Topic: Is my external HDD dying?

[acidjack]

I connect an external HDD to my laptop, which holds all of my music files.  It's generally a pretty fast drive (connected by Firewire 800 to my Macbook Pro) and I haven't had issues with it before.

Now, though, virtually anything I do in Audacity causes the program to hang for a LONG time before it performs whatever function I want.  Even something as simple as zooming in or deleting a label can result in multiple minute-long waits. 

I don't think it's the laptop's RAM, as the laptop seems to perform fine on non-Audacity projects.  The slowdowns seem to occur only when there is a need to access this particular drive. 

I did also just upgrade Audacity to the latest version, but this had been occurring before.

Could this possibly be a drive that is slowly burning out?  It is only three months old, but I know with external HDDs, if they're crapped, they're crapped.  This one is a 2TB Iomega, by the way.

[page]

Is it full, have you rebooted and tried it immediately?

I've noticed drive slowdowns in 10.5.8 that were resolved by getting the drive above about 20% free and/or rebooting.

Also, there are some things that Audacity just hangs with. Have you tried opening a file in something else to cross check behavior as well (or even just file copying?) Run the check disc option in Disk Utility?

[Gordon]

I assume there is some sort of SMART utility for macs?  like hdtune pro for windows.  I'm paranoid as shit about my drives and monitor their health all the time.  fwi omega is just the brand of external.  the drive itself may be anything.  my omega has a Hitachi in it (which I would never buy on it's own).

[ashevillain]

Have you tried using the 'Repair Disk' function in Disk Utility? If the directory structure has been corrupted I can see how it could cause the slow speeds you are mentioning.

[anr]

Could this be a power supply issue?   Lots of laptops don't have the ooomph in their PSUs.  Does it work ok in a desktop?

[morst]

I connect an external HDD to my laptop, which holds all of my music files.

BACK THAT DRIVE UP!
 
Keeping everything on one drive is just asking for trouble. The first is just storage, the *second* is where backup starts. Then there's offsite backup.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Yep. Having all of your data in 1 place is the same as having it nowhere.

If this is data you'd prefer not to lose I would have:

1. Original Data on drive 1
2. Backup Data on drive 2 (local backup)
3. Backup Data on drive 3 (off site backup in case your house burns down or is hit by a comet)

If this is data that is disposable or replaceable from elsewhere then don't worry about it .

Have you tried to access the drive with ANOTHER program besides Audacity. If it reads the drive fine then your drive MIGHT be ok. If not, then you probably have a drive issue.

Hard drives usually die pretty quickly or last a long time. If you make it past about 6 months your drive will USUALLY last for years (FWIW I replace all of my drives after 3 years REGARDLESS of how they are performing).  It's very rare (IMO) for a drive to last 1.5 years (unless some other factors come into play).

Most HD's makers will have a drive utility program to see how the drive is performing. I would look into getting that. Also MAC has the Hard Drive Utility (I think that is what it's called). It may be able to tell you the health of your drive.

Finally, I have found that pre-made external drives are much less reliable than internal HD's. Obviously you can't put a desktop HD into your laptop. My advise (for the future) is to buy a OEM internal desktop HD and an AFTERMARKET enclosure. It makes it much easier to recover data if required. Also those drives usually have a 3 year warranty vs. a 1 year warranty on external drives. On top of all that an internal drive + enclosure is usually cheaper. If you can operate legos and a screwdriver, you can put the two together.

[beatkilla]

Myself doing lots of multicam Hidef video shoots and editing i have at least 4 external hard drives in use at all times and from my experience over the last 6 years i must say that i had NO luck using external Firewire drives,only USB works for me.Also i have one finicky external that performs as you described BUT if i know i will now need to gain access to that drive i simply unplug its USB connector from the computer and plug it back in.This works every time.

[H₂O]

Firewire does work but it is much more pain in the ass than USB.

I have found under windows it is nearly impossible to hot swap Firewire and now I only unplug firewire drives after I shut down the PC - OSX is a better at this.

Regardless of the interface you must always "Release" the attached drive using the sys tray under Windows or "Eject" the media in OSX before you unplug.

Firewire interfaces seem to be much more sensitive to damage if you unplug when not correctly released or ejected (I fried several firewire controllers on external enclosures this way when the USB controllers on the same enclosures never exihibited this issue).  A fried FW interface can run slow, not connect, etc in my experience - so maybe it's just an issue with the controller but not the drive.

Also could be fragmentation (depends on how the drive is formatted), indexing, etc.

I have just started playing with eSATA and power up after boot works well (as does FW and USB) but I haven't played with powered on release yet.

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Finally, I have found that pre-made external drives are much less reliable than internal HD's. Obviously you can't put a desktop HD into your laptop. My advise (for the future) is to buy a OEM internal desktop HD and an AFTERMARKET enclosure. It makes it much easier to recover data if required. Also those drives usually have a 3 year warranty vs. a 1 year warranty on external drives. On top of all that an internal drive + enclosure is usually cheaper. If you can operate legos and a screwdriver, you can put the two together.

Q4T.

[gkatz]

I have had a western digital passport 250 http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0012GK3MQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310152690&sr=8-1 for about 3 years now, I originally bought it used, apparently, off amazon for only 60 dollars. lately it has 'mounting' issues. it works fine for a half hour maybe, then it 'drops off' while im playing music (this is a pretty much all FLAC drive.) I can plug it back in and it works again. I figure it will fail soon, but I am contemplating ripping it apart and buying an aftermarket enclosure to put it in. I have no warranty since I bought it used. anybody ever ripped this one open? any pointers?

[Fried Chicken Boy]

I've taken apart a larger WD external enclosure and it just had a standard 3.5" SATA drive in it; had no problem putting it into another enclosure.  My guess is that the smaller WD enclosure you have is probably housing a 2.5" laptop drive of which there are plenty of aftermarket enclosures for, too.  As for pointers, take it apart first (and carefully; I used a flat-head screwdriver and an awl) to see if the connection is SATA or IDE (probably SATA as it's a recent make) and use an anti-static strap around your wrist to minimize the risk of a static charge from your body zapping the info on the drive.

[jbell]

My Iomega has a samsung drive in it! 

I assume there is some sort of SMART utility for macs?  like hdtune pro for windows.  I'm paranoid as shit about my drives and monitor their health all the time.  fwi omega is just the brand of external.  the drive itself may be anything.  my omega has a Hitachi in it (which I would never buy on it's own).

[Gordon]

My Iomega has a samsung drive in it! 

sure wish mine did!  those are my new favorite drives.  I have about 6tb so far