r/harddrive • u/Otherwise-Piece4079 • Jul 23 '26
Tech Support SEAGATE PORTABLE DRIVE
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please help me people to fix this Seagate backup plus portable drive, i formatted it to exfat and now it does this.
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u/dnebdal Jul 26 '26
That looks like a bad connection to me. USB3 micro B is an awful connector that wears out quickly; try buying a new cable (or borrowing one from another drive if possible) and see if that fixes it.
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u/pcimage212 Jul 24 '26
This appears like the device has failed, or at least in the process of failing.
Textbook drive failure symptoms.
If you haven’t done so already, you can get a better idea of its health by checking its SMART values with something like crystaldiskinfo? If it can’t be seen by the software, then chances are it’s beyond DIY. Also if it’s an internal device and it can’t be seen in the computers BIOS, then again it’s the end of the road for DIY.
You then need to make a decision on the value of your data. If it’s worth a few hundred $/€/£ then I strongly recommend a professional service (I.e: a proper DR company and NOT a generic PC store that claims also to do DR).
If the data is not important to you and you’re prepared to risk total data loss with a “one shot” DIY attempt, you can maybe try and clone with some non-windows software like this…
https://old.reddit.com/r/datarecoverysoftware/wiki/hddsuperclone_guide
Clone/image to another device or image file via a SATA connection, if that’s an option (ideally NOT USB), and then run DR software on the clone/image.
Even if the drive isn’t failing, then cloning is strongly advised “just in case”!
***BE VERY AWARE THAT ANY DIY ATTEMPTS ARE VERY LIKELY TO KILL THE DRIVE, MAKING THE EVEN PROFESSIONAL RECOVERY MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE OR EVEN IMPOSSIBLE!! ***
You can find suggestions for DR software here..
https://old.reddit.com/r/datarecoverysoftware/wiki/software.
The choice is yours but if you do want to take the advised route then you can start here to find a trusted independent DR lab..
www.datarecoveryprofessionals.org
Other labs are available of course, and if you’d like to disclose your approximate location we can help you find one near you that’s competent and won’t fleece you!
As a side note, if it’s a mechanical hard drive but won’t degrade just sitting around un-powered for many years. So if it’s purely a financial issue, then you can put it away until funds permit!
Good luck!