Unable to Access files on Ext. HD - PLS HELP!!

[Deuce]

All of a sudden and without warning, my PC does not "see" an External HD that
I was using to back up important files. The hardware case (USB interface)
works fine with any other drive that gets plugged in.
When I try to boot up with the original drive connected, the PC will not boot.
When I try to connect the drive after boot up, the PC hangs until it is
disconnected.
Other drives were tested and work fine.

I need to recover the files if it is at all possible.

What I think happened - I have a young child at home and he might have
unplugged the USB cable when it was not "safe" to do so. Or he may have
knocked it down (24" drop) on to a carpet and slightly jarred it.

On a few occasions, the PC will "see" the device as a USB Mass Storage but
does not list the drive in the My Computer folder. Also, when accessed
through Device Manager, it does not show a driver, will hang if you try to
install a driver, etc.

Is there any way that I can save/retrieve the information without having to
spend $100's of dollars that I don't have to get it professionally repaired??

Is there any freeware/shareware that can diagnose exactly what is wrong with
it??

ANY/ALL help and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

D

I use WinXP and the HD does not work on ANY system ( I tried several ).

 

[Anna]

All of a sudden and without warning, my PC does not "see" an External HD
that
I was using to back up important files. The hardware case (USB interface)
works fine with any other drive that gets plugged in.
When I try to boot up with the original drive connected, the PC will not
boot.
When I try to connect the drive after boot up, the PC hangs until it is
disconnected.
Other drives were tested and work fine.

I need to recover the files if it is at all possible.

What I think happened - I have a young child at home and he might have
unplugged the USB cable when it was not "safe" to do so. Or he may have
knocked it down (24" drop) on to a carpet and slightly jarred it.

On a few occasions, the PC will "see" the device as a USB Mass Storage but
does not list the drive in the My Computer folder. Also, when accessed
through Device Manager, it does not show a driver, will hang if you try to
install a driver, etc.

Is there any way that I can save/retrieve the information without having
to
spend $100's of dollars that I don't have to get it professionally
repaired??

Is there any freeware/shareware that can diagnose exactly what is wrong
with
it??

ANY/ALL help and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

D

I use WinXP and the HD does not work on ANY system ( I tried several ).

Deuce:
First of all the fact that the USB external HDD is not detected on a number
of systems to which it was connected is ominous. It would be rare, to say
the least, that merely disconnecting the USB data cable from the device (or
the PC) while the device was in "play" would cause the problem you're
experiencing. But if the external HDD experienced a 2 foot drop (even onto a
carpet), *that* could most certainly cause the problem you're experiencing.

Since you've indicated that you're able to install another HDD in the
enclosure that obviously indicates you can remove the problem disk. (And it
indicates that there's apparently no defect affecting the USB enclosure
since you indicate no problem with that configuration).

So, assuming a desktop PC is available to you, it would be worthwhile to
install the problem HDD as a secondary HDD in the system and determine if
the disk is detected and if its contents can be accessed. I realize this is
something of a long-shot since it sounds like you may be dealing with a
defective drive, but it's worth a try. From time-to-time one lucks out and
the disk's contents can be accessed through that means.

Irrespective of whether you're able to access the drive's contents, while
the disk is installed in the desktop machine, check it out with a diagnostic
utility that you can download from the disk's manufacturer. If it proves
defective as a result of the test and you haven't been able to access its
contents, then you could try one of the commercial "data recovery" programs
that are wildly available from online vendors all through the net.

I have a listing of these programs that I'll post if you want. Nearly all of
them have demo programs but the demo program merely tells the user whether
data can be extracted; the commercial version is necessary to (presumably)
extract the data. Perhaps you'll hear from others suggesting this or that
data recovery program, but it's a crap shoot at best. Let's hope it doesn't
come to that.
Anna

 

[philo]

All of a sudden and without warning, my PC does not "see" an External HD that
I was using to back up important files. The hardware case (USB interface)
works fine with any other drive that gets plugged in.
When I try to boot up with the original drive connected, the PC will not boot.
When I try to connect the drive after boot up, the PC hangs until it is
disconnected.
Other drives were tested and work fine.

I need to recover the files if it is at all possible.

What I think happened - I have a young child at home and he might have
unplugged the USB cable when it was not "safe" to do so. Or he may have
knocked it down (24" drop) on to a carpet and slightly jarred it.

On a few occasions, the PC will "see" the device as a USB Mass Storage but
does not list the drive in the My Computer folder. Also, when accessed
through Device Manager, it does not show a driver, will hang if you try to
install a driver, etc.

Is there any way that I can save/retrieve the information without having to
spend $100's of dollars that I don't have to get it professionally repaired??

Is there any freeware/shareware that can diagnose exactly what is wrong with
it??

ANY/ALL help and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

D

I use WinXP and the HD does not work on ANY system ( I tried several ).

There is a possibility that the drive itself is still ok.
but the USB interface within the enclosure is defective.

Install the drive internally and see if it works.
(or have a tech do it )