External HDD is being super flaky/unreliable

I’ve laid out the core of my problem in the title, but I thought I should probably dive into a few more details before officially asking for help.

So, here is the situation: I am currently working with two external drives—one is a 1 TB model, and the other is twice that size. The first one is a Seagate expansion, while the second is a WD Elements. I usually split my important files between them, though lately, since I’ve started downloading a lot of movies, I have been leaning much more heavily on the Elements drive. Most of my actual storage space is taken up by documents and photos.

Well, here is the kicker! This evening, the Elements drive started acting incredibly glitchy; it keeps flickering in and out of visibility on my computer. To make things easier for tonight, I cleared some space on the Seagate, and my plan is to move everything from my internal drive onto it. My laptop is about three years old now, running Windows 10 with a 1 TB drive and an SSD for all my programs, and I really need to upgrade soon because my data collection just keeps growing and growing.

That brings me to my two questions. First off, does anyone know what might be causing this issue with the Elements drive? Is it possible that it's just a faulty cable, or could the drive itself be on its way out? Second, I won't have any free time tomorrow or the day after, but I am planning to head out this Wednesday to pick up a third external drive. I definitely want to play it safe this time, so I am looking for recommendations for something significantly larger than what I currently own.

Thank you all so much in advance for the advice. Please, try not to be too hard on me, as I must admit I am quite hopeless when it comes to anything involving technology. 😁

It’s highly likely the cable is the culprit here. That’s a classic issue with external drives. You probably toss it in some carrying case, bend the cord just enough to cram it in there, and eventually, you lose connection somewhere along the line. Try plugging it in and opening up File Explorer to see if your files show up. Once it's connected, start wiggling the cable to see if the connection drops.

I don't actually store them away at all; instead, I keep both drives constantly plugged in, tucked neatly under my iKe laptop stand where I make sure the cables aren't bent too much. I was actually hoping to move a massive chunk of a translation project onto an external drive tonight, and while the Elements drive showed up perfectly fine in File Explorer at first, it just vanished right in the middle of the transfer. Does anyone know if I can just buy a replacement cable on my own?

bluerider2 said:I don't actually store them away at all! Both drives are plugged in all the time, tucked right under my iKe laptop stand, and I make sure the cables aren't bent too much. Well, tonight I was trying to move a huge chunk of some translation work over to an external drive, and the Elements drive showed up perfectly fine in File Explorer, but then—out of nowhere—it just vanished right in the middle of the transfer. I wonder, is it possible to just buy a replacement cable separately?

I suppose you can, provided it's one of those thinner ones; if it's the thicker type used for a WD password drive, you might have to order it directly from them. Honestly, though, the cables on WD external drives seem to be a bit of a weak point—either the cable itself gives out, or maybe the port where you plug it in starts acting up.

Hmm... From what I can tell, both the Seagate expansion and the WD Elements seem to have the exact same thickness. I think I'll reach out to Best Buy to see if they can clarify which one is actually slimmer, but looking ahead, does anyone have a particular external drive they swear by?

I would advise against leaving them constantly powered on. It is an unnecessary drain on resources. Even when they are physically connected, the software is perfectly capable of spinning them down if they aren't actively being utilized. There is simply no reason to let them run idle. Furthermore, one must remember that most archival drives typically operate at a mere 5400 RPM.
To be perfectly honest, I have seen 7200 RPM drives continue to operate flawlessly for over two decades without a single bad sector. In my experience, even after years of heavy lifting in professional video editing suites, they hold up remarkably well. Drives specifically engineered for video recording equipment tend to be quite reliable.
In my experience, Toshiba has proven to be quite reliable.

Just download HD Sentinel; that software will provide you with a sufficiently detailed breakdown regarding whatever issues your drive is experiencing.

bluerider2 said:Hmm... From what I can tell, both of them (Seagate and Elements) seem to be about the same thickness. I think I'll check with the Best Buy associate where I bought them to see if there's any difference. But looking ahead, which external drive would you guys actually recommend?

I mean, how much storage are you actually looking for?

Maybe just grab a terabyte USB flash drive and call it a day—honestly, why even bother with a full external drive?

bluerider2 said:Hmm... From what I can tell, both of them (Seagate and Elements) are about the same thickness.

If they use the same cable—meaning the connector is identical—just try swapping them. See if that fixes things. That’s the easiest way to figure out if you're just dealing with a bad cable.

@urbanheron4/">@@urbanheron4
It actually just occurred to me while I was typing up my reply, though by then I had already started moving everything over to the Seagate, so I figured I’d just let it slide until tomorrow. For now, I think I'll just head out and relax by the lake for a bit. 😉

Kenneth Cruz67
I honestly haven't a clue. It just keeps growing and growing! When I first picked up my laptop, one terabyte felt like a massive empty ballroom where I could barely fit a few files from my old computer, but now it feels completely packed to the rafters. There are probably some duplicates in there, most likely, but nothing too crazy—it's just that I can never seem to find the spare moment to sit down and comb through it all, even with software to help. 🙄

Everyone kept insisting that an external drive was the safer bet, and in my case, they were absolutely right—I have a knack for losing USB sticks almost as soon as I set them down.

@saugaro
I’m definitely going to try out everything you’ve suggested; I tend to save everything onto them as soon as I finish a task or wrap up part of my workday, usually by the evening at the latest. My memory isn't quite what it used to be, if you know what I mean. 😁

Anyway, thanks so much to everyone for the help. 🙂

Here is my report. It’s really just everything I managed to get done so far.

I have been wrestling with all these cables, and honestly, it's the same old story.

I went ahead and downloaded HDsentinel, hoping that the 30-day trial would be enough to help me track down whatever is going on here.

But now... well, things have gotten a bit silly. During the installation, the software insisted it was going to create a shortcut icon, but of course, nothing happened. Every time I try to launch it again, it acts up, and I feel like I have to reinstall the whole thing just to make it show up—searching through CP shows the Hard Disk Sentinel Tray icon, but the actual program refuses to open. I grabbed the download from here.

Anyway, once I finally got it running, it showed me this—basically, at the top, it lists the Seagate as disk #2, but there isn't any sign of the Elements drive. However, in the bottom section, all four drives are showing up. I tried disabling the Seagate so that only the Elements would appear, and HDsentinel claims the health status is perfect. I also attempted a Short self-test—though I'm not entirely sure what else that's supposed to accomplish or if it's even fully functional in the trial version, and frankly, I wouldn't know what to look for other than seeing the test finish. 🙄

If the external drive itself is fine and the cable isn't the culprit, I suppose my next move is to try plugging it into a different USB port—if that's even the right way to say it?

What should my next step be?

It’s likely a connector issue. I don't know which specific model you're working with, but inside, it's probably just a standard 2.5-inch SATA HDD. It’s housed in the casing where the SATA connector on the drive is bridged to what is most likely a Mini USB Type B port on the enclosure to handle both power and data. In your case, either the enclosure's connector failed or there's an issue with the PCB bridge connecting it to the drive itself.

http://www.gearhack.com/myink/ViewPa...%20Disassembly


The whole thing can be taken apart to reveal a fully functional 2.5-inch SATA HDD. You could toss it into a desktop PC or just put it in a fresh external enclosure.
Something like this might work

https://www.amazon.com/External-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-USB/dp/B00M23Z6XG


I don't know if you're actually up for doing all this work. If you want, take some clear photos of the drive and the connectors once you've got it disassembled so we can figure out exactly which adapter you need.

urbanheron4 said:I'm honestly not sure if you're up for all that work right now. If you really want to get the best results, you might want to take some clear photos of the drive and those connectors once everything is disassembled, just so we can figure out exactly which adapter you'll need to grab.

I’m a little hesitant to dive into any of that since I'm working with a laptop. My plan is to hopefully pick up a brand-new machine in a year or so, but until then, I guess I'll just keep making do with what I've got.

P.S. I tried plugging my Elements into a different USB port, and miraculously, it seems to be working fine for now. Fingers crossed that this luck holds out! 😁

bluerider2 said:P.S. I actually tried moving the Elements over to a different USB port on my computer, and it seems to be working fine for now. Fingers crossed... I really don't want to jinx it! 😁

It sounds like you might have a bit of a loose or faulty USB port on your PC, because it seems like the drive itself is doing just fine, thank goodness—at least you've got a few other ports to fall back on for the time being. I suppose if that specific port eventually gives up the ghost, you could always just pick up a USB expansion card or maybe even look into a new case altogether. 😁

bluerider2 said:I’m a little skeptical that any of this will actually work for me, mostly because I already have... Laptop..

When I mentioned a new enclosure, I was talking about an external drive housing, not a PC case. It’s a solid workaround if the USB port on your current external drive dies. Everything stays the same; you just plug it into your laptop using the USB cable that comes with the new enclosure.

urbanheron4

urbanheron4 said:You can basically tear this whole thing apart and end up with a perfectly good 2.5-inch SATA hard drive. At that point, you could just toss it straight into a desktop PC or whatever else needs the extra storage. Time to move everything into a new case..
Let's put it this way.

I found this external enclosure for a hard drive on an American retail site. It’s a black USB 3.0 model. Looks standard enough, I suppose.
I just watched this video. It’s worth a look if you have some time to kill, though I won't pretend it's high art. It gets straight to the point, which I appreciate. Most people overcomplicate things, but this keeps it simple. Just my two cents.

Look, if the issue is strictly limited to that specific USB port on your laptop, just switch to a different one. If you’re running out of ports entirely, you can always expand your options with a hub. USB HubI don't know what you're trying to get at with that. It’s just a fragment. If you have an actual point to make or a question about a drive, just say it. Otherwise, we're just wasting space.

urbanheron4 As expressed by:
When I mentioned getting a new enclosure, I was actually referring to an external drive housing rather than a desktop PC case. It’s a handy little workaround if the USB port on your current external drive decides to quit on you. Everything stays exactly the same, really—you just plug it right back into your laptop using the USB cable that comes bundled with the new enclosure.

I'm afraid I didn't quite catch your drift there. I'll just have to wait and see how things shake out once the rewiring is finished.

If you suspect the issue is just a finicky USB port on your laptop, try switching to a different one. If you find yourself running low on available ports altogether, you can always expand your options with a USB hub. I’ve been looking into getting a decent USB hub lately, though I must admit, finding one that actually holds up under pressure feels like a bit of a daunting task!I am truly sorry, but I don't quite understand what you mean by that. Could you perhaps clarify your thought?

It’s plugged into a different port now (thank goodness, because I honestly had no clue that was even an option!), and it seems to be working perfectly. Since I've been out and about most of the day, though, I won't actually get a chance to sit down and see how everything is holding up until later this evening.