External hard drive

princetobe12005

The Prince of Idols
Dec 26, 2007
840
110
Ok so my comp is not properly reading my ehd, is there a way to fix it? I cant loose 400 gigs of JrIdols. It reads as drive g, but nothing appears did i just loose all my JrIdols
 

Casshern2

Senior Member...I think
Mar 22, 2008
6,859
14,219
Did you try plugging it into different USB ports? If Windows recognizes it as a drive (you say drive G) right-click on it and select Properties. Does that show it has data? Or that it is empty?

Try to post some screenshots of what you are seeing.
 

CodeGeek

Akiba Citizen
Nov 2, 2010
5,181
1,863
Is that HDD of yours an internal drive or an external drive? If it's an external drive is it an USB or eSATA drive?
There are a few tools for recovering data out there. But I haven't used them for ages as I started to make backups of my data years ago because of some bad experience like that.
 

princetobe12005

The Prince of Idols
Dec 26, 2007
840
110
Its an external, WD Passport, it reads as drive G, but doesnt respond and yes i did plug it in other ports and other computer with same result
 

Casshern2

Senior Member...I think
Mar 22, 2008
6,859
14,219
You can attempt a fix disk (Google Windows fix disk command) . Or...what I did some time ago in a case like this was carefully pry the Passport open and remove the actual HDD. Used a cheap caddy to get to my files. But that is at your own risk if you get desperate.
 

isityours

People don't dance no mo'
Sep 27, 2008
2,886
4,135
is the light flashing when you plug it in? is there the whirring sound of the disk spinning up?
the enclosure could be bad. or the disk might have slipped inside the case. undo any screws you can see and pull apart/slide the case apart. the internals are just a little converter, board, e-sata interface etc. the disk, which is exactly the same as an internal HD you buy at the computer shop, just sits inside. if it feels loose, try pushing it back into the connector and plug it in again. if you still get nothing, then you may need to try plugging the HD directly into an internal connector in a desktop.
i would recommend spinrite if you find you need to recover.

an old case of mine..........................slide off the outside.........................the connector is at the back
IMG_4029.jpg IMG_4030.jpg IMG_4031.jpg
 
Last edited:

Ceewan

Famished
Jul 23, 2008
9,152
17,034
Ok so my comp is not properly reading my ehd, is there a way to fix it? I cant loose 400 gigs of JrIdols. It reads as drive g, but nothing appears did i just loose all my JrIdols


I don't usually hangout at the tech section anymore because, to be honest, I am a fairly poor techy. However I have been around the block and I know a few things. External hard drives are just a risky affair in general. I have looked into them and you are better off just getting a new computer with additional drive space. They are well-known for their propensity to overheat, even the very expensive ones sold to businessman and people who can afford a few thousand dollars on the best lockdown backup external drives in existence. The more you spend, the better off you are, of course.

Chances are very good that that drive burnt up and your data is lost for good. I am very sorry but that is my first thought on the subject. Western Digital has made some pretty decent external hard drives but you have to make very sure you keep them cool. If an external hard drive is a must, then you can get a new one for under $100 that has a very nice amount of storage space (in the terabyte range). Again though, take a careful look at user reviews at amazon on external hard drives and you will likely see what I saw, a lot of users complaining about their drives dying within a year or two at the most.
 
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isityours

People don't dance no mo'
Sep 27, 2008
2,886
4,135
the good ones have a small exhaust fan at the back, but tend to be too expensive to justify. the only thing external HDs are good for is portable/off site backup. as you say, they dont do disks any favours. HDs, like all components of a computer, like to be cooled and ventilated, the reason that HDs are mounted in the windflow of the case intake fans.
 
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isityours

People don't dance no mo'
Sep 27, 2008
2,886
4,135
Get a copy of SpinRite from grc.com. It should recover your files.
Plenty of tuts on youtube.

if only someone had mentioned that before.
trouble is that the disc still needs to spin in order to spinrite.
 
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Ceewan

Famished
Jul 23, 2008
9,152
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A hard drive is a peripheral device that is usually located within your computer. The HDD has two motors and if one of them burns out or goes bad then the Hard drive is basically worthless. It actually works a little like an old time phonograph, one motor spins the disk and one motor controls the arm with the needle to play the LP (this is a simplistic comparision but fairly accurate). The motors work pretty hard for their size.

As far as the princetobes' problem goes even if he does get his external HDD going again there is what made it crash in the first place to consider because if that isn't taken care of it will just happen again. However I did hear a crazy suggestion that might be worth a look at: put your HDD the refrigerator. Sound crazy? yes....it does. Not sure if I would try it myself but if you have run out of options:

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/288140-how-repair-hard-drive-has-been-overheated.html


I looked into the site (a little anyways) and it seems legit.
 
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isityours

People don't dance no mo'
Sep 27, 2008
2,886
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yeah, ive heard that too. but have never tried it as ive yet to have a drive die on me (touch wood)

oh yeah, if you do get your disk hooked-up and spinning, clicking is bad.
 

princetobe12005

The Prince of Idols
Dec 26, 2007
840
110
Well some software can read wats on it, but it freezes and 73 percent at scanning and wen i stop, nothing gets recovered. I tried doing chckdsk with the give the drivr letter than f r x, it takes to long for scan so i have to do it wen im home and not working to see if it works
 

isityours

People don't dance no mo'
Sep 27, 2008
2,886
4,135
one advantage to spinrite is that the disk doesnt need to be mountable in your OS. chckdsk etc are pretty poor at actually recovering data or fixing bad sectors.