SOUND ON SOUND

[Marbury]

I have just taken receipt of a brand new WD 500GB Blue hard drive which was a steal at £18 from OnBuy.com. I want it to clone my C drive onto for backup if my SD drive ever fails.

Unfortunately I can not get my PC to see the drive , even the cloning software can't see it. I have one of those quickport combo gadgets for slotting the drive into and connecting via usb which has worked with other drives perfectly well. I will say that it's spinning quite nosily and when I arrived home, the Fedex courier had shoved it in the letterbox half in and out with only a jiffy bag as protection. I had my doubts then but gave it a try.

Is it likely to be goosed ?

[Eddy Deegan]

I have just taken receipt of a brand new WD 500GB Blue hard drive ... it's spinning quite nosily and ... only a jiffy bag as protection.

Is it likely to be goosed ?

Yes, it is very likely. A jiffy bag is completely unsuitable for shipping a hard drive, unless that jiffy bag is enclosing a box completely lined with shock-absorbing foam within which the drive is nestling securely such that it cannot 'rattle around' in there.

I've had hard drives shipped to me in jiffy bags twice in the past and on both occasions I refused delivery and got refunds after informing the seller that it's insane to send them like that.

[wireman]

It might be a better test to plug it directly into a PC but given the worrying fact it was not protected properly in transit even if it works do you want to rely on it for your backup?
The last drives I purchased of that size had no packaging (OEM) but they were encased in balls of bubble wrap and inside a box.

I would reject the drive as faulty, ask for a refund or replacement and if possible say you can make the drive available for collection.

[Marbury]

Thanks. Seems like a sensible option given the fact it will be used for backing up..

[Marbury]

I have been given these instructions on returning the drive by the company who sent it poorly packaged.

We will not accept liability for packages damaged during transit. You are advised to package the product adequately to prevent this happening.

The irony

[blinddrew]

You should include a copy of the dictionary definition of irony in your returns note. :D

[OneWorld]

Thanks. Seems like a sensible option given the fact it will be used for backing up..

There is a possibility that the drive has not been partitioned. Check it in Disk Management (just type Disk Management into the Win10 search slot)

Make sure you are going to apply any changes to the right disk - perform any operation on the wrong disk and any data can be gone for good

There are also freeware tools such as AOMEI Partition Tool or Minitool Partition Wizard that are a bit more intuitive.

That said, if the disk arrived just packed in a Jiffy Bag then that is inadequate packing

[Marbury]

It could well be that it needs partitioning but I don't want to take the risk of it failing later down the line, especially as it seems noisier than it should be when spinning.

[OneWorld]

It could well be that it needs partitioning but I don't want to take the risk of it failing later down the line, especially as it seems noisier than it should be when spinning.

Yep, if it’s noisy then send it back. Sometimes the clicking noise a drive makes is the read/write head re-seeking and can be reset, but there is no guarantee it will be a permanent fix, so yep best send it back.

[Marbury]

Can anyone please suggest the best type of drive to get for just a basic backing up of the main c drive, and possibly supplier that packs well ?

[Philbo King]

For backup I use an external WD 2TB USB drive that cost me $50 new. I use free backup software call Macrium.

[Marbury]

For backup I use an external WD 2TB USB drive that cost me $50 new. I use free backup software call Macrium.

Ok, I thought that you can't back up a main C dive on a usb drive, only an internal via a HDD docking station. I would only need a 500GB drive as this is the capacity of the drive I will be cloning.

[billc2]

I can recommend Scan, I've had drives from them in the past and they were packaged beautifully.

[Wacka]

Have you right clicked on this PC icon and chosen Manage ?
There you will be able to go to disk management and activate any new drives to make them visible.
Worth a go

[Marbury]

I have a new WD 1TB drive I have just received from a professional company that packs well. Still the PC doesn't see the drive, even if I right click on PC and disk manage. Nothing dong.