external hard drive

dolittle

haven't used the hard drive in a month or so
turned it on this morning
indicator light comes on and the whirring noise starts
it then goes quiet and light goes off
can see it on my computer screen
there is still a slight whirring noise coming out of it
is it for the bin?

bonzodog2

Can you still access the files? Is there anything irreplaceable on there? Disks do die, but if there's only some downloaded movies on it, run it til it drops. Enclosures also die, but you can mostly put the disk inside into another enclosure/dock.

Get a program like HDTune or others that can report on the health of the drive (S.M.A.R.T data)

dolittle

can access the files
there is a lot of stuff on it nearly 2TB worth

bonzodog2

Consider the value of the data and your backup strategy. One external drive is not a backup.

dolittle

its one of 3 back up hard drives
plenty of music and movies on it

riclad

PUT it in a sata caddy, 2.5 or 3.5 ,with its own power unit.
I,D say 2tb is probably a 3.5inch drive.

or connect to a pc, use the sata power cables ,from the dvd drive temporarily.
First switch off ,pc, switch OFF power to pc at esb socket.
connect up the drive , reboot pc.
CAN you see drive ,in control panel, administration, storage.
drive ,e , x per cent full. 2tb
See does it work,
try free program recuva .

dolittle

riclad wrote: »

PUT it in a sata caddy, 2.5 or 3.5 ,with its own power unit.
I,D say 2tb is probably a 3.5inch drive.

or connect to a pc, use the sata power cables ,from the dvd drive temporarily.
First switch off ,pc, switch OFF power to pc at esb socket.
connect up the drive , reboot pc.
CAN you see drive ,in control panel, administration, storage.
drive ,e , x per cent full. 2tb
See does it work,
try free program recuva .

i will try that out this evening

riclad

You ,ll have to open the case,to connect up the data, power cables,
sata cables fit any sata drive, 3.5 inch or smaller.
maybe post the model no ,here,
eg Seagate 600gh.
make sure theres no loose cables inside case unit.
TRY NOT TO touch hardisk pcb, underneath drive,
put drive on paper, cloth,
non conductive material.

dolittle

took the hard drive out from its casing
have it connected to laptop now
it can be seen in my computer screen
and also on disk management
but it tells me the hard drive is empty

riclad

IT may need sata power to work,
properly,
are you get drive e; no xxxx,
size 2tb,?

go to my computer,drive external, ,3 ,or f,
what does it say drive info propertys.
MAYBE download recuva,
do a full detailed drive scan.
http://download-start.net/softwares/837727

orhttp://pcinspector.de/Default.htm?language=1
try file recovery 4x free.

ARE you just using usb cable,
NO SATA power cable?

dolittle

yes, using usb cable and SATA power cable
downloaded recuva,it wouldn't let me do a full detailed scan
the drive is seen as e drive bot properties say 0 mb
when i double click on e drive it says please insert disc

riclad

try file recover 4 download,its free.
i recovered a sd card ,16gig card.
on,my computer,it said,
when I connected sd card, ntfs format, 16gig,2 gig empty.
WINDOW opens,says,on my pc, or my laptop,
do you wish to format this disc,
recuva saw external sd 16gig, empty,
could not start a scan on drive e.
I formatted the drive,
THEN recuva saw all the folders, files, docs, mp3s on it,avi, ,pdf,s files
even files i has deleted 6 months ago.
i recovered 90 per cent of the data i wanted on it.
ten per cent were low quality,irrecoverable in recuva.

PC CRASHED when i was copying data to sd card,

so it looked as if disc was unformatted, zero data ,to pc.
i formatted it ntfs file format and used recuva detailed scan to get the data back/

i USEd QUICK format mode drive e ; in my computer ,nfts format.windows 7 pc.

dolittle

i`ll give it a go
no harm in trying
thanks

riclad

I COULD see every single file,folder, mp3, using recuva ,its just some were marked bad,low quality,little chance of recovery .

MAYBE USE filerecovery program if you want to be really careful,

or use quick format,NTFS .reboot pc, full detailed scan, recuva ,if you feel lucky.

dolittle

in computer management
it says drive e, no media
lead i am using has a usb on one end and mini usb on the other plugged into a pcb board connected to the hard drive, i cant hear a noise from the hard drive, i will stick it into a pc tomorrow, too late now

riclad

its 2tb, maybe 3.5inch drive,
I Think it needs a sata data cable ,
AND a sata power cable from a pc ,
maybe use 2 cables swapped out from A pc dvd drive.
knock off pc, switch off Power from esb socket in the wall before you connect any cables .
MAYBE a 500 gig drive might work off usb power cable ,
not 2tb unit.