laptop back up to hard drive failed?

katejo

I have a separate hard drive for back up. I have just gone through the process of a W7 back up to update my files, folders and system image. Windows gave every impression that the transfer was taking place and shows the last back up to be this afternoon.
I then tried to view the folders on the separate extension G Drive and there is no sign of a back up at all. in fact all the folders there are very old and seem to be empty. Am I missing something/looking in the wrong place or has my hard drive failed in some way? I got no clue to warn me of any failure while the back up procedure was going on. The power was on in the back up and it was making the usual noises.
I don't want to spend money on a new hard drive if there is a simple explanation. It shows no sign either of the previous backup which I did about a month ago.

grumpycrab

katejo wrote: »

I then tried to view the folders on the separate extension G Drive and there is no sign of a back up at all.

The obvious question is which drive does Windows say it backs up to? Make sure its not E, F, H etc

katejo

grumpycrab wrote: »

The obvious question is which drive does Windows say it backs up to? Make sure its not E, F, H etc

It clearly shows that it is backing up to Expansion Drive G. It isn't offering any back up options now because I have disconnected the expansion drive.
I did try to run the back up a 2nd time but it failed. Claimed to have not found a file.

It now seems that the separate hard drive has malfunctioned. I removed the drive, restarted the laptop and reconnected the hard drive but Windows has rejected the USB. I assume that I will have to buy a new one. Any recommendations?

googler

A USB hard drive is actually a hard drive WITHIN a USB enclosure, so there's a remote chance that the HDD is OK, but that the controller in the USB interface has failed.

Only way to find out is to open up the USB enclosure, take the HDD out, and connect it up to a computer with another caddy/enclosure, or fit it internally to a desktop.

katejo

Sorry but that doesn't mean very much to me! Is it worth it anyway since the HDD doesn't seem to have saved previous back ups?

bsod

katejo wrote: »

I removed the drive, restarted the laptop and reconnected the hard drive but Windows has rejected the USB. I assume that I will have to buy a new one. Any recommendations?

safely removed?

rejected how?

katejo

bsod wrote: »

safely removed?

rejected how?

It gives me a message which says "the USB device attached has malfunctioned and Windows does not recognise it"
I wasn't aware of having done anything wrong when I previously removed it but perhaps I did.