FreeAgent Products

[Canacourse]

I have this problem as well after only 3 weeks of use the drive is showing up as "unknown partition" . I have severly pi**ed off as I had close to 200GB of data on this disk.  The drive has never been unplugged from the computer.

Message Edited by Canacourse on 02-17-2008 06:36 AM

[tohofoto]

I have experienced similar problems on two consecutive drives. The first 750 pro had problems with in a week and the second, a replacement from the chain store where purchased has now failed in the last week with less than three months use. I am a Mac user and was trying to use drive with Apples new Time Machine. Bottom of drive gets extremely hot like what has been said. This problem has just started in the last couple week and is now to the point that it is completely un-usable. The drive run time before the problem sets in continued to get shorter and shorter before causing the computer to freeze. It now causes the computer to lock-up with it attached and turned on at boot up. The power button on drive is also now unresponsive. This is exactly the problem that I experience with the first drive. I have had several other brands of external drives both USB and Firewire and have never had a problem like this.

[gtrgtyy]

same problem and the troubleshooter doesn‘t work at all。

is there any effective solutions？

Message Edited by gtrgtyy on 03-28-2008 08:54 PM

[LaoziSailor]

It was Dec2007 when I first posted this situation as well.

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timothyjkolb wrote ( 02-02-2008 11:25 PM):
UPDATE:

I repeatedly tried several things, but powering the drive up AFTER booting seems to be the only way to get consistent recognition.

Both drives have functioned as I'd expect as long as I don't give them power until the computer being used has completely booted.

It's annoying, but it works.

I've been kind of a hard-core Seagate guy for years.  I just don't expect weird problems with stuff that says "Seagate" on it...it's unnerving.

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I have gotten used (on my personal machine) to doing this as part of the power-up routine. After that it works fine.

I will continue to use Seagate as an internal drive for my customer's production machines. The Seagate Freeagent USB however is off-limits.

Cheers!

[AnniHilat0R]

I too am facing the same problem. Initialy I thought its some problem with my Vista not recognising the Hard Disk, but my friends hard disk got detected by the system. My hard disk is getting detected, but it is tagged under Unknown Devices. I have tried contacting the customer care, but still no response from them as yet. Really getting worried as I have around 180 GB of project work on it and if I loose it, I am going to be in a big mess.

[Canacourse]

For anyone interested.  I was able to repair the "Unknown Partition" and recover the data using test disk from

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

I resorted to trying testdisk after Maplin refused to refund me or swap the unit and could not tell me how long the repair would take. 

Note: I repaired an "Unknown Partiton" were windows was seeing the device not an "Unknown Device" problem.   If windows cannot see the device than I doubt test disk will be able to either..

How this info helps someone else.

[AnniHilat0R]

The power-up routine is also a lottery. It works sometimes, sometimes it doesnt. I again tried to contact the Customer Care, finally they replied, unlike last time where they just gave me the standard troubleshooter guide link. They asked me to update my USB Generic Drivers. I did the auto update, but windows says that I have the latest drivers. Is there any solution to this problem ?

[trancemix08]

Hey Everyone,

I Have had the very same problems,and when it happened to me, i couldnt believe it.

I think i have found out what the problem is, but i might have another problem with the POWER BUTTON, that supposedly glows, and is TOUCH SENSITIVE.  Either it was a prank by my brother-In-Law, or it was because of something i did, i cant tell, BUT the answer to everybody's question i think has to do with the EXCHANGEABLE --> USB 2.0 + ESATA interface on the bottom of the drive. If you Hit the bottom of the drive like doctors do too newborns, it seems to fix the problem. There is a screw on the bottom that is silver and doesnt tighten up too tightly in the first place. If you buy the firewire interface, this is how you would install it, via this screw. I think the CHINESE didnt have the right kind of tool required to accurately tighten the screw that is most likely loose upon shipment to the vendors. BGut even i had a heard time with it because the flat head screw isnt threaded all the way, and the top of the screw doesnt have a deep enouph cut in it for most "flat head" screwdrivers to tighten and loosen it.

You have to make sure that the interchangable plastic casing is pushed all the way into the IDE looking interface underneath, that it connects too. You will see what i mean by unscrewing the screw and taking out the interface. But dont get too curious and start prying at the base, because i have heard that there is no way to get it open safely (so as too fix the power button-in my case) without breaking anything.

I didnt even know about this special design until a few days ago, and i had the drive for about a year now. You WILL notice that even with the screw all the way in, the interface just doesnt like being flush with the base and plugged into the connector there. Remeber this new design was made so that the drive could support future interfaces, so SEAGATE really is the pioneers of the external drive market right now.

[verysoon]

similiar problem. BUT SOLVED!!!

let me go thru my situation first to let u guys judge if it's the same issue.

1. Freeagent Go 320gb.
2. works fine for a week or on 2 PC.
3. one fine day, when connected to PC, nothing shows up for a long time.
4. open "my computer" and the window is blank. then hang.
5. "Auto Play" window pops up after sometime. the stupid torchlight keeps swaying. Then it close. nothing else happen.
6. "my window" still blank for a long time. shows "not responding"
7. any other apps that needs to browse, when click on the dropdown menu, will hang. guess it's attempting to navigate "my computer"
8. Few years later.... in my perspective, there's a new drive letter. but it's not showing as "Freeagent Go", or whatever u named the ext hdd as.
9. go to "Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management, the drive letter is showing indicating the same size as the freeagent.
10. note that it also shows Capacity the same as Free Space..... meaning it's EMPTY!!
11. File System field as blank. should be NTFS.
12. right click the said drive and click "properties" will hang the console.

At this point, DO NOT FORMAT. 

1. Instead,  Start>Run>cmd.exe.
2. type chkdsk (whatever drive letter of your ext hdd):
3. read the result. there should be some errors and maybe some bad sector.
4. now use chkdsk /f  (whatever drive letter of your ext hdd):
5. should be ok now. else unplug and re-plug.

Note: i'm not responsible for any data lost or damaged hardware should you follow my instruction. as with all IT problem, it's a case by case basis. Thou it works for me.... for now.

cheers 

[verysoon]

something's not right here.

i run into this problem every now & then. it's becoming more frequent everytime i plug into the next PC.

it's just so not right to go thru the chkdsk /f routine so frequently.

 right now, i'm getting this message:- 

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
File verification completed.
Correcting cross-link for file 8.
An unspecified error occurred. 

 

anyone knows the cause of the problem here? 

Message Edited by verysoon on 01-19-2009 06:28 PM

Message Edited by verysoon on 01-19-2009 06:29 PM