While trying to clear stuff off my girlfriends laptop the other day she accidentally kicked over my ex/hard drive. Now it took a big enough fall and lost power. I picked it up and plugged it out and back in again and the power came back on and it started to read the disk but it’s not showing up on my computer anymore.would you say it’s time for it to go in the bin or is there anything that can be done to fix it?
What make is your external hard drive? You might be able to download diagnostic s/w from the manufacturer's site that may help you to identify the problem. Also, have you access to another PC or laptop, if you have try connecting your external hard drive to it and maybe use a different cable.
well done to Benbecul97 . it's a medion hard/drive but really a western digital drive inside. i think it's called WD caviar . not having much luck finding the software for it. i'll keep looking.
If it powered up again, like you mention above, then it could be that the connection between the external hard drive and your pc is the problem. If you can get near another PC or laptop and try connecting your external hard drive using a different cable you might be able to narrow down the problem. Try the various combinations. And you could try using the Device Manager. To open Device Manager, click Start, and then click Control Panel. Double-click System. On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager. And then select the external hard drive and the Scan for hardware changes button. Do you still have the User Manual/Cd that came with the external Drive? There could be a troubleshooting section in the manual / utilities on the cd. Or you could try Western Digital's Service & Support here: http://support.wdc.com/ Hope some of these help.
i tried using another computer and another wire from my other harddrive but had no joy. even though the harddrive is powering on it's just not showing up on any of the computers. i'd say it's gone beyond repair now. thanks for the help.
Howya South - just wondering if you ever saved any of the hard drive you had the problem with? I've just had the same problem last night with a WD 1TB HDD, knocked it off my TV stand and it hit the floor with a fair bang, when I tried to power it up again the lights flash and the hard drive is spinning but not being read by the laptop! sick cause I had a fair chunk of movies and all my photo's for prob the last 5 years - can prob get the movies again but the photo's are priceless... so hoping I can save something! Anyone have a similar problem or simple checks worth doing, or even recommend somewhere worth going that could access the hard disk to save some of the info on it!
the wd 1TB are sata drives , ie you can open the case and take the 3.5" drive out and install it into a desktop via ide cable , or get a new housing for the drive in maplins €20 which has usb and power cables supplied and u just slip the sata drive in and away you go well thats what i did with my WD 2TB drive when i dropped it , everything worked but computer didnt read it and i took it out , installed on my desktop pc and then transfered info
Great thinking, hadn't thought of that, although when I took it out of the case last night the circuit board that's connected to the hard disk looks to be intact but I'll give it a try before I rule it out, cheers mate!