20 Most Recent Fantom Drives 120 GB Hard Drive - Page 2 Questions & Answers

The disk-drive has malfunctioned.

Search online for a professional "data recovery service".
For a significant fee, they can repair your disk-drive,
just long-enough to copy your files to a new disk-drive.

If it still has a valid WARRANTY, exercise the warranty to get it repaired/replaced.

If the warranty has expired, then open the case, remove the disk-drive, buy a new "compatible" disk-drive, connect it, and thus "revive" your external storage device.

your drive needs to be looked at, sounds like it is severly broken, it may be unrepairable. but they may be able to get info off it..good luck

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

Hi there i can help you sole this problem,please check the connections of the hard drive inside the computer,there are two connections (1) is the power connector the other is a ribbon cables IDE/SATA. Try using a different power connector,if the problem still exist try all available power connectors you see in the computer and you can also change to ribbon cable. If none of these solve the problem you need to either try another hard drive to see if it will work or try your hard drive in another computer to see if it will work or you can change the hard drive.But its better to try these solutions first if none works then you change the hard drive because its bad.

try with back panel USB hosts

There are two possibilities: the drive is bad or the enclosure has lost a connection. First try a new data cable (if you didn't do this when you tried it on the other computer).
Next, if you are willing to do this, take apart the enclosure and check for any loose or damaged wires in the enclosure. To check if the drive is good, check the specs on the drive (IDE/SATA), you can use a different enclosure (match the size and internal connection) or a USB/IDE/SATA adapter. With the drive connected to the computer with a different device, see if you can access the drive.

For most external drives, taking apart the enclosure to access the drive may void the warranty. However, a warranty replacement will not include data recovery.

Good luck.

Cindy Wells
(drive enclosures and the USB/IDE/SATA hard drive adapters are available at stores like TigerDirect.com and NewEgg.com)

Try connecting it to a different computer, to see if it gets recognized.

Is it still under warranty? If so, exercise the warranty.

Otherwise, disassemble the case, remove the "internal" hard-drive, and connect that drive as a "slave" drive in a desktop computer, to see if the USB-to-disk-drive interface inside the case is the problem, while the data on the disk-drive could be OK.

use my computer and explore the drive. there should be a file created on the same date the backup was done. look for the file size to be right. right click on it and go to properties it will tell u the size. good luck

Click on the link below and download the latest firmware update so your Toshiba Satellite will find your Fantom External Harddrive when it is plugged into your USB

http://www.micronet.com/support/software.htm

wow...so ..first to check is the bus...if you use it on a usb ...probably it is a lack of driver or the computer just messed the driver ...so ...plug it ..and run the add new hardware feature from the control panel to see if it founds it ...choose already added and check it in the list ..
Also take a look into the device manager (right clck on my computer /properties../hardware ....Here you should be able to see t in the list ...if not .., right click on computer and choose to scan for hardware changes....this will scan for devices and show you the device even if it is not installed..
also ..it may be using a raid driver that it is not installed on your computer cause you didn't used it ..do ..go to bios..default the system by selecting optimal factory defaults ..and after that save changes by pressing F10..
restart and insert the motherboard drivers disk and install the raid driver from the list ..(I sow that some of them are on Ieee 1394 fire-wire...so ..installing a driver for the IEEE 1394 bus can be a option you have to get in mind..Just search for it on the motherboard manufactirer site...but it is built in windows since Xp..and defaulting the system ..probably make it functional..if it is the case..
if nothing works...open it and check the power supplies for each unit in part if it is multiple (hdd) and be sure they are plugged well and functional ...You should hear them work ..

If it's a external drive then restart your computer and go to the Boot Up screen. Once you get to the Boot up screen go to the option that shows USB decives. If they are disabled, then change them to enabled.

you can change it to Samsunf F3 series disks they very silent.

Sure supplied with power from the first and make sure the cable is connected to the data as it did not work properly extract Harddisk out of the box and connect it immediately with

Hi Caroline,

First off, 5 years is a normal time for a drive to fail.

From your description either the drive has failed or the circuitry in the external enclosure.

If the drive is simply a backup drive, toss it and buy a new one. If on the other hand you have data on the drive that you need to recover, try taking it to your local PC shop and have the techs there move the hard drive into a new enclosure. If it works you'll have access to your files.

Either way I highly suggest buying a new backup drive as this one either has failed or is likely to soon.

If the drive transplant doesn't work and you need access to the files on the failed drive, comment back with your location(Country, State, City) and I can refer you to an appropriate pro.

Hope this helps FixYa,

Chris

Clicking coming from the hard drive normally indicates that the drive has failed. Unfortunately, you will need to purchase a new hard drive, unless the warranty on your hard drive is longer than 3 years. Your data can be recovered. I know the best buy geek squad can have the hard drive sent out for data recovery, however the cost for data recovery is quite expensive.

Hello :

It seems that your computer didn't recognize the Hard Drive .
Go to control panel then click [add device ] there will appear some instruction steps , just follow the right ones correctly to solve the problem .

I hope that will help .

rate if useful please !

Sounds like the internal interface card in the hard drive has failed. Luckily if you can hear the hard drive power up then your data is salvagable.

You have a couple of choices:

If you have the item still under warranty then get it replaced and they should provide either a data recovery or replacement of the internal board.

If not then open up the casing and disconnect the drive from the internal power and data cables. Purchase a USB to hard drive cable, which will allow you to transfer the data to another PC, or purchase a replacement hard drive enclosure, which may not look as good as the one you have, but will be just as functional. Enclosures can be purchased from a computer store, Amazon, Ebay etc for very little money.

If you are running windows XP you can go to START, PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, BACKUP

Just follow the prompts from there!