Phil Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 OK, I know this is a really stupid question, but if a drive is good, it will start spinning as soon as it's powered, right? I bought a couple of used drives, and when I plug in the power, nothing happens. When I plug in a drive I know is good, it spins up every time. The drives are outside the computer being powered by an adapter, but I got the same result with a power lead coming directly from the power supply. I just want to be sure I'm not missing something before I contact the seller. Thanks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARandomOWL Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 I'd just plug the data cables in too just to make sure they don't work before you start asking for refunds & such. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 OK I finally got both to spin up by plugging in the data cables first, then power. But when I view them with HDTune, there is no info under "Health" or "Info", it shows the GB but nothing else. I can however do a sector scan. Well, clearly I'm missing something, I was able to copy a folder to the drive, so it seems to work after all. I'm still not sure what's going on. Well apparently the problem was owner stupidity. I guess some drives just need to have the cables all intact before powering, does that sound right? Maybe my other drive (newer) just isn't as fussy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARandomOWL Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 maybe SMART is disable somewhere? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 When I look at "Info" in HDTune, all of the attributes have little squares in the check boxes as opposed to a check mark with my drives that are connected directly to the MB. My external drive is the same, so maybe SMART doesn't work through a USB connection? At any rate, they now seem to work. I'm glad I went the extra mile before accusing someone of selling me dead drives. Thank you for bearing with me. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARandomOWL Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 Ahh, didn't notice they were USB. No, SMART doesn't work through USB, only SATA. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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