My playstation 3 do not want to read an external usb connected harddrive.Please help

Are you plugging directly into the computer or using a USB Hub. Cheaper USB hubs have awful data throughput. I have one that I tried to plug a sd card reader into and it would take ten minutes for a 60 megabyte file. Connect directly to a port. Or download Samsung diagnostics and make sure that the drive is in proper working order. Verifying The Hard Disk Drive Is Working Normally

Inside that plastic external case of the Hitachi XL 1000 external harddrive, is a regular desktop computer sized harddrive.

It is a SATA type of harddrive.
It is 3.5 inches across in Width. (3 and a half inches)
1 TB in size.

Looks similar to this example,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5589521&CatId=2459

On the back end of the Harddrive is where it's power cable, and data cable are attached.

Inside the case of the Hitachi also is a small circuit board. (PCB or Printed Circuit Board)
The SATA harddrive is connected to this small circuit board.

The small circuit board, or Interface PCB , is attached directly to the Harddrive.
Or cables (Wires) are used to connect it to the Harddrive.
The Interface PCB is connected to the computer, via the USB cable that is attached to the Interface PCB.

It is this small circuit board that usually goes bad.
(Unless the external harddrive was on, and dropped. Then the problem is the Harddrive)

There are two solutions;

One, buy an 3.5 SATA external enclosure, and use the Harddrive as an external harddrive again.

Two, install it as a Slave drive in a desktop computer, and retrieve all your information. Burn to disk/s, or flashdrive/s.

When using a SATA harddrive as a Slave drive, there are NO jumper pins to mess with.
DO NOT change any jumpers on the back of a SATA harddrive.
(These are for the factory)

This is an example of a 3.5 SATA external enclosure,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2145406&CatId=2780

There are no guides to open a Hitachi XL 1000's case, to my knowledge.
It isn't something the manufacturer wants stated.

However opening the external enclosure (Case) isn't that tough. It falls under the same as this model,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ_vjyvK28A

Here we see at 3:00 through 5:00, that the Harddrive is attached directly to the Interface PCB.
Just remove the Harddrive from the chassis, and unplug it from the Interface PCB.

For additional questions please post in a Comment.

Regards,
joecoolvette

is the scratchy sound coming from inside your lacie or outside ??

it might be a power problem trying to connect to your lacie but unable to find the device or a dirty hard drive the reader arm skipping across the platters you could give your lacie a firm tap on the side to free up the reader arm

click start control panel administrive tools ,computer management ,device manager look through all of your devices if you see a yellow question mark?or exclamation mark ! or red x
right click to reinstall drivers or
if you can see your usb but its not working
ports(com&lpt)right click update driver
sometimes the wires inside the cable will be damaged due to bending or stretching or placing heavy equipment upon the cable,
just replace the cable of the hard disk, when you plugged the external disk drive you got that windows could recognize the USB device change the cable everything should work fine again,

check the USB leads that attach to the motherboard usually red-white-green-black make sure they are securely seated and have no dust build up on them dust will cause static and a lot of unforeseen problems also make sure the computers Ram and Cmos battery are securely seated
if this fails to fix the problem
you might have to install a usb 2 or 3 card they are cheap and easy to install you can buy these on Ebay very cheap
hope this helps

I also have an iomega external drive different from yours and has a switch or a button. If you have that switch or button, please try to press it and see if it resets. If not we have two things to consider.
1. Try to use a different USB Cable and test. 2. Open the external harddrive and replace the disk with a spare one or working one. Then test if it connects. a. If it does not connect then the problem is the electronic board of the external harddrive. Buy a Harddrive enclosure so as you could still use and retrieve your valuable data. Or slave the drive on your desktop computer and see if its connect. b. If it connects then you have a faulty harddrive. I hope you have a backup of what you have there.

1) Power:

It may be the problem that occurs with a lot of USB powered devices jrherrer. Not enough power provided.

The USB cable plugged into the computer, provides signal wires for transferring information back, and forth, and also provides 5 Volts DC for power. (Two D cell flashlight batteries produce 3 Volts DC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

[ Below shows the Signal pins, and the Voltage pins of the USB B Mini style connector, (Male), used to connect to the SimpleDrive Mini external harddrive,

Pin 1 is for the 5 Volts DC Positive (Wire color - Red)
Pin 2 is for the D- Signal (Wire color - White)
Pin 3 is for the D+ Signal (Wire color - Green)
Pin 4 is not connected. (Or sometimes joined to Pin 5 with a Resistor)
Pin 5 is for the Ground (Wire color - Black)

Just added info in case you wanted to know ]

From what I see the SDM/250RW has a USB port on the side, and a DC Power Jack, used for an AC adapter, also.
(Round port with a pin in the center)

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/0C876B7AB91B23988825773F006BEA02/$file/SD_Mini_DS_final.pdf


From what I see stated from Hitachi, and sellers on the 'net, the AC adapter may not be provided.
Many of those who provide a review state that both the USB cable, and the AC adapter is needed to provide enough power. Seems to be a power hungry external harddrive

It's a 2.5 Hitachi SATA laptop harddrive inside that external case. (The Harddrive is 2 and a half inches across in Width. Common size used for laptops)

When using an external device powered by a USB cable there are general guidelines to follow,
A) The USB cable should not be more than 2 feet in length
B) Connect the device directly to your computer, instead of through a hub, or other device, unless the USB hub has it's own power.


2) USB cable:

Could be a faulty USB cable, although I imagine you have tried different ones by now.


3) Interface Circuit Board:

The Hitachi SATA 2.5 harddrive inside the SImpleDrive Mini SDM/250RW, plugs into a small circuit board located inside that external case.

Components on the circuit board may be fried, or the Harddrive may have come loose from the interface.

Loose from the interface
To explain;
The back of the harddrive has connector pins sticking out.
The interface has socket holes which the pins insert into.

Faulty circuit board
The external case of the SimpleDrive Mini SDM/250RW can be carefully opened up, and the Hitachi SATA 2.5 harddrive extracted out.

Another inexpensive external case for a 2.5 SATA harddrive can be procured, and the Hitachi harddrive put in it.

Example of a 2.5 SATA external enclosure,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3743049&CatId=2781

If you highlight "USB Devices" and then press triangle, you should then be able to select "Show All". Your files should then be shown on your external hard drive. If this does not work then it may be because the drive is formatted to NTFS instead of FAT32. The PS3 has trouble reading NTFS devices. If possible reformat the drive to FAT32 using a program called "Fat32format" which is available from here .

Hope this helps and thank you for using FixYa

yah you must buy a Y-USB cable for your external hardisk. this is connection both ends are one is for hardisk and the other two cable is for USB slot of computer. why it two wires connection to usb because one wire is for Data and the other is for Power. If doesn't work..it might be a problem in your Operating system. i recommend to you to reinstall your Windows OS.. theres a 4 reasons why it happen appear the error... deffective USB cable..corrupted driver of USB device for seagate, virus infected of your systems..and maybe your hardive is deffective. Please rate if this is HELPFUL..thanks

I had a client with this same issue. However, her issue was that the top left USB port would only accept flash drives. Your external harddrive is probably not getting enough power from your USB port. Try using two USB ports (you can get a connector for this) to power up the external harddrive.

If the hard drive was not formatted prior to use, then if new; it only has been Partitioned and needs to be formatted to accept data and do a read/write.

i am afraid that the drive has gone, but you could try to fix it using disk manager application.