Dec 16, 2024 • Filed to: Answer Hard Drive Problems • Proven solutions
Portable storage media have existed for many years. However, with the rapid technology evolution, the need to transport information in large quantities is increasingly common. For this reason, external hard drives with large capacity are created. It is helpful for transporting large amounts of information effectively and efficiently. But many external hard disks use electromagnetic reading and writing technology, which makes them fragile and easy to lose information.
Among all the problems, the external hard drive blinking issue disturbs a lot of people. And the issue becomes the topic of this post. You can clearly know the post sections below.
External drives are supported by a language of lights and sounds that allow the user to know when the device is functioning correctly or to diagnose some kind of problem or anomaly that might prevent you from working correctly.
The signals are interpreted depending on the specific device, but, generally, when an external device is operating correctly, it should not emit sounds that are not generated by the revolutions of the disk and, in turn, the lights of the device should not do anything out of the ordinary like blinking irregularly or turning off for no apparent reason.
If your Seagate external drive's light is blinking but your computer is unable to detect the device, the problem is likely to be solved with one of the following options.
External storage media were designed to create the possibility of transporting or supporting information practically, over the years various portable storage media have emerged and they are increasingly easier to use and, gradually, they have been able to increase the storage capacity, some examples of these are: CDs, DVDs, Pen drives and SD Cards.
Even though portable storage media are better developed, there are situations for which their storage capacity may not be enough and for this, external hard drives are an excellent alternative and thus cover those needs.
In the same way, as in the common drives, there are two kinds of external storage units; the hard drive disks and the solid-state drives.
Magnetic hard drives use an aluminum disk on which the information is recorded using magnetic fields generated by a (slider) head, this allows them to reach very high storage capacities, but they are very fragile against shocks and sudden movements since the writing process and reading information requires a lot of precision and stability. It is necessary to have them in a flat place, where there is little probability that they can be displaced and, in a space free of other objects that may fall on it.
Solid-state units, on the other hand, are quieter since the information is stored in the flash memory of a transistor board and the fact that they have no moving parts inside makes their composition less fragile than conventional hard drives, however, due to the reason that the solid-state units are made with a more perfected technology, their cost is higher, if we make a conversion, their price is approximately 75% more expensive than magnetic hard disks with the same capacity.
If the previous steps did not fix the problem, here I will give you some tips that can help you to solve them.
Step 1 Click on "Start", then type: regedt32 and click "OK".
Step 2 Back up your registry by going to "File" and then click on "Export".
Step 3 On the left side, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
Step 4 If you see any upper filter or lower filters at the right side, delete them.
Step 5 Then try accessing your external hard drive again.
The function of the light emanating from the hard disk is to let the user know when the hard disk is on, therefore, when this light is not working properly, it can be a sign of device malfunction; next, I will give you some recommendations to solve this problem.
Check the Power Supply: The hard disk may not be receiving the necessary amount of power. This can also cause the device to generate strange noises. When a hard disk does not receive the indicated amount of energy, it will be impossible for it to work correctly.
Take the External Hard Drive Out of Its Enclosure Case: The enclosure case acts as an intermediary between the hard disk and the USB cable that you use to connect to your PC, if it is damaged, likely, it does not transmit the energy or information properly, preventing your hard disk from working, even if it does not have any damage inside.
Ask for a Replacement: If the warranty of your device is still valid, the best option is to change it for a new one.
If the previous steps could not solve the problem, you would like to buy a new device, however, you may need to recover the information that is stored inside your old device. If you don't have the information backed up, don't lose your cool, since there is a very practical and effective solution that you can find through Wondershare Recoverit, which is a recognized and secure software. You can download it and begin to recover the data from your hard drive.
Next, you will see the steps to recover the information on your damaged device.
Launch Recoverit and investigate "External Devices". Your drive will be shown there. Select and click on "Start".
Recoverit will initiate a scan on the drive. You"ll have great features you can use to streamline the scan and recovery process. For instance, you can simply tick the file types you want to recover instead of selecting all.
The conclusion of the scan will reveal a long list of the files found by the software. Recovering them is just a matter of you selecting all the files or the specific ones and clicking "Recover". The files will all be retrieved and saved at the location of your choice. Just be cautious and don't save the files on the same drive.
Did you see how simple using Recoverit is? You just launch it, make a few clicks and your lost files will be reunited with you again!
To avoid future problems, it is highly recommended to have a backup of the information in your external drive. To backup your files from the external hard drive, you can use AOMEI Backupper, a powerful and comprehensive backup software. It can clone the whole Seagate disk to another disk. So it will bring you great convenience. The following I list five main functions of the software:
External devices are very useful and practical, but you must consider that they are delicate devices, for this reason, it is prudent to have the information backed up if any unforeseen situation occurs. The problems that can arise are usually superficial damages or compatibility errors with the drivers, fortunately, these problems can be solved with great ease; on the other hand, irreversible damage can take place, in which case, it is good to know that there is the possibility of recovering the information stored on your device with great ease thanks to Recoverit.
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