Toshiba Canvio 1TB USB 3.0 drive problem - turns on but won't read

I've been using the drive without any problems until, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to plug it into my Pogoplug device today via a USB hub. That's when it all went pear-shaped - now the damned thing gets recognized in Windows 7's Device Manager as a hard drive, I hear the chime when Windows picks it up, but it won't spin, the status light stays on and it won't work. Disassembled it and tried it with a USB 2.0 enclosure - nothing. Thinking of hooking it up to the desktop but have no idea with what. Any idea what I can do? It's about three quarters full and I really don't want to lose all the data over something as silly as a broken file system which I can't rebuild for whatever reason.

 

Did you try plugging the Toshiba Canvio directly into your desktop/laptop and see if it comes up? I bet it's just some small configurational incompatibility your Toshiba Canvio has with a pogoplug. How was your Toshiba Canvio connected before, via USB or ethernet to your router or desktop/notebook?

 

The problem I've described occurs when I hook the hard drive to any one of my three computers (four if you consider that my MBP has both Windows and Mac OS installed on it). Pogoplug wouldn't even pick it up (in that the light wouldn't come on, which is why I thought of the USB hub idea in the first place, which couldn't have helped matters). I've disassembled the drive and am now looking for a way to connect it to my desktop directly (not via USB), but I am having a tough time figuring out how to do that as the connector looks to be an 18-pin one the likes of which I've never seen.

On a side note, regarding the Pogoplug...does it actually essentially turn an external HD into a NAS device or does it upload the stuff I'm trying to access to my cloud and then streams it down to whatever device I'm trying to use?

 

Post a pic of this 18 pin plug. Lets see what we have to work with.

 

Here it is:

 

I just got back from Best Buy and was told I'd need to disassemble the whole drive (and watch out for static REALLY carefully) and transfer the data platters to a donor HD (which, thankfully, I've got). Hope it doesn't have to come to that...

 

Ahhh, that's the header interface. The four contacts next to the center motor are used for powering the platter motor. What you could do is use another hard drive controller. That's the circuit board on the bottom of the hard drive. It would need to be a SATA controller, and I can't guarantee a different brand will fit on there exactly. But usually, hard drive controllers are made to the same form factor (i.e. the drive controller from another 2.5" SATA hard drive should fit). That will allow you to get at the data on your drive.


EDIT: what they told you is a last ditch effort. If I's was you, I'd try to get it working with another hard drive controller.

 

The sad thing is - I've already tried it. Didn't work, either...

 

You've tried another hard drive controller? Did the 18 pins and the motor contacts match up?

 

Yep. Incidentally, it was another Toshiba drive (a pull from a new Sony VAIO).

 

But, did the contacts match up?

 

This is odd. I hooked it up to that other controller just now and for the longest time the light on it flashed red. Then it switched to green, but the drive isn't being picked up by the computer AT ALL. Not even in Device Manager.

And now it is flashing red again...

 

Looks like it...

 

Which other controller? The USB one or the SATA one?

 

It's a different USB one.

 

That's an indicator that the issue might be with the drive internals and not the controller.

 

There's some good news...

 

So you pulled another USB hard drive controller and installed it on the Canvio? The Canvio status light was red for a while and now it turned green, but it's still not showing up in device manager? After the light went green, did you restart the system and see if it showed up then?

 

Haven't restarted the system. Right now I've got it plugged into my desktop via SATA instead of USB, but the computer is about to restart following some system updates. Will post once it's started up and going. Will also be able to see if it shows up in the BIOS (MBP doesn't have one as such).

The problem with the light going green before was that it went back and forth between red and green, so I don't quite know what to make of that.

 

Hmm. The pins may not be making good enough contact or the red to green light may signify a state change in the drive (read to write or idle to active). Does the drive sound like it's being accessed by the system when you plug it in?

 

It doesn't sound like it's spinning, no.

OK, so when I plugged it into my desktop's SATA2 port and enabled it in the BIOS, the computer wouldn't start. The message showed "No boot drive found." As soon as I unplugged it, though, the computer booted fine. When I plugged it into the SATA port with the desktop running, it just sat there with nothing getting picked up. Still is, actually.

 

The hard drive pins may not be making contact then. The drive should spin up no matter what. You can try using tiny wires to bridge the gap for the motor contacts.

 

This is where my expertise runs out...is there an illustration to that?

 

Refer to the attached photo. Those four contacts on the bottom of the drive must make contact with the four pins on the bottom of the controller. Those provide power to the platter motor.

 

Ah, now I got it. I can actually see how they wouldn't connect... What would I use to make sure they do, though? I don't have tiny wires...

I bent the four up ever so slightly, so they should be making contact now. But it's still not spinning...

 

Turn the controller over and compare the position of the pins to the contacts on the bottom of the drive. If they're off left/right/up/down by more than an 1/8" then the drive motor still won't get power.

 

They look OK...

 

Then it may be the platters then. You might have to transplant the platters to a working hard drive in order to test if they still viable.

 

Yep, the aforementioned last resort. Is there a good tutorial on how to do this?

On the bright side, the Toshiba that I had previously pulled from the Sony is now a fully-functional secondary HD in the desktop. Hopefully it won't crap out like this one (this failed one is a replacement as it is).

 

Hard drive platter swap homemade tool - YouTube

This person is very inventive using a tin can as a grabber to extract the platters. Essentially you need to follow these rules:

1. Use an anti-static bracelet (and mat if possible).

2. Wash your hands and use latex gloves and a facemask to lessen contamination (again, if possible; if you don't have a facemask, you can use a handkerchief).

3. Clean your work area of all dust and debris. Make sure to clean yourself off so you don't get any dust, dirt, or dandruff into the inside of the drive.

4. Remove all electrical devices from a 5 ft radius. This will lessen environmental EM radiation from harming the disc.

5. Don't touch the platters unless you have to. Use that tin can tool the youtube video to grasp the platters. When you extract, be very careful to not let them get dirty or damaged.

 

Yikes. Well, the tin can is a problem because of the size, but I am going to try to fashion something, I suppose. At this point in time, I either throw it away now or throw it away after a failed experiment, so might as well at least give it a shot.

 

I don't mean to scare you with all those precautions. I'm just trying to give you the benefit of my knowledge thru several failed attempts before I successfully transplanted platters from one drive to another. But in all fairness, follow one, two and three. They are the most crucial if you want to have any chance of success.

 

I get and believe me I appreciate it. I just know that the situation is difficult and my chances of success are pretty slim but I'll give it a shot.

 

You know the more I think about it, the more I think maybe the platter motor has failed. If you're sure that the motor contacts were making good connection with the four pins on the controller board, yet the drive still wouldn't spin up, it could just as easily be a failed motor. But fixing it is no less the same. You would still need to remove the platters to get at the motor. So transplanting them will at least get you your data back.

 

Got all the tools, opened the two hard drives to find out that one has two plates and the other one. Then I dropped the two plates. Figuring what the hell, I installed one and then tried the other with predictable results. Oh well. Thanks for the help, at least now I know what to do next time it happens .

 

Ooooh.

Gotta install both platters or only half the raw data will be there. Like only having one drive available on a RAID 0 array. You need both to make it work. I'd say if you can find a cheap 2.5" SATA double platter drive on eBay for like $15, then you could try it again...and cross your fingers.

You should have used the tin can tool.

 

I actually tried the tin can tool - fashioned out of a Dr. Pepper can. That's when I dropped it. Eh well. At this point in time I'm cutting my losses - I chucked the lot, so even if I found something now, I'd be picking from three platters loose in a trash bag.

 

I've fixed worse than that. But I agree, eventually you just have to cut your losses.

 

Hah...man, if you want to give it a shot, I'm happy to mail you the plates and some cash for your troubles...

 

Tempting, but no. Keep your money and get a new setup. Look into something like this: 3.5" Element EN-3251U3-BK SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Aluminum Element EN-3251U3-BK

All's you have to do is add a SATA hard drive. That way if the enclosure goes bad for any reason, the hard drive and it's data is still intact and you're only out $30 for the enclosure.

 

I've got one of these things, actually. That's one thing I can salvage from the donor drive.

Sad to lose 750 gigs worth of movies and some really rare sports and racing videos, but I guess that's what YouTube is for. I don't think it was the enclosure that failed, though...but oh well.

 

I thought that is was a Toshiba Canvio external hard drive that went bad?

 

It was, but it wasn't the enclosure that failed (given that nothing would work when I put it into another enclosure).

 

So your going to try and get another drive for the Toshiba Canvio enclosure then?

I just looked up the internal specs for the Canvio. I thought it's drive controller had a specialized USB output as opposed to a standard SATA drive controller. Now I know it's just like any other external enclosure which converts a SATA drive to an external USB drive. Ok, now I'm not as confused.

Best recommendation I can give is to get a Western Digital. I've got a pair of 750GB Scorpio Blacks in my R2 and they've been flawless for over a year now. I think 1TB WD 2.5" drive is only a Scorpio Blue though. Well, I've stuck with WD because they haven't failed me (...yet) whereas Samsung and Seagate HDDs have.

 

Nah. The reason I got this drive replaced through Toshiba (they made me pay for shipping which is ridiculous, btw) was because the special connector was screwed up. I'll just get a better drive. The enclosure I was referring to is from the donor drive which I used when trying to resuscitate this one.

Yeah, it's a weird one but it works the same way as any other portable.

Yeah, I have a powered Elements 1TB one that I am trying to recover some files from right now (I had split different types of files between the two drives) which, knock wood, works fine. So my replacement will most likely be a WD.

 

Is there a networked drive you'd recommend? Pogoplug is waaaay too slow for me and all I want to do is be able to access all of my media without having my desktop up and running constantly.

 

Not one that won't cost you your first born. Them's NAS drives are expensive. I took the high road approach and got the cheap USB enclosure(s) and then spent some money on my Router. I ended up with a Netgear WNDR3700 ( Newegg.com - NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAS Wireless Gigabit Open Source Router/ USB port Rangemax 2.4/5GHz Simultaneous N600 Dual Band IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u/3ab). It was easy enough to set up the USB enclosure HDD as an NAS storage drive...right up until the Seagate drive inside crapped out. But it was easy to do. Any drive that goes thru USB (even USB 3.0) to your router will be bottle-necked at that connection. Probably why NAS drives with built in Ethernet are so expensive. As far as a dedicated NAS drive, none come to mind. But I would recommend you see if there are any enclosures out there which output NAS over Ethernet so you don't have to fumble with USB ever again for a network drive.

FRYS.com | IOCELL

Here is the only cheap enclosure I've ever found. The sales rep at Fry's said the only drawback is you should not use a high RPM drive in it because the internal chipset can't handle the high amperage that a high RPM drive needs. Sounded somewhat reasonable to me.

 

So things like the WD MyBook Live or Seagate GoFlex will be just as slow as the PogoPlug solution I've got going right now, eh? I had thought of those as their own mini-servers before, but I guess I was off on that? I have a Motorola SB6580 doing modem/router duty right now, but I don't believe it has a USB plug-in...unlike your router. The crappy thing about PogoPlug was that initially it actually worked very fast - I was listening to music remotely within the first 30 seconds of the drive being hooked up and now it takes forever. I wonder what the deal with that is...

 

Probably. I'm just not sure. I do know this. My RAID 0 volume on my notebook is where I keep all my videos and files now. According to Driver Meter, an SD mp4 draws about 200kB/s of data from my drive while the mp4 is playing. An HD blu-ray mp4 or mkv, 1.25MB/s to 2.5MB/s. When I used the cheap enclosure for an NAS storage, I was more than able to get those data speeds across my WiFi network. With my router (cause is has a built in USB port for attaching a storage drive) I tested the data transfer speeds to see how high they would go copying an mp4 from the USB NAS drive to my desktop. It got 4.14MB/s on average. So to be honest, it may just be the pogoplug. The whole reason I ditched my cheap Linksys router and went to a higher up Netgear was because it would be able to handle the transfers from a USB connected NAS drive to my system without lagging. I think the IOCELL enclosure option may be the more economical route for you right now. That Motorola Cable Modem/Router seems like it does pretty good. But adding some other file server device between the external hard drive and the Motorola, that will always cause a bottle neck for data transfer at that junction.

 

I got the asnwer to fix this problem Toshiba Canvio 1TB USB 3.0 drive problem - turns on but won't read I was doing a reserch online to find a solution with no luck my problem was that I lost the power adapter that came with it so I just got me another one but was not supplying enough power to it the only thing was working was the blue light and my lap top was showing my toshiba canvio connected but could not read it but wasnt really working because I didnt hear it spining so the power adapter that I got was output:12v--750mA o.5A wich was not giving enough power so I tried a bigger one output:12v--1000mA 2.0A then it worked right away so you may have the wrong ac/dc power adapter or if you have the one came with your toshiba canvio might not working right could be damaged get you a new one it has to be 12v---2.0A to operate your toshiba canvio I hope this works for you.