I think I have a dead drive. When pcinspector checks my drives I get
the following error message "bad parameter in boot sector: Bytes Per
Sector (0)=0!"
It then opens a window but shows no files.
It has never been disconnected from the computer since it was first
plugged in.
I might mess about taking it out of the case.
Anyway many thanks for the help, much appreciated.
Bob
1) Definitely take the drive out of the external enclosure
and connect inside the system.
2) Have spare space available on your system's internal HDD
(or wherever, preferribly a fast(er) drive so it doesn't
take a long time) to copy off the data, _before_ placing
the external drive in the system. The idea is to not run
this questionable drive any more than absolutely necessary
before /between attempts to copy off the data. Some
failures might make the data accessible for a brief period
and it is usually best to try to create the ideal
environment for the first attempt, which would be with the
drive in the system instead of an external enclosure (which
adds at least 3 more failure points from the bus, enclosure
logic circuits, enclosure power supply).
3) If the data is not accessible normally through Windows
Explorer, try the data recovery software previously linked
and tried. If these can't see the data it it probably gone
but you might still run the HDD manufacturer's diagnostics
utility on it, which is available from their website if you
don't have it.
