I have persistent problems with small USB hard drives that I use for
backup. The backup utility is the rsnapshot, which is set up to back
up my system incrementally every day starting about 3:00am. The backup
fails occasionally; when this happens the drive's file system is
usually corrupted, which can be repaired using fsck. So far, there has
been no perceptible loss of data.
The drive also produces an occasional beeping sound: pitch about 340
cps (my best guess using a tuner), lasting about 250 msec. The beeps
happen when the drive is in use, particularly when it's busy, and never
when the drive is starting up. The problem has happened on at least 4
different drives:WD My Passport 1 Tb
Seagate Backup Plus 2 Tb
Seagate Ultra Slim 2 TbSeagate Ultra Slim 2 Tb (replacement for
above)It starts about 6 months to a year after the drive goes into use
and persists thereafter. When the problem gets bad, I replace the
drive.
The latest drive is a replacement given to me by Seagate; they said
that the drive had failed and had to be replaced, which they did, since
it was still under warranty. It's not exactly new by refurbished. It
started to beep after being used for about 4 days.
Does anyone have an idea what's going on or how to prevent it?
Many Thanks - Jon