20 Most Recent SimpleTech Signature Mini 160GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Dark Blue Blueberry - Page 2 Questions & Answers

You might try a different cable or use a USB "Y" cable to supply enough powere for the drive to work, as some computers have difficulty providing enough power from a single port. If you need more help, please call HitachiGST Tech Support M-F 8AM to 6PM PST at 1.888.426.5214 and a technician will be happy to help you.

Yes, it is a "plug-and-play" device, and Apple OS X supports such P&P devices.

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That might have been the "autoplay" function, looking at the files, trying to inventory the files,
to see if it should run a program, or open a program to view photos, or open Windows Media Player to view audio/video content.

An external storage-device has four major components:

* the USB cable

* the power-adapter

* the disk-drive inside the enclosure

* the USB-to-disk-drive adapter inside the enclosure.

One of these components has failed.

Try a different USB cable.

Try connecting to a different USB port on your computer.

Try connecting to a USB port on a different computer.

Take a "multi-meter" and measure both the voltage and amperage output from the AC adapter, and compare with the specifications on the label on the adapter.

Open the enclosure, and remove the disk-drive, and then connect it as a "slave" disk-drive in a desktop computer, to see if it works at all.

Purchase a new, compatible, disk-drive, and install it in the enclosure, to "revive" your external storage device.

Get the part-number and serial-number from the label on your disk-drive, and access the manufacturer's web-site, and use "check warranty status", to see if they will replace the device, at minimal cost to you.

There exist commercial "data recovery" services that can try to repair your device, just long-enough to rescue and copy your files.
For example, see: https://services.seagate.com/index.aspx?lng=en-US for a "no data - no charge guarantee".

Hello

Okay , so there are some steps to figure out what is wrong with your external.

Firstly , if your computer makes a sound when you plug in your external , go to Start-Control Panel-Administrative Tools-Computer Management-Disk Management , and see if your external drive is listed here with your local drives. If it is listed , right click on the drive and change the drive letter to make it appear in "my computer".

If your drive does not make a connection sound when connecting to your computer and also does not show up , please follow the next step.

Remove the hard drive from the casing if possible and install it in your computer case or another external case.If the drive works , the problem is with the casing and you can ignore the drive.

Now , if the problem is with the casing , there are still 3 possibilities.

1. The USB cable between the drive and the computer may be damaged.
2. The circuit board which connects your drive to the interface of the external may be blown.
3. The power supply (if applicable) may have a blown transformer.

The latter is the easiest to diagnose , does your external light up at all when you plug in the power? If not , then this is probably your problem. On the bottom of the adapter is a label which you will be able to use to have a new adapter made at your local electronics shop and this will cost about $30 max. They will also be able to test the adapter with a clamp meter to see if this is really the problem and this should be free.

The second component you want to test is the USB cable. If you have a printer , swop out the cables and see if your printer functions normally. Most externals use the same connector so you should be able to test it in this manner. If the cable works go on to the last step. If the cable is defective , replace it with a new one which you can find for about $10 at most electronics and chain stores.

The last component to test is the circuit board. This is a bit of a grey zone as you probably won't be able to spot the blown component unless it failed really badly. With the casing already opened , locate the external's circuit board and check to see if you have any blackened components or fluids leaking from some components. If all the other components of the external worked perfectly , then this is the faulty part. It is not really economical to replace the circuit as most of the time it is out of production by the time you need to replace it and it still costs a lot even if it is available so if your drive is working perfectly when connected via sata or IDE on your computer , the best is to buy a new casing and place your old drive in the new casing.

A casing costs about $50 and you could get it at most tech shops and big chain stores like Best Buy.

I hope this solves your problem and please reply if you need more help.

Kind Regards
Andrea

Connect it either to a Mac or to a PC, and then "format" the drive, to completely "clear" it out.

Probably not the right answer for your problem. Mine is an external 1 TB Simple Drive. Mine wouldn't respond at all. I unplugged the power cable from the back of the hard drive and replugged it in and instantly it worked (with the computer and hard drive plugged in). I had tried rebooting the computer, plugging/unplugging over and over into the computer and that didn't work.

Hello,

Blah, stupid question about this folder, of course you can't.
If you have such possibility. The easiest sollution and almost guarantee it will work.

Copy all files from this ext HDD on your local pc and just format this HDD using windows formatting tool (right click on this HDD in my computer -> Format...)

pick NTFS of course

Cheers,
Mike

Leave rate if I helped you, thanks!!

Could be one of two things,is the Drive new?? If so go here,you'll have to format it for use..
http://www.fixya.com/support/r4990659-find_newly_installed_harddrive_in
Could also be a Driver,check device manager,your looking for a yellow triangle with a question mark,it'll be listed under Disk drives,if so go here and run what I have listed as number 3.
http://www.fixya.com/support/r5003649-find_24_trubleshooters_in_windows7
Hope I've helped
Good luck,don't forget to rate.....

It might be the case that the External HDD is not formatted correctly with proper file format. If you are using Windows XP right click on My Computer icon on desktop -> Properties. This will open Computer Management, there click on Disk Management and search for you device, click on the device and format it correctly and it might solve your problem. For other OS version search for Disk Management and then format the External HDD correctly.
Give your feedback here.

If this solve your issue plz rank me.

It seems like you just coping the icon and not the file. Do not drag and drop use copy and paste!!

You will find that this works!!

these do not come with instructions but here is two for you.

1. hook it up to a USB port
2. Copy and paste!!


Thanks but that is just about the amount of this. please do click the accept button for my efforts. if copy and paste does not work then the drive might be defective, thanks Btw, I’m available to help over the phone in case u need at https://www.6ya.com/expert/edwy_1a56970cf1ea4620

Connect it to a different computer.
If it works, then connecting to _your_ computer is the problem.
If it does not work, then either:
* the USB-to-disk-drive adapter inside the casing has failed, or,
* the disk-drive inside the casing has failed.

Open the case, and remove the disk-drive, and connect it as a "slave" disk-drive in your computer, to see if the disk-drive itself is "good" or "bad".

Google-search for "Data Recovery Services" -- these are commercial, high-cost, companies, that can temporarily repair a "dead" disk-drive, just long enough to try to copy all the files from the disk onto a new disk-drive.

I have the same issue. I have 4 Simpletech Signature 250GB drives. They all worked fine at first. After about six months two of them started connecting at USB 1 speeds. It occurs on 4 different computers!!! The post about it being the computer assumes is wrong. How can it work fine for six months and then suddenly change. Also it occurs on different computers. I have submitted a tech support request with simpletech and will post the results.

Do a "disk cleanup"
Click on [My Computer]
Right-click on the External drive (D?)
Select [Properties]
In the [General] tab, click on [Disk Cleanup]
It will "scan" your drive, but not remove anything... alow it to complete the scan.
Look at the recommended list that appears and accept its findings.
This should remove non-essential files and leave your data intact.

Burn some of your data, especially video content to DVD (make at least two copies) ... then remove the data from your external hard drive.
You may want to purchase another (larger) external drive. You can use two of them or move your data to the new one.

You may find it from the following link :
http://download.cnet.com/windows/

if u have got 2 usb ports try connecting both of the ports simulateously as sometimes power from just 1 USB port is not enough for the HDD.

When you plug the drive in, Windows should recognize it and make it immediately available for your use.

To confirm this, click Start then Computer and it should show up as a device with removable storage. If you click on the Signature drive, you will see the contents of the drive and you can use it just as ou would your "C:" drive.

It sounds like your hard drive is dead. If you have tried it on a different computer and it did the same thing then your drive isn't booting up and is probably bad.