Calling all Computer gurus

[MuleKicker]

Ok, I need some help. Not distilling either..... Well, I need help there too, but that comes later . I have an external hard drive in an enclosure that I have been using to store all my pictures and music, well everything. It lights up, I can here it ratcheting and spinning inside, but it will not connect to my computer. the computer makes the noise like it is connecting to hardware, then disconnects. it will do that over and over and the computer never recognizes it. Is this thing junk? is there anything I can do to recover the info. Im kinda in the doghouse with the old lady cause i lost all her pics and she loves to take pictures. I just figure id ask here, cuz there's alot of smarts on this site... if anyone can help, its you guys. thanks MK

[LWTCS]

Same shit happened with my plug and play (cheap ass ) card reader.

System wouldn't recognize it.

Hope some one can help.

[squidd]

Probably out of my depth here, but can you reinstall the driver ?

squidd

[rad14701]

In my experience it is usually the external controller and not the drive that fails most of the time... That means that the drive might work with a replacement controller or in a PC with SATA capabilities...

[rednose]

If your HD is a laptop drive try another USB port, also try it in another PC.

If it's a desktop drive check the power source also try another PC.

In XP and above there is no need for drivers, they are included in the OS.

Unformated Hds are sometimes a real headache if you don't know how to detect 'em but that's not your case, it's a used HD.

If your extern HD makes irregular metallic noises it's mostly dead.

An external HD usually has a very long life as it's not constantly working like a main HD but in case that it droppes you can have a big shit problem.

Joe

[rednose]

Good one Rad, trying another encloser would have been next step.

In my experience it is usually the external controller and not the drive that fails most of the time... That means that the drive might work with a replacement controller or in a PC with SATA capabilities...

[rednose]

Another thang I forgot:

To see if the PC recognize the HD go to My Computer, right click and select Manage, a popup will appear and select Disk mamagement.

In the screenshot I connected a extern HD, it's G: in this case.

My main HD has partitions for OS and data, that's why I ocupated C: and D: with it.

In case that you can't get it to work there is still a chance to recover the files but a little fuzzy, I've done it before.

You need to get exactly the same drive and replace the disks with the old ones, you have to work with gloves etc.

data disks

Joe

[newerbrewer]

If its an external drive, there is usually just a plain ole hard drive inside the enclosure. If you took it out and hooked it up to your computer via one of the ide cables inside it may work. Never done it but who knows...

If the hard drive is making sounds and it doesn't sound like finger nails on a chock board or bunch of ball bearings grinding, thats a good sign. Post back with your progress. Do not pitch it, your data is likely recoverable, may cost you a bottle of whiskey to someone that knows what they're doing though .

Good luck.

[Teddysad]

There are two lots of electronic boards involved one in the enclosure for communication via USB and one on board the drive itself which handles data transfer to and from the spinning platters of the drive.

If you are hearing the usb device ting sound when its inserted, that indicates the controller in the HDD enclosure is probably OK. This also tends to indicate power is OK. However if it self disconnects this indicates that the problem is likely in that area . Transferring the drive from the enclosure into a Desktop machine may well give access to the contents ( should be a secondary drive unless its been set up with an operating system and may require changes in the CMOS setup/ jumpers etc.)

Mechanical clunking and sound like the heads trying repeatedly to move indicates faulty on-board (the HDD itself) controller.
Unless major drop physical damage has occurred its less likely for the disks/platters or heads to be at fault. They also indicate that power is OK

Your first assessment is how valuable the data on that HDD really is (as opposed to nuisance but not life threatening).

If of reasonable value it may be worth approaching a professional to attempt recovery.

As has been mentioned a controller board from an identical drive could be temporarily installed to enable recovery/transfer of data. Its easier to move a circuit board than the disk platter itself. This is really a job for a pro with good clean antistatic facilities. They are also more likely to have access to a range of drives for parts. It will cost, so that realistic value of data assessment is wise first.
Be aware that having spent on this you may still find this is one of a small number of cases where it is the heads/platters are at fault in which case it gets WAAY more costly but can still be done by the real pros

Being electro-mechanical devices HDD's DO fail from time to time

A golden rule should be: Backup especially essential valuable pics etc to a CD or DVD (and test the recovery of that backup for safety). Do NOT use cheap media for valuable data. Pay a bit more for quality CD's or DVDs

Many of my clients have learned this regretfully after such an event

Hope this helps

Ted

[MuleKicker]

sweet guys. I disassembled it and Im going to try installing it into my desktop. it isnt making bad noises. my last one did that and I know the sound. Thanks again!

[rednose]

There are many other solutions but fist we would need to know the results of my questions.

A very common mistake for laptop HDs in enclosures is a too long USB cable (dropps voltage) and so on.

Joe

[heynonny]

Igot one of these, here,

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid ... TB&cat=HDD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

$15..00, , , course, if your usb is screwed up, you have other problems.

-hey-

[rednose]

My favorite is the rocketfish enclosure, it offers one touch backup, has a good thermal conductivity (common problem on 2.5" drives) and some kind of shock resistance.

A little more expensive though.

[Caveguy]

You can try PhotoRec or TestDisk. They're programs to recover files on all kinds of storage devices, even after formatting!

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

I've used it several times on USB-sticks that weren't readable anymore, and it always worked.
The downside is that the program renames all files it recovers, but it's better than loosing them completely.

[MuleKicker]

I just started tinkering with this thing. The drive does have SATA interface, and my computer has IDE. I found a SATA/IDE interface adapter on ebay for $8. I bought it. now I play the waiting game. I think your right rad, the board on the enclosure is bad. I can remove the drive from the board and plug just the enclosure/ board into my computer and it does the same thing, connect for a few seconds then disconnect. I got my fingers crossed!

[Ayay]

USB to IDE/SATA cable. Comes with a power supply for the HD. Good price! This allows you to run any HD or disk drive as an external drive. I got one to recover files from a dying HD. The drive squeaked and ran slowly and couldn't load the operating system, but hooked up as an external all the files could be copied to another computer via the USB.

It's a handy thing to have for making use of all those old drives that still work.

[MuleKicker]

Nice Ayay..... Good to here. I found it on ebay. Hoping for the best.

[scarecrow]

If your motherboard has a sata connector and your power supply has a sata power connector, just plug the hard drive directly into your motherboard. You will need a sata lead. If you don't have a sata power connector from your power supply, you can get a LP4 to SATA power splitter.

If your motherboard doesn't have a sata connection, the above is useless.

What I do is use Hiren's Boot CD. Download it, burn it to a CD and boot to it. Start the mini XP software and navigate to the external hard drive. If you see it, copy all the stuff to your main hard drive (if you have the space).

If the drive is OK, it should be recognised in the BIOS (as a SATA master or slave drive) and in POST during boot up.

scarecrow

[Samohon]

If the hard drive is making sounds and it doesn't sound like finger nails on a chock board or bunch of ball bearings grinding, thats a good sign. Post back with your progress. Do not pitch it, your data is likely recoverable, may cost you a bottle of whiskey to someone that knows what they're doing though .

I had an external drive go down about 18 months ago, system would'nt read it, wifes computer would'nt read it. I gave it to a friend who
hooked it upto an Ubuntu (Linux) system. It read the whole drive with data and the Linux OS even told him what the problem was with the HD.
(Bad sectors within the Boot sector). He then backed up all the data, re-formatted to NTFS and copied the data back onto it.
It worked like a charm. I then bought a new Ext HD, backed up the data to that as a future precaution....

Hope this helps man...

[MuleKicker]

I think i got it figured out. it will make the "connect" sound on the coumputer, then immediately the "disconnect" sound follows. I never see an icon show up in my computer, device manager doesnt see it. So i dissassembled and removed the drive from the enclosure and plugged in the enclosure and it does the same connect/disconnect. so I think that is my problem. I bought an adapter to plug the SATA drive into my IDE. waitin for it to show. Hopin fer the best.

[MuleKicker]

Ahhhhhh........ crisis averted. Got my SATA interface from ebay today. Drive connected to my new desktop like a champ. all files transfered. And yes, backed up. Must have been a bad enclosure. Wow...... rad is right once in a while...
thanks fer all da help guys!