Secret of "dead" external HARD DRIVES! How to QUICKLY fix the problem, its cause and solution 

Thanks to this video I saved my hard drive but ironically burned my bacon watching this while preparing breakfast.

You saved my decade old data backups, few hundreds of dollars and gave me peace of mind brother... I have no words to thank you for reminding this simple but never think fact that these so called external drives are the same internal drives wrapped with fancy enclosures.. Due to lockdown, I was thinking when I could send my external drive to a pro for recovering data for an unprecedented bill.. Being a tech fan, fortunately I have a robust hard drive dock and the stripped drive worked like a charm... Thanks a billion !

Thanks! Problem solved for $35; I was quoted "anything up to $2k to fix." You deserve a medal.

For real. Was just gonna say, I've never heard or seen this information, and its so simple. Thank you

I'm sure you won't see this and I don't usually leave comments, but I do want to say THANK YOU! Fallen upon this video gave me enough information to try to save an old hard drive once again... After accepting that thousands of pictures of my son from the ages of 1-5 were gone forever I actually managed to get them back today. It was indeed that SATA bridge, and they are all backed up now on a working drive, and soon to be going into even more redundancy in a RAID 6 NAS that I'm building.... So anyway, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU !!! (on a side note it is my birthday today, and I could not have asked for a better gift)

I don't comment on RU-vid very often. But this time I had to offer my thanks and express my deep relief. After my 4TB external Seagate refused to mount, I lost all hope. Even though I've lost extremely valuable data before when another external drive was dropped on a concrete floor, I still somehow managed to fall way behind in backing up my Seagate. I knew I'd lost years of work but the thing that bothered me most was that I couldn't remember what else was on the drive. There's no feeling quite like losing hard drive. After a desperate search I found this video and was afraid to believe it could be so simple. Long story short, it was! I cracked open the case, removed the SATA bridge card and plugged the drive into a dock at work. It mounted immediately and I couldn't be happier. Thank you!

THANK YOU ...for taking time to do this vid as many of us have these old drive sitting on a shelf with data

Brilliant! Bought a new SATA bridge connector from Amazon ($10), removed casing around Seagate external, disconnected old SATA, connected new one, worked like a charm! You really saved me a lot of headache. Thanks a million!

You're amazing. That was my failure also. Wouldn't know it. I thought it was the drive gone bad. 👍👍👍

I just lost access to my portable hard drive, you were right! Fixed it! Thanks

Thank you, this worked for me! I retrieved about 10 years of photos and data by purchasing a $30 AU SATA adapter. Very happy I came across your video. So thanks again :)

Best Buy Geek Squad just quoted me 600-10K for data recovery of my failed external hard drive. They literally said there was nothing to be done if the hard drive won't power up. I had a spare, working hard drive. I followed the instructions in this video and I had my data back in minutes. Thank you!

Just had the depeche mode - violator album playing over the top of this, not realising both are on. They make a good combo :D

While the video was a little repetitive, you eventually covered all the points and saved me a lot of money, the article was also very helpful and detailed!

excellent ! thank you... the world needs more honest people out there like you to help save a dollar instead of throw money away

I'm going to try this - THANK YOU THERE IS HOPE YET :D You share such beneficial information, thanks again

Amazing! Have just got what you have shown me to work! I even had a USB-Sata adapter ready, having needed one for connecting to internal HDD from old PCs. Many thanks.

Do you have any experience with WD My Passports for Mac? Would this process work similarly if I were to purchase a specific Doc?

You, sir, have saved my bacon. Thank you for the very informative video. Followed your instructions.

Divine intervention must have brought this video to me right now, today. I am going to try this, and if it works... you are in need of major compensation for making this video and beating the system, and exposing the secret. This data loss is not just a small thing this is a SPIRITUAL WAR against losing our memories as human beings and being in a constant state of AMNESIA. Back when we had photos and photo albums, you drop a photo on the ground and it floats to the ground, unscathed, now you drop a hard drive and in a blink of a second years of memories are gone. We need to reclaim our power and stop giving our precious memories to these devices and do like retro times and have things in analog. You are an amazing person for exposing this secret. I don't know how I must have found your video but by chance, my prayers may be answered.

Thank you for this video. Our WD Black P10 sata bridge has gone bad, will any bridge work? This has a 2.5 inch HDD. Thanks!

Brilliant, thank you so much. What an easy solution and well explained. Cheers from the UK

I held on to my segate external hard drive for years without success, but after watching your video I was able to save my hard drive. Thank you so much🙏🏽

Very useful video. Thanks. A USB-SATA conversion cable ($10) also works to get data off. When I hacked open my Seagate 3.5" 2TB, I blew the dust off the SATA Bridge PCB, pulled it out and put it back and the drive started working again for a short time. This might help someone copy data across if they are in a hurry. I then bought a powered 2.5/3.5" USB3.0 to SATA conversion cable ($10) to replace the broken SATA Bridge PCB for my 3.5". It was cheaper than a dock and I don't access the drives often. I also decided to get naked and bought 3x 2TB 3.5" internal hard drives and some nice colourful plastic boxes to store them in and use the cable to access them when/if needed. The article you link to is also interesting and useful.

This is relevant for drives circa 2012 which are still in use today.. The separate SATA/USB bridge found in that vintage drive has since been been integrated on the drive PCB as a reliability and cost reduction improvement.

This was a good help video in that it didn't piss about with intro sequences (which are completely redundant on this post TV media platform) and didn't bury the speech with unnecessary background music. I happen to still have an external harddrive case with a SATA card so I can check if this is the problem.

Please add a link in description for the external drive dock / bay that you recommend

How do I see the published info displayed on that iMac ?Is there a linc?

What an amazing article! I failed at about 10 of the steps and now have my life on a 6 T Seagate that won't respond. I will rewatch until I grasp the steps to take

What if I replace the old casing with the new one? It's just same or I should replace 'em with the dock?

Hey, great to see your video. However, I have one of those hard drive docks. When I had two in there (it has a cloning function but was not touched) there was a short shortcut sound and now neither one (128 gb and normal 2.5 inch 1 tb) are showing up in finder, system information or disk utility. I have a sata cable and use the bare disk. It lights up, spins but is just not recognized. Any idea?

what do i need to do or to buy to save my powerless 3.5 external hard drive

Awesome! I was able to resurrect my 'dead' external drive. Thanks!

i took mine apart and connected to sata to usb module. will this work to get into the drive? I tried it but no luck. should i connect it directly to my pc

I bought my Orico sata dock years ago and it's super handy. I have several ssd and hdds that I've collected for various projects over the years and being able to access the data within seconds by just plugging it in and powering the dock on is really good.

You're amazing thanks for sharing your video. So glad I found your video, my external hard drive was fine and the fault was the sata bridge. In the end I bought a caddy and everything was working as normal. Cheers👍

thank you so much, this isn't the first video of yours i've seen, but i recognize that truth always points in the same direction. :)

I got the Anker 3.5 in sata card and replaced it on my seagate external. My computer is saying it needs to format the disk in order for me to use it. Is that going to delete everything on my seagate if I do that?

if i have a 2.0 usb External HD and my device requires a 3.0 will changing the SATA fix that? or is that something in the drive itself?

My hard drive wasn't being recognized by any computer. A local data recovery guy asked me for $250 to recover the data. I watched your video, bought a dock for $50, popped the naked hard drive in and Instantly accessed my data. Thank You!

Hey bro I gotta dead drive and bought the Sabrent Dual Bay Docking station but my dead drive shows up but its not highlighted... the light is turning on, but the cloning light is not turning on... its not cloning for some reason... any suggestions??

So could I just clone my external hard drive that isn’t mounting to a new external with a hard drive dock?? Thanks for the info very helpful 👍🏽🙏🏽

turns out I have a toshiba with a built in sata bridge. Do you have any advice on swapping the controller board before I potentially break this thing? TIA

My seagate expansion mbr is damage can to help me? how can I fix it? I really wish to recover my files

I know this is an older vid, but thank you. I've been dealing with a WD external that went down on me a week ago. Most I've been able to ascertain is something about a damaged partition table. I'll give the adapter a shot!!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, saved my data!! You are brilliant!!

I absolutely love this video. Thanks for this informative video. Hell I was late to the party. But in 2022 this video is still relevant . Much appreciated.

"Responsible for 95% of hard drive deaths". Spot on. I thought I had lost a slew of precious irreplaceable data. I cannot thank you enough. God bless you.

have mains powered 4tb seagate hdd, whe first connecting the light is steady after 15-20 seconds it starts flashing then device manager says its not connected to the pc, not showing in windows or seatools any thoghts please

Man, I bought the converter, now the comp will see the drive is there, but it's inaccessible. CMD prompt says it's RAW. I don't want to format it... any advise? Thanks! Btw, thanks for making these vids, you give more technical insight into issues!

I just wanted to say thank you for this video. I stopped my husband from spending money we didn't have on something we didn't need. 👍👍👍

Do you know how to disassemble a verbatim model 47673 hard disk? Could'nt find on the internet....

How do I convert my data on my external hard drive (all the back up data was when I had a Windows software) now I have an Apple iMac? Thank you!

i have a Seagate Expansion SCSI portable hard drive, but the light keeps flashing and my PC doesnt seem to recognise it. is that a SATA Bridge Card issue?

Hey - thanks for this. What about Sata compenents for the old type of USB? The one that is sort of square ended? I'm aftaid I don't know the correct name for this.

I am going to try this AFTER I move, and maybe this backup drive falling is a sign to stop obsessing over my objects and files before I move houses, and to focus on sorting through my memories and files after I move and enjoy the last moments in my childhood home.

But will it save my Bacon?

Thank you! I got a WD (4TB) HDD, 2017 model, it suddenly stopped showing the files on my macbook pro, I mean it shows the partition with a weird symbol on it like minus curved symbol! I don't know why? I recently discovered that the hdd usb is attached straight to board, not a usb3-sata board! And I just found out about CMR and SMR drivers! So I don't know it might be a SMR drive!! Can you help me please?

I got macbook pro ,so I can jst buy a hardrivedock to transfer my info from my macbook to harddrive dock ..? So get naked harddrive? To install on hardrivedock..but which drive 2.5or 3.5?

So I have a dead Seagate External and I bought a new drive case and put my old damaged drive in there and still the clicking...Will a SATA Bridge help or what else do you recommend???

well.. the thing is, i have one sata bridge, and four naked hard drisk... 3 out of them work fine, but the fckin fourth one... it used to show up as (local disk f) for few months without being able to show any thing inside it... and i bought abother sata bridge for it... and an electrical usb connector... but still nothing... now its doesnt even show up at all in my computer... and other ideas? sir...

Well, your tip JUST SAVED MY BACON. My external seagate drive stopped working, so I opened it took the drive out and installed it in an external case, it works just fine, I’m backing it up as I write this note of great gratitude and thanks.

The only video data rescue companies don’t want you to watch 😅 Thanks for another gem on YT dude.

Where can I take my iomega hd103si 1T to recover my files? After many years this finally stopped working. The LED turns on but no sound of the HD working nor anything showing up on my Mac!

Great video, thanks! Just revived a failing 2007 HDD with all my picture backups! Totally perfect

may i ask what camera did you use for this tutorial ?

I have a WD My Passport Ultra that has failed. You said in the article to buy a similar model and swap the HD. Can you provide some info on how to do this? @Theoria Apophasis

Having probs with my WD external passport. The light is on and i can open it but it only shows a couple of images, all the folders appear as an outline so cannot access any. What advice would you give please as i desperately do not want to lose the stored data :)

Have you been able to reflash dead chips or is it something with the capacitors and other components?

is it one size fits all? my seagate just failed after 11 short mths....dont' want to spend 199.00 for files....

i have a question: so my computer died quite awhile ago and i took out the hard drive, buy a harddrive station and the harddrive was fine, i could move the data from the drive to my computer...since then i havn'et used the harddrive and the station. now, i wanna look into my hard drive again so i put it into the station and turn it on, but it doesn't response at all. the station doesn't seem to be responsing as well because the power light is not even on, i can't tell whether it is my hard drive or the station but since i havn't used either of them for a while, i dont see how both of them or one of them could be suddenly dead without even touching them...any ideas???? thanks.

Thank you :D I had no idea!!

You keep saying how its this damn sata card well how do you fix the damn thing 😤😤

Hi. Thanks. What brand is your hard drive dock? My Western Digital My Book Essential USB 3.0 which is used as Time Machine, keeps disconnecting on macOS 10.12.6 (on late 2015 5K iMac with M395 GPU). Also it's hard to mount it but on Windows, there's not problem getting it to mount. I wonder if it's a macOS problem. Any suggestions for the fix? Thank you. God bless, Proverbs 31

Good information, but not very explanatory. I did save one of my external hard drives by taking the factory bridge card out and using a powered one. But what about regular 2 and 1/2 inch drives? I don't see any real information that helps on that subject here.

Thanks so much - awesome work! I have to pick up one of those handy drive toasters!

It figures you would be highly learned in this topic as well. Really digging your content.

I have a Seagate external harddrive, when I plugged it in it makes a faint beeping sound, does not spin then the light blinks until I unplug it. Any thoughts or suggestions?

hmm, I have buffalo external hdd that fell off a shelf and wont register anymore. I set mine out of its external closure hooked to sata and windows stays at loading screen when attempting to connect to my rig. then hooked it up to a powered sata usb reader windows disk management reads 3.86 GB all unallocated. Wierd thing is its a 3 TB drive supposedly. Wow, they ship these things with a dormant un paritioned 860 Gigs to mystery storage. does it reading as unallocated now mean i have to salvage using software or is this a stuck internals situation?

Hello,I have an 8TB from 2019 and the arm is stuck( short buzzing sound). I took it to Gadget Pros and he said there was no way to get into the drive to manually move arm, no screws, Are theses things sealed so that they can't be opened, beyond the shucking? I pealed back the label and only found one small disc like piece with a small rivet in center. Thank you ETA: I assume if the arm is indeed stuck,plugging naked HD into dry dock will do no good?

Can you show an actual video of removing a hard drive from it's casing and hooking everything up? I have the black plastic casing off of my hard drive, but there is still the metal casing around it. Do I need to remove that also? Because I tried to use the cords as it is and I'm still getting the errors. I can hear the hard drive spinning, but no clicks.

I have a Gtech RAID drive box (with two hard disks) that has gone to the dogs... do you think this is worth a shot to recover data?

@Theoria Apophasis How and where to get a satta drive bridge??

seem the link to the article you are showing is not working, How can i review article that you are reading from apple site??

You just saved my data with pictures and iTunes folder. My Portable Samsung just stopped working, it happened a few weeks ago where it wouldn't mount, but after a few plus / unplug it worked again and I forgot about it, till yesterday or it didn't wanted to mount. Disk seemed to be ok, but little light didn't blink, so after listening to your video, it all made sense, now it's ok, but I'll make a second copy for sure. THANKS!

The power light on my Seagate Backup Plus (external) stopped coming on, but I checked the DC power suppy (transformer) with a multimeter and the voltage is fine...could that be a sign of a failed sata bridge card? Bacon in need of saving

Does this work for 2.5 inch wd my passport 2tb external harddrive?

I wonder if this works for a Seagate Backup Drive that is like standing upright, that fell off my desk, manufacture date: 2012. It looks like a black box standing upright on my desk. It is not a portable hard drive. I would want to try this method ALSO with my other two portable drives as well that fell off my desk in 2015, and in 2021.

Very glad I found this video, thanks for the info and recommendations.

I have a simpletech external 160gb hd and it's not clicking, but whirring and stopping. It lights up, but it's not recognized. Any ideas?

This is legit. Plugged my external drive inside my computer, bam it's working.

After watching ten of these videos, I started first by replacing the external transformer plug-in for seven bucks and it worked. The transformers do a lot of step-down current work and are prone to failure.

Do you see this being a fix for hdd failure due to loss of power?

well i have no idea what im doing but my hard drive lights are on but its lagging my computer and not opening up. its a HP 1TB simple save.... kinda old but is there anyway i can save my photos on there and put it onto new external hard drive?

Hi, I have a 2TB hard drive thats gone faulty its for a cctv system, I bought a sata card from the web and run some recovery software, originally picked the HDD up and started the scan, 3days in only on 97% error message then came up on screen showing disconnection and now it seems dead, unfortunately no files were recovered 😢. However watching this could it be the sata card that's gone? The drive still spins doesn't sound strange or anything. Also the laptop recognises the drive with the card plugged in with no external 12v power I can not click/open as the icon is greyed out, but when I plug the power supply in it vanishes from the screen and this is also the case on the disk part command page any advice would be appreciated 🙏

I changed the sata bridge and it still won't work. Does my HD fall under the remaining 5% cases and what might have happened actually?

Interesting. I had a WD external drive I was using for my Time Machine backups stop working after I moved. I cracked the thing open and took the 2 hard drives out and bought a dock to run them in. I didn't realize why the original casing failed. I only had the things for a few months and I didn't think the hard drives inside failed, that it was something else. It was a 4TB drive that had 2TB drives inside.

I did this a few years ago to a 2 T external hard drive, where the external enclosure stopped, but I took the hard drive out of it, and it was like any other hard drive and all I had to do was plug it in to my desktop as a second hard drive, and it still works today; and I didn't lose any of the data that was on it.

My Seagate 2TB's light does not come on, is not recognized but I can hear it turning. Will this work for me?

I had two external drives that died years ago but I always kept them in case one day I wanted to figure out how to "fix" them. I was looking into getting a new large external harddrive about a month ago and I came across some stuff very similar to this about how the external hard drive is just a regular hard drive with a case and a lot of times the case breaks and the hard drive is fine (I felt pretty silly not figuring this out on my own). I bought a external enclosure on Amazon for ~$27 and broke open the "dead" external cases to get the drive inside. Both drives still worked so I ran a full format on them (already had the content backup when they originally "died" so I didn't need it again) and installed them inside my desktop to add new drives. I'm sure tons of people just toss out the external drives when they "die" and they are actually tossing good drives.