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Thread: Problem Accessing External Hard Drive

  1. #1
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    Problem Accessing External Hard Drive

    Hey everyone,

    I have a Western Digital 320GB hard disk drive which has from today ceased to work. I believe the problem is that the hard disc refuses to spin.
    Windows recognises a mass storage device is there, however, it doesnt show up in "safely remove hardware" and no ext. hdd icon appears on "my computer"

    Is there anyway i can reclaim some of the data back from this HDD? Even better, put it back to its working state once again?

    Thanks in advance,

    Jeff

  2. #2
    Ultimate Member Ol'Tunzafun's Avatar
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    You will likely be able to get the data off by slaving it into your computer. The same thing just happened to me with a 320GB Seagate. The issue with the exteral enclosure is not yet resolved but my data is OK. In fact, the drive runs fine on a secondary controller in my server.

  3. #3
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    Thanks for the quick response. What do you mean by slaving it? And if so, how would you slave the drive?

  4. #4
    Administrator Steve R Jones's Avatar
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    He means taking it out of it's case and hooking it up as an internal drive.
    "Vegetarians live up to nine years longer than the rest of us...Nine horrible, worthless, baconless years."

  5. #5
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    If the drive fails to spin, then the drive and the data is toast!

    Recover your data from your backup. You DO use backup don't you?

    PM me and then send the drive to me. I can try using my recovery tools to get data off the drive.

  6. #6
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    thank you so much for all your replies, and assistance, though the problem has seemed to have corrected itself! No joke, :\ I switched it on this morning and apparently it is acting as though nothing had happened!

    I cannot explain why this is the case, could anyone else shed light on this?

    @Sterling_Aug: hehe, my external hard drive was MEANT to be my backup storage, but i am now making back ups as we speak to stop this happening again.

    Thanks again everyone.

    Jeff

  7. #7
    Mod w/ an attitude Sterling_Aug's Avatar
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    Did you push any loose cables back in place today?

  8. #8
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    if your external is the only place you have the data, then it is NOT a backup! the external should be a copy of the data on your system.

  9. #9
    Ultimate Member porsch1909's Avatar
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    Too much anime p0rn Jeff

    Good to see you posting here and great that you got it back in working condition

  10. #10
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    @Sterling_Aug: Well, last night, i did open it up. By that I meant, i removed the logic circuit board, took a look, realised i couldnt do much for it, then screwed the logic board back again, and put it back in its casing, left it until the next morning.

    I tried it out again in the morning with not much hope, then realised it began to spin again and the computer could read it!

    I might have just tightened some loose connections but i am still not 100% certain.

    @Midknyte: i know, lol i never expected my hard disk drive to fail, however, i have now managed to back up everything onto DVD so it should be okay

    @porsch: lmao, for the last time it is not pron!!

    Jeff

  11. #11
    Senior Member dmoltrup's Avatar
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    Most of those drives have parallel power connections. The power connector will look like a PS/2 connector on steroids. Two pins are 5V, the other two are 12V. Power adapters sometimes switch off after receiving a surge of power. They aren't damaged, but require unplugging it, then plugging it back in. Perhaps the 12V side (the power for spinning the drive) was shutdown, and the 5V (data circuitry) was still operational?

    I don't have any data suggesting this could actually happen, but it makes sense.
    blah.

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