I have a G-Technology G-Raid2 1000 GB drive with the following symptoms:

It was working great until yesterday. Now when I plug it into the USB 2.0 port, the computer never acknowledges the drive at all. The drive just sits there and hums rhythmically. Not sure how else to describe it. A low hum, followed by a lower hum and then the low hum again. Repeatedly. No clicking. No errors. Nothing else.

Of course there is data on there that I'd like to be able to save. I've browsed the faq and help pages on here but haven't been able to figure out where to start. I downloaded the latest version of HDDScan but I don't want to run it until I'm sure I won't erase good info.

Help please! Thanks!

Oh, here's a link to the manual for the drive: http://www.g-technology.com/Support/Pdf ... l-1207.pdf

Also, since I posted this I have tried freezing the drive since I heard that can work sometimes but it did nothing. I also removed the cover so I could hear it better. It consists of two 500 gig drives paired together in a raid. I don't hear either of them spinning up or attempting to seek, just the rhythmic humming. If I disconnect either from the controller it sounds the same, but disconnecting them both quiets it down, of course.

Probably a power problem.

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I just checked the voltage coming from the power supply. It's a good strong 12.6 and 5.3 volts (ratings say it should be 12 and 5).

Freezing this is not going to do you one bit of good. Why not take the two drives from this controller and hook one up to the MB direct via SATA or IDE which ever one it is and see what happens then. This can tell you more if it is a problem in your RAID controller or your drives. You can find out if your two drives are working and then reconstruct your raid and take off data. After check your controller to see if it is having problem.

BTW when you hook it up to your system it will probably not recognize the file structure but it will give you a good idea if your drives are working or not.

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Iorana Haraharaini

Is it safe to do this? I thought of the same thing but didn't want to risk corrupting something by plugging the drives in individually. And if the drives appear to be good and it turns out to be a controller issue, is there a way to grab the data short of buying a new controller?

it's safe for check one by one.

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Ok, I plugged each drive, one at a time, into another computer as the only hard disk installed. They both behaved exactly the same way as described below. And they both exhibited the same alternating humming sound as before. I'm thinking it's likely that they always made that noise and I just never noticed it before since it's not very loud. Ok, here's what they both did:

I could feel them spin up in my hand even though I can't really hear them spinning. But I can feel the vibration now that they are out of the case. And the computer seemed to recognize them since it reported the following on the screen.....

Auto-Detecting IDE Master.. ATAPI CDROM
Auto-Detecting SATA 1 ...IDE Hard Disk
IDE Master: Atapi DVD C DH48C1P KG11
Ultra DMA Mode-2
3rd Master Hard Disk Error
Press F1 to Resume

That's it.....I'm thinking this means it's a controller issue and that if I miraculously found one that I might get my data back by swapping that in. Does that sound correct to you guys?

Ok, I plugged each drive, one at a time, into another computer as the only hard disk installed. They both behaved exactly the same way as described below. And they both exhibited the same alternating humming sound as before. I'm thinking it's likely that they always made that noise and I just never noticed it before since it's not very loud. Ok, here's what they both did:

I could feel them spin up in my hand even though I can't really hear them spinning. But I can feel the vibration now that they are out of the case. And the computer seemed to recognize them since it reported the following on the screen.....

Auto-Detecting IDE Master.. ATAPI CDROM
Auto-Detecting SATA 1 ...IDE Hard Disk
IDE Master: Atapi DVD C DH48C1P KG11
Ultra DMA Mode-2
3rd Master Hard Disk Error
Press F1 to Resume

That's it.....I'm thinking this means it's a controller issue and that if I miraculously found one that I might get my data back by swapping that in. Does that sound correct to you guys?

Yes if the two drives are good and it is the controller you can get off your data on them. You can mount them and use a recovery program like R-Studio to do this one. But you have to know how to work in RAID. That is the only problem you need to have a understanding of a RAID recovery on this one. Sure you can research some on this and try to figure it out for yourself.

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Iorana Haraharaini

Well since I don't have or know how to use R-studio, would it be possible to just mount both of these drives in a computer (I've been told that they are raid 0 by the manufacturer) and read them directly? Assuming I set them up to not be the boot drive....I would still need to know striping parameters and all that though right? Is this going to be to much work? Would I be better of spending $100 and trying to get a new drive with a working controller from the new drive?

Hi jehui,

I apologize for the advice you are getting here - it is shockingly bad.

Your drive is humm, humm - something is wrong - you must not connect this drive to any power until you know the problem. Please.

You need electronic equipment to test electronic circuit board - an expert.

You need electronic equipment to test drive motor for possible fault - an expert.

You need electronic equipment to test possible fault in internal drive electronics from outside of drive - an expert.

You need possible parts (very compatible) to further assist in diagnosis of problem.

After all the above - by an expert - and you pretty sure about the fault - then you can consider certain careful steps of sending power to the drive.

This is just the beginning of the problem - NOW you got a RAID of some type - probably you need an expert.

I will be blunt - sending ice to the drive is just plain stupidity, sorry to be so plain.

I hate to write this, but you need an expert - someone you can trust - someone local to you.

Upload an audio file for each drive. You have any icecream in that freezer?

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Are you positive the drives are spinning? If you're hearing a humming sound and no spinning, you have bigger problems here.



I agree. This will help us give you a better idea of what you're dealing with.