Hello, I need some help with my external hard drive. It's a Kanguru SonicStor 250 GB. When I plug it into any computer it causes programs to stop responding. For example if I plug it into my computer and open "My Computer." Windows Explorer stopped responding. If I try to open itunes, that stops responding. Anything that is associated with my external drive, stops responding once its plugged into the computer. This includes anti-virus and spyware programs. I've tried plugging it in and running anti virus programs on 3 computers, my own laptop, a macbook, and a university desktop which of course is extremely up to date with their anti virus and that didn't work either. I'm pretty much freaking out because my entire life is on this thing and unfortunately I don't have a back up drive. Any help or suggestions would be so greatly appreciated..
External Hard Drive Problem
Submitted by madr1000 on April 16, 2008 - 9:22pm.
Re: External Hard Drive Problem
April 27, 2008 - 3:25am
Okay, thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I tried using a different USB cable but to no avail so its not a cable problem. I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers which caused Windows Explorer to stop responding. I don't think it's a driver problem since I've tried using the hard drive on multiple computers and none of them worked. I also checked to see if the drivers were up to date and they are. I'm not exactly comfortable actually taking taking the drive apart to try and fix the connections or installing it inside my laptop. How easy is it to install it into a new enclosure or are there any other options I may have missed?
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Re: External Hard Drive Problem
April 28, 2008 - 7:43am
If you are planning on getting another backup external, here's a good one I just received an ad for. At Buy.com search for "Fantom Titanium-II 500GB USB 2.0 7200rpm 16MB Cache External Hard Drive - TFD500U16" ( i don't want to link to it).
I got one for Xmas this year from Newegg and it was right at $100 which was a good deal anyway. This one at Buy.com is $80 after doing the rebate thing. If you are interested, hurry because those specials are temporary. I don't know about this particular one but mine and many other Fantoms of the same model use Western Digital drives.
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Re: External Hard Drive Problem
April 27, 2008 - 4:13am
You've done well. You've eliminated all but two possibilities I can think of. Let's hope that it's the electronics in the enclosure and not the harddrive (HDD) itself. If it were me, I would take the enclosure apart, undo the two connectors, and remove the HDD. The enclosure is designed to be opened easily for swapping HDD's. Inside, there should be a power connector and a smaller serial plug. Then I would ask a friend if they would mind checking my HDD by installing it as a slave drive in their desktop. Word it that way to your friend. If they know what they are doing they will understand what you need. The HDD itself probably has a SATA connector and not an IDE cable.
Trying the HDD in another computer is the easiest way I know that will tell you if the problem is with the enclosure or the HDD itself without buying another enclosure.
But that's what I would do and I'm pretty comfortable cracking stuff open.
You may want to check your receipt and paperwork to see if you're still covered by the mfg warranty. If you are, you can make a call to see how they can make everything good with you still being able to keep your data. Their tech number is 508-376-4245 (not toll-free). You could also email them by going to www.kanguru.com. If you no longer have your receipt, they can still tell you if it's still under warranty by the serial number on the sticker on the back of your unit.
Keep in mind that if they have you send it off, you will likely get a remanufactured replacement back and will probably be told that your data couldn't be saved whether it really could or not. If it will be serviced locally, that's better. That's why I would want to do it myself.
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Re: External Hard Drive Problem
April 26, 2008 - 8:10am
they have at some radioshacks an enclosure madew by io magic for like 20 bucks i got one and it works great i learned i can also use the usb cord to make a little bit of a tornado cable after i got the software to make it work ... tornado cables are used to transfer files between computers using a usb interface
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Re: External Hard Drive Problem
April 26, 2008 - 5:10am
Hello, I need some help with my external hard drive. It's a Kanguru SonicStor 250 GB. When I plug it into any computer it causes programs to stop responding. For example if I plug it into my computer and open "My Computer." Windows Explorer stopped responding. If I try to open itunes, that stops responding. Anything that is associated with my external drive, stops responding once its plugged into the computer. This includes anti-virus and spyware programs. I've tried plugging it in and running anti virus programs on 3 computers, my own laptop, a macbook, and a university desktop which of course is extremely up to date with their anti virus and that didn't work either. I'm pretty much freaking out because my entire life is on this thing and unfortunately I don't have a back up drive. Any help or suggestions would be so greatly appreciated..
1) Is it a USb Drive? If Yes, Do you have other USB Devices besides it plugged in ?
Order matters if there is multiple USB devices where the 1st USB port gets priority over the 2nd and such so if your Hard Drive is 7th in line it may get kicked off the USB network
2) Is it self Powered or powered by USB?
USB powered devices that draw power from the USB drive can trip the Breaker circut, even more so if there is multiple USB devices also drawing power from their USB port.
If there is a option to plug the drive into a separate power outlet then take it.
3) Does it say it is "Plug N PLay"?
Usually a driver for a fancy or older External Drive needs to be installed before ever hooking it up as "Plug and Play" might try to load it's own Driver and then you have a non working port, PLug and play loads it driver and the device loads its driver and they clash and the drive doesn't work, or the right Driver installs with Plug and play and is loaded twice on start up and crashes itself...would need to uninstall the extra drivers to stop the clashing...maybye even unistall all the drivers and programs associated with the drive and reinstall before hooking up hard drive.
4) Is the Driver and programs up to date?
Even a .1 difference in the version of the driver can cause "malfuction"
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Re: External Hard Drive Problem
April 25, 2008 - 1:34pm
Did you try it on another PC? Or a different cable? In Device manager, try uninstalling all the entries under Universal Serial Bus Controllers and rebooting. Then plug in your enclosure.
No good?
Let's hope it's the connection or electronics in the enclosure. Open the enclosure and reseat the connections, reassemble and try it again.
Still no?
Next check the Hard Drive. Remove the hard drive from the external enclosure and install it inside your PC as a slave drive. If this works, you may want to consider permanently leaving in there as a backup slave and purchasing another external for a 2nd backup. I almost lost my stuff because I was only using one device for storage, now I use two.
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Re: External Hard Drive Problem
April 25, 2008 - 10:46am
I'm assuming that it's worked before on your computer? Do you have enough speed on your computer and is everything else working properly on it?
I would also try replacing the cable, if you have the chance. Sometimes bad USB cables mess up your computer pretty good.
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Re: External Hard Drive Problem
April 22, 2008 - 9:44pm
It probably is a problem with the connection with the computer. I would recommend buying a new enclosure-just the enclosure, not the hard drive-and installing the hard drive from inside your older enclosure. External drives are just internal drives in cases. I don't know the specifics of your external hard drive, but you should be able to unscrew its case, remove the hard drive, and install it in a new enclosure.
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