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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 3:07 pm 
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I just had my 2nd Seagate 2TB USB drive crater.....that's two in the last couple of weeks. In the 15+ years prior to this, I had only one drive ever fail (an internal drive).

I'm sure Seagate will replace this drive under warranty; in fact, a replacement for the first drive that failed is currently being shipped to me.

However, I want to purchase a different brand. I'm leaning toward either a Transcend StoreJet 25M3 or a Western Digital My Passport Ultra. I would appreciate any recommendations or comments, including other brands.

Thanks in advance...........

EDIT: I stand partially corrected regarding my 2nd failed Seagate drive. Maybe it hasn't failed, but a really strange situation, as follows:
- I disconnected the drive from my Win 10 computer; before I recently upgraded this computer, the drive was working fine.
- I then plugged the drive into my old computer running Win 7 Ultimate.
- Windows still would not recognize the drive; although it did show up in Disk Management, there was no content.
- I then ran the utility EaseUS Partition Master, and immediately the disk was recognized. In fact, the disk contents were even shown (photos and short videos).

Any idea why Windows won't now recognize this drive? It was working fine on my new computer before I upgraded to Win 10.

In EaseUS, this drive shows as a GPT drive, whereas my other drives (internal and external) show as MBR. Would this make a difference?

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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 6:50 pm 
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Yes GPT is different and really designed for drives larger than 2TB. Converting to MBR may well solve your issue without data loss... Theoretically without data loss. Any time that you convert a drive structure there is a chance that something could go wrong.

That said my Windows 7 desktop has a 4TB internal and an SSD as GPT while another 1TB internal is MBR and I have no conflict.

My 1TB drive running Windows 10 on my laptop is MBR and I don't recall having an issue with a GPT external but can't say for fact.

Sorry, I know this isn't a lot of help but is about the best that I can offer at this moment.

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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 8:33 pm 
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Jay, I no longer have the paper trail to prove it, but I am pretty sure this Seagate drive was MBR before I upgraded to Win 10. Since I have nothing to lose (currently Windows won't recognize the drive contents), I'll try the conversion from GPT to MBR. Drive contents are backed up (twice).

And your recommendation......Transcend, Western Digital, or ???

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 Post Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2016 8:52 pm 
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I'm sorry but I cannot recommend between Western Digital and Transcend. While I have used Western Digital and Seagate without issue I have never used a Transcend drive. I just cannot compare to a drive that I have never used.

To be honest my recommendation would be a Hitachi Desk Star but they got bought out by, I think, Seagate. Still these drives can still be found new through Amazon and E-Bay. Here is one example of a quick search.
https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywo ... 0ypph7pl_p
I don't know that you will find one sold as an external with an enclosure but there are other options such as a drive dock. A dock is what I normally use. The advantage is that you have one unit in to which you can throw any drive. You don't keep paying the extra cost for an enclosure for each external. You just attach the dock and insert the drive you want to use. My internal data drive is still a 1TB Desk Star that is old enough that a 1TB drive was still considered pretty large. I would think that it is at least 7-8 years old without issue.

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 10:05 am 
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Hi BB

On my shelf I have 2 dead Lacie drives, and 3 dead Western Digital Drives. I now have 5 Transcend drives (all the ruggedized) versions, and they are all going strong.

Pete


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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 11:47 am 
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Peter2150 wrote:
Hi BB

On my shelf I have 2 dead Lacie drives, and 3 dead Western Digital Drives. I now have 5 Transcend drives (all the ruggedized) versions, and they are all going strong.

Pete

As you know, I already have 2 Transcend drives thanks to you, and I love them. The WD portable got some good reviews and they are a little cheaper than the Transcend 25M3's, so I was just thinking about trying one. But I think I will just stick with the Transcends. However, I wish I could get a different color, as I'm beginning to get them mixed up, lol. Spray paint????

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 Post Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 8:52 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
Yes GPT is different and really designed for drives larger than 2TB. Converting to MBR may well solve your issue without data loss... Theoretically without data loss. Any time that you convert a drive structure there is a chance that something could go wrong.

Jay, I did the conversion to MBR without data loss, but that did not help the situation. Windows still will not recognize this external drive, although EaseUS Partition Master does....EaseUS even lets me explore the contents, and everything looks to be there.

I might understand my problem better if it only occurred on my new computer, now running Win 10 with a UEFI BIOS and a Samsung 950 SSD. But even my old computer running Win 7 Ultimate won't recognize the drive.

Does anyone have any idea on drive settings/parameters I might change to get Windows to recognize this drive? :? :?

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 Post Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 1:18 am 
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Of course without being hands on it is a little offering repair options for a drive. That said...

Go back to EaseUS Partition Manager now that it is MBR and right click on the drive display. Now select to re-build the MBR.

WARNING! The above recommendation could possibly cause more issues than it fixes but will probably either fix or do nothing. The above advice also assumes that you can only see content via EaseUS, not on any system directly.

Another option would be to take the drive down to unallocated space via EaseUS and re-create the drive/partition. While this is a viable possibility I would try the option above first.

It is also possible that the drive is baked but EaseUS is still able to find stuff. I tend to doubt this possibility.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 11:20 am 
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OK, problem solved!! Somehow during the Win 10 upgrade process, the drive letter got deleted and I did not notice that. So when I finally did, I used Disk Management to assign a drive letter, and now Windows recognizes my drive once again.

Thanks to Jay for giving me good suggestions to try.....he probably just assumed that I was smart enough to assign a drive letter, lol. It's usually the little things that cause me problems.

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 Post Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 6:44 pm 
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LOL! I didn't assume anything. I just don't recall ever seeing an upgrade or clean install removing a drive letter. Good catch! The thought never crossed my mind.

Glad that you got it sorted out. :)

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