Is my external hard drive dying? It sometimes doesn't mount, and sometimes it's empty...
i have 2tb samsung hd204ui sata hard drive docked usb 3.0 sharkoon speedport duo use backup external hard drive time time. i'm using on 15 inch retina macbook pro , el capitan 10.11.3. here symptoms: sometimes take longer other disks appear on desktop when mount (often minute or so) there "damagedfiles" folder on 2 ".dsstore" files on (probably normally-hidden finder files) even if mount properly, appears if there nothing on (0 items) sometimes applications complain not being able write it however: running first aid in new disk utility says everything's fine most of time, fine if takes bit longer mount so, i'd guess these symptoms of failing hard drive (it's backup if fail don't lose important). before new one, want make sure issue , not else. possibly dock behaving strangely? should try reformatting it? or should not take risks , steer clear of drive , new one? ...