a Y cable as suggested and launched HDS. The message displayed for the drive is:

Failure Predicted - Attribute: 5 Reallocated Sectors Count, Count of sectors moved to the spare area. Indicate problem with the disk surface or the read/write heads.
There are 2030 bad sectors on the disk surface. The contents of these sectors were moved to the spare area.
The drive found 17 bad sectors during its self test.
Problems occurred during the spin up of the disk 62 times. This can be caused by the disk itself or huge power load (weak power supply).
There are 17 weak sectors found on the disk surface. They may be remapped any time in the later use of the disk.
Replace hard disk immediately.

It is recommended to backup immediately to prevent data loss.

Is there any left to be done? How can I "backup immediately" when I can't read the HD?

Thanks.

[hdsentinel]

I see.

Backup immediately - what you *may* try to access and backup (in this case some files may still be readable).
If the problems affect critical areas of the drive like the Master File Tables or directory entries then usually no files could be read.
Maybe a data recovery company could help (it can be very expensive).

The "spin up" issues can be related to the insufficient power if the drive was previously used on a single USB connection as it provided only up to 500 mA power which is much less than required for proper operation.

At the moment, I can only recommend to ask warranty replacement due to the high number of errors but I do not really think the data area could be read. I'm so sorry for that.

[davephx]

I realize this is old but I am new

I have the same drive, Seagate FreeAgent Go 500GB probably at an earlier state of failure less than a year old.

I was only using it for backups and first clue is when backups failed on verify using Macrium Reflect.

HD Tune ran benchmarks and all info fine with no clue of a problem.

But HD Sentinel showed 40% with spin up errors. Ran the Surface Scan test (READ) and got the I/0 Device Error.

I thought maybe it was because of the USB connection since only one I have and new to HD Sentinel (tested 4 sata or esata drives fine). Unlike your case I can still read the drive but only backups and decided to "retire" it.

It seems HD Sentinel may have confirmed the dying drive before it was unable to be read. Exactly as intended.

If you have eSata this is far faster than USB2. I am abandoning USB drives Like Free Agent, for eSata in a dock (less than $50) and regular sata internal HD's seem to run at full speed or close.

USB 3 even faster blazing speed which I have on laptop using a USB3 dock but desktop only USB2 which is quite slow.

[hdsentinel]

Usually the spin up issues does not effect the surface. They are more serious as it is possible that the drive can't spin up at all.
However, when it is spinning, usually no (other) problems noticeable, for example usually there are no performance decrease.
But as you wrote, the test revealed other errors - so I suspect now the surface may be damaged also
(if you have the opportunity to use Report menu Send test report to developer, it would be great as then I can examine the disk status with more details).

I completely agree you: eSata is a better choice if you prefer speed
USB3 is also nice, just some early production USB3 enclosures may not allow the detection of disk temperature and status.
But if your USB3 device is working perfectly with your laptop, you may consider an add-on card to your desktop which enables USB3.0 connection (such PCI Express cards are available around $25).

[davephx]

I have been researching a lot between eSata and USB3. Tests show no big difference in real life speeds although reading different drives on laptop with USB3 and desktop with eSata.

There is dispute in various articles but it seems eSata may write faster and USB3 may read faster. Any USB3 adapter slows a bit by having to convert USB data to Sata it seems if feeding a SATA HD.

And you have to fiddle with molex power connector on mb find close enough connection or from power supply vs separate power for eSata dock, but that really isn't an issue for me.

It seems firmware may eventually make USB3 faster but from all I read the difference is virtually neutral to see any real life performance difference between USB3/eSata (especially since my mb is only SATA II not III.

There are some adapters that covert via PCI slot to eSata and one that has been discontinued and had some bad reviews that was a PCI adaptor that had ports for both USB3 and eSata. I am confused if the PCI slot (either 1 or x4 will convert to SATA III 6 gb speed or just the SATA II on the mb as related to native SATA.

I am going to try the new Intel 320 Series (for Sata II mb's) 160 GB solid state drive for operating system and programs. Am hoping that will give the big speed boost it seems most get. Will of course test it out on HD Sentinel

[hdsentinel]

Basically I agree: in theory the conversion (SATA -> USB) may cause a slight slowness but in real life it is not really measurable.
Just one thing: USB3.0 provide more power (900 mA) than USB2.0 (500 mA) which may be important for 2.5" USB 3.0 enclosures.
However, this 900 mA is still not really enough for larger 2.5" drives so if you consider using 2.5" disks, eSata (with external power) may be better choice (some drives require more than 900 mA to spin up and operate properly).

I see. If possible, please send report(s) (Report menu Send test report to developer) when the new SSD is installed