Irishstu wrote this in another thread:
First of all, the site doesn’t open for me for some reason. Second of all, I’f been having this problem with my Seagate 1TB external HDD for about a week or two now. The thing is about three months old, has been running like a dream, but in the last week or two if I want to download a file to the HDD, move a file from my PC to Seagate or even run a file or delete a file on Seagate I get the “Delayed write failed” message. That said, sometimes it plays files (most of the time), and sometimes it will allow the transfer or deletion of a file, but it’s max is one file. Thereafter I get the message again.
Sometimes, if it doesn’t work and I unplug it’s power cable and plug it in again it will work. sometimes not. And when it does work, only one file and then it gives me the message again.
I’ve searched on the net and tried all their “fixes” but nothing seems to work.
Is the worst case scenario my future here, i.e. the hardware is stuffed? If so, I bought the damn thing at Carrefour and have a three year warranty, but what about my approx. 850GB of info (mostly movies and TV series’) on the HDD???
Is this something someone can fix?
Edit: I now see that to view the article Irishstu linked to you have to be a member and fill in all your details including address etc. Not interested in giving that over for an article that is probably no different to these:
- gibni.com/windows-delayed-wr … led-solved
- gibni.com/windows-delayed-write-failed-2
- gibni.com/windows-delayed-wr … -solutions
None of which helped, btw. Although I only used the software fixes. I didn’t buy any new cables or any of the other stuff as I have no idea WTH they are or even how to begin to tell the techy blokes what they are in Chinese…
I’ve noticed that if I have more than one external storage device plugged into my computer at a time, I get these errors occasionally. I know the computer should be able to handle several storage devices at a time. However, the problems do seem to go away after I unplug the extra storage device(s) that I’m not trying to access. You can give that a try if you haven’t already. I know this is a frustrating problem, so I hope you can resolve it.
Also, try using the external HDD on another computer to see if you get the same problem.
[quote=“scomargo”]I’ve noticed that if I have more than one external storage device plugged into my computer at a time, I get these errors occasionally. I know the computer should be able to handle several storage devices at a time. However, the problems do seem to go away after I unplug the extra drive(s) that I’m not trying to access. You can give that a try if you haven’t already. I know this is a frustrating problem, so I hope you can resolve it.
Also, try using the drive on another computer to see if you get the same problem.[/quote]
Nope, it’s only the one. It’s also making an odd clicking sound now and it doesn’t even register on the PC anymore. I think it’s a hardware problem. Bummer is all the info on the drive. 
It may need a firmware update. I just had a 1 TB internal Seagate go out on me last year. I took it (all the way across Taipei) to the service center, and they flashed the firmware for me. It was still under warranty, so it was free. Luckily all my data was preserved. It may be that simple for you, but you can try contacting the service department to see how easy it would be to give them your HDD.
If you want to call the service people on the phone, Seagate = 希捷 (xi1jie2) and hard drive = 硬碟 (ying4die2). That should be enough to get you started. Good luck
If it’s clicking, it’s on the way out (hardware problem). Back up what you can now and get a warranty replacement.
Sorry.
If it doesn’t do anything, try putting it in the freezer in a plastic bag, overnight, take it out and than immediately connect and see if it works again … FYI, do this as last option, you can freeze it only once …
Putting the hard disk in a freezer isn’t going to make any difference. I really have no idea why people come up with this kind of BS. When you take the ice cold drive out into warm air, what do you think is gonna happen? If you don’t know, look at the outside of your beer glass.
Write fails and seek errors can be caused by bad platters, bad heads, bad internal connections within the drive, bad geometry caused by overheating, or any number of reasons.
Assuming the data is valuable to you and the drive itself costs just pocket money, your smartest move here is to immediately stop using the drive. You cannot do data recovery work on a drive that is not stable. Buy a new identical hard drive, and use a cloning tool to do a low-level transfer from the old to the new drive. When all the salvageable sectors are transferred to the new drive, then you can use a high level data recovery tool to check file integrity.
With the data safely offloaded from your old drive, do a low-level format to wipe it (if possible) and take it back to the shop for a warranty claim.
Some people have had good results doing it, and yes it will get damp, on the outside … mostly the casing … no one knows why it sometimes works, but it’s a last resort as I said … trying will not harm anything as it’s dead already.
The OP did not say the drive is dead. He said it is operational and he is using it.
And condensation will get on the platters, too (hard drives have breather holes for air pressure equalization - they are not hermetically sealed)
[quote=“monkey”]The OP did not say the drive is dead. He said it is operational and he is using it.
And condensation will get on the platters, too (hard drives have breather holes for air pressure equalization - they are not hermetically sealed)[/quote]
Still working hey …
If it’s dead then my apologies …
If the BIOS can’t detect the drive any more, it means the drive isn’t reporting ready status after spinning up. That could be a PCB fault or more likely, a corrupted system area. The system area isn’t accessible by the PC, so it cannot be inspected or repaired.