Hi guys,  just switched on Sonar to work and I can not load any samples!
My recently purchased Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive 2TB's light just keeps flashing and I do not know what to do, I am scared to turn it off or un-plug any ideas?

Well check the documentation for the drive to see what the flashing light means. On my external it means data is being transferred which is what I'm assuming happens while streaming samples from a library. I keep all that stuff on internal drives though so I don't know. Is it causing any problems with your projects?
 
Edit: Sorry... overlooked the part about it not loading any samples. How have you set up the drive in relation to Sonar and/or whatever synths the libraries are associated with? I think there are some tuts on site and in the documentation as to how to set this up. Also a call to tech support could help sort this out rather easily.
 
Additional Edit: The model number, speed and type of connection (USB2 or 3?) would help as well as system specs for the smarter guys to potentially diagnose the issue.
 
Good luck.

How long does it do that? Also what interface does it have and what samples? My drives are sata 2 and loading big libraries takes a bit.

Hi guys thanks for your replies,
 
yes it flashes when data is being loaded, but no data IS being loaded, it has flashed now for hours, I can not load anything, files will not open, it is a USB3 and the model no. SRD00F2- does it cost a lot to recover data, as its new would i have to pay?
Best,
 
Chris.

I'm not really well versed in such things but I do know that many of those drives come with software to do their data transfers and I'm assuming that they are likely not compatible with something like Sonar. If you are using the included software I'd recommend uninstalling it and using it as a basic drive... essentially let Windows see it as an extra drive. Not let the "helpful" drive software handle things.
 
I am however no expert and this advice is purely speculative. I'm sure there are many helpful tuts and folks here on the forum who do streaming stuff from external drives. Good luck.

You are going to have to turn it off at some point. Might as well be now. Shut down the PC, power down the drive. Unplug and reconnect the drive. Boot up the PC and see if you can read and write from the drive. As far as data recovery, that is probably on you depending on where you bought the drive and how they will work with you, if the drive is actually bad. But you have yet to determine the drive is actually bad. You may want to call the people you bought the drive from and see what they say.

See now... these are two separate issues. Dealing with the drive itself and making sure it works properly is imperative before attempting to stream samples from it. Now data recovery is coming into the equation which is part of the software that comes bundled with those things. I think those included softwares are crud. I'd say you are better off just letting it be a generic bulk storage device (Windows should detect it as such) and not bother installing the drivers or included software. Now you can treat it as just another drive on your system. For data recovery purposes use a program like Acronis or even Windows recovery management to create your backups, images and restore points. You CAN schedule these but make sure they are only being done at times when you are NOT using Sonar or other audio applications. Personally I do that stuff manually when I feel it is warranted instead of letting the software take over. That will indeed interfere with performance.
 
This may not be what is causing your problems but if that is what is currently happening I'd say it's likely. Those included apps tend to have a mind of their own and unless you set them up in a specific way they'll just push everything else aside to do their thing. For most users that isn't a problem. For people doing audio or other resource/high data transfer stuff it will screw things up.
 
Again... not an expert but just some things to consider. As I said you may want to call or email support to set this up efficiently.

Also if you concern is losing data that is being transferred the original data should still be in place on the original hard drive. You can try the transfer again later but maybe test it out on a few smaller files instead of the whole whack at once. Transferring a few hundred gigs can take a loooong time even over USB3 as I have recently learned.
 

I didn't load all that Software thankfully! It remains a mystery, I took the risk and unplugged, as no data was being transferred, I have plugged directly into PC as it was linked to a ex' hub, am now copying over important libraries to other ex' H.D. with hope and fingers crossed, I thank you very much for your time and help.
 
Chris.
 
 
 

Oh yeah... a hub can choke the transfer especially if it isn't USB3 all the way. Best bet is to find and use your USB3 ports for your USB3 device. There is backwards compatibility but it brings you back down to USB 2.0 transfer rates (and sometimes less from what some people say). And sometimes hubs are just crap even if they say they are the right connection.
 
For streaming libraries you definitely want to have the drive hooked directly up to the motherboard's USB ports (not the case ports or through a hub or even an extension cable). Also I'm not sure if this affects external drives but a general rule for most audio stuff VIA USB is choose a port and stick with it. That way windows isn't scrambling around trying to find stuff.
 
Basically the try to choose the most direct path for data to flow to the system for anything that requires high speed data transfers.
 
I may be way off as I'm not an expert but it's just general stuff I've seen discussed. Hope you get it all working as intended.
 
Cheers.