Read only problem with Seagate Freeagent drive and time machine

[mikey.b@gmx.com]

Hi,

Recently been having a problem with my external hard drive (seagate freeagent pro).

I use it for backing up my computer with Time Machine. Has worked flawlessly for months, but for the last month or so it has been coming back with errors and failures. Time Machine tells me the drive cant be indexed and the backup has failed, and says to very and repair using disk utility. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't...sometimes it says it cannot be repaired. If it works, the error comes back a few days later. I have tried reformatting the whole drive, and it appears to work again for a few days and then it comes back with an error.

The last couple of times, I have had a different error. It tells me that the drive cannot be written to because it is read only. I check the permissions in Get Info, and it says that i have read and write permissions (I am the admin), and then underneath the table of who has what access, it says 'You can only read from this disk'. I cannot change the permissions as it is greyed out.

Reformatting the whole disk solves this (and the permissions are correct when reformatted, and i can change then because it is not greyed out), but the problem comes back a few backups later.

Has anyone else had this problem? As i'm really stumped!

Cheers

Mike

[Collin Bl]

Are you sure that it is the computer that is at fault? Could it be the Ext HD that is intermittent? As a idea if u have to look for new, i have just changed to one of these Voyager Q drive dock (Review)

[bobtomay]

Sounds like the hard drive is on it's way to a better place. Had almost exactly what you're describing occur on one of my Win7 machines. Can't tell you how many hours I spent trying to correct permissisons, troubleshoot, reinstall, etc. before the drive finally just quit.

[mikey.b@gmx.com]

@ Collin Bl: I did think it was probably a problem with the drive not the computer, although it could have been something to do with time machine. I will look at that drive, cheers.

@bobtomay: Looks like i better search for my receipt, see if its in warranty still. I think its less than a year old so not sure why its giving up so quickly! Thanks for your help.

Thought seagate was supposed to be reliable

Cheers guys

Mike

[bobtomay]

They all have some failure. Mine was a 6 week old 1.5 TB WD Green drive.

[mikey.b@gmx.com]

Oh i assumed it was an old drive!
Checked, and it has a 5 year warranty, so will get it returned.

Mike

[TVBrain]

After years of use and no problems, my Seagate is telling me that it's "read only" now. I can't reformat because of all the video I have on it. This is horrible.