External Hard Drive Lights Up When Disturbed!

[TishTash]

Here's something that may be something or nothing: I have an external hard drive in a casing that brushed metallic with a perforated grill in front (plus a circular grill on the side probably for the fan). At the top of that perforated grill there is a rather bright blue light indicating power on. I notice that as the disk is working, there is a tiny red light that flickers on and off, probably denoting disk activity.

Now here's where it's a bit weird: If you so much as tap on the case, the red light gets very angry and starts flickering rabidly and more brightly for about five to ten seconds. It's like it's an angry bee that's been disturbed. It's highly reproducible, but only when the red light is already flickering as in the previous paragraph, i.e., when there's disk activity. If the disk is idle (no red light at all), tapping the unit results in nothing. But when the disk is working, and the red light is flickering, a tap sends the thing into some kind of bright red-hued convulsions.

Is this just a warning about tapping or otherwise disturbing the hard drive when it's reading or writing? Or is there actual damage being done? (I don't see how a tap would do it.) The unit it's married to is working swell, so I don't think it's the latter, but I'm wondering why all the LED sturm and drang.

[sinanju]

My laptop has a shock detection feature that parks the heads of the disk if the laptop gets bumped around too much... perhaps something like that is the source of the behavior?

[steve614]

Don't meddle with things you do not understand.
Bow down to your external drive overlords! :D

[oViTynoT]

What kind of enclosure is it? (Make & Model?)

[TishTash]

What kind of enclosure is it? (Make & Model?)

I couldn't tell you, partially since I'm deathly afraid to touch the thing now. :-D But it's the new Weaknees enclosure, brushed metal all around with the aforementioned metallic grill in the front, and a huge mesh port on the side where I think the fan is. (The old enclosure was a dark blue plastic.)

[jlib]

...it's the new Weaknees enclosure, brushed metal all around with the aforementioned metallic grill in the front, and a huge mesh port on the side where I think the fan is. (The old enclosure was a dark blue plastic.)Can you provide a link to that? I do not see any references to that on their main page.

[TishTash]

Can you provide a link to that? I do not see any references to that on their main page.

Sorry, no links or pictures. But ...

My laptop has a shock detection feature that parks the heads of the disk if the laptop gets bumped around too much... perhaps something like that is the source of the behavior?

I think this may actually be a logical explanation. When the unit is bumped, the tiny red light becomes a huge red light, and it flashes not intermittently but in a regular, steady on/off, "Danger Will Robinson!" fashion. So perhaps it's conveying heads being parked.

[jlib]

I think this may actually be a logical explanation. When the unit is bumped, the tiny red light becomes a huge red light, and it flashes not intermittently but in a regular, steady on/off, "Danger Will Robinson!" fashion. So perhaps it's conveying heads being parked.If it were logical then the the recorded stream you were watching on the TiVo would freeze or worse as the heads parked when you tapped the case. Should be easy to test.

[TishTash]

If it were logical then the the recorded stream you were watching on the TiVo would freeze or worse as the heads parked when you tapped the case. Should be easy to test.

Then again, the TiVo might buffer data until the heads re-engaged.

[jlib]

Just keep tapping.

[TishTash]

Just keep tapping.

(yeah yeah, ok, I get it. :-D)