A Dropped External HD!
 

Evening all.

Not having much luck with computers this week. Just get my laptop back up & running after some weeks....then I go drop my external HD!

When I say 'drop,' I mean I picked it up but it slipped out of my fingers and dropped onto a carpeted floor...softish landing from all of about 1 - 2 cm's up!
It wasn't plugged into my computer, but was powered up.

When I now connect it to my computer, it doesn't auto-run like it should. Instead, I get a message stating,

"...The drive is not ready for use; it's door may be open. Please check drive \Device\Harddisk1\DR28..."

I right-click My Computer > Manage > Storage > Disk Management > It tells me my E:\ Drive is Healthy & Active! When I want to explore the drive, I get the error message "The Drive is Not Ready/Accessible"

Any ideas as to what I should do now please? I've tried to run a chkdsk on it, but because it isn't being recognised, I can't.

Even done really technical things to it, like tap it & shake it gently to try and wake it up, but with no success.

Suggestions gratefully acccepted!

What size HDD is it? 2.5 or 3.5"? Can you take it out of the caddy? Can you connect it into a secondary (slave) IDE channel on a desktop PC (with an adapter if required)?

Much easier to fix if you can get it to start!

Having said that, if you have any really important data, and it is worth several hundred pounds or more, DO NOTHING - just send it off to a data recovery company.

SD

I have no idea whether it is a 2.5 or 3.5!? All I know is, it is a Lacie/Seagate 350GB HD. It powers up and it seems like it is trying to work, but it never becomes accessible on the computer. I cannot seem to get into the caddy either - have tried to see if there was anything loose, but it seems very well sealed!

Sounds like it wants to engage, but can't! Recovery option sounds expensive too!!!!!

Any noticeable impact when the drive is powered up is a Very Bad Thing, I'm afraid to say. I suspect you had a head crash, with the electronics still working (so it's seen by Windows), but damage to the heads and/or data means it can't read data when it's requested.

These drives have several heads flying close to fast-spinning platters, each is like a 747 flying at top speed an inch off the ground. The heads are "parked" when the drive is off - I have a 80GB 2.5-inch USB drive, which has been stuffed in bags and pockets, but only when off. It once fell about 5ft on to the floor, and it's still working.

The 350GB size means yours must be a 3.5-inch drive. Can you see any external damage on the case? I don't know exactly what you have, or its caddy, so it's hard to say, but unless you know what you're looking for, I'd avoid trying to open the caddy without talking to the maker. But it doesn't sound good. :(

If it were my external drive, I'd pop the case and wiggle the power and data connectors to the drive itself. Especially if it's a SATA drive inside the box. You never know.

..........

Spanner, thank you for your useful contribution. Pat pat pat.

At one point the drive went in, so it can come out again. I'm not going to sit here and tell someone how to look for screws by pulling the little rubber feeties off, checking join lines for clips, etc. If the guy wants to get in, he'll do it. If he doesn't want to get in, then he won't. When I said "if it were mine, I'd open the case" then I'm not ignoring Biz' "inability" to get in to the case, I'm ignoring the value he places on the case. Value of my data > value of my case, that sucker's going to get opened. Value of Biz' case > value of Biz' data, then we're all wasting our time anyway.

Thanks all for your advice. No, your time has not been wasted either. Finally managed to get into the case after much wrenching...all connections seem fine. I think, therefore, the only step left is to go seek some recovery options!

Many thanks for the input at any rate!

I would try and put the hard drive in the freezer....
Sometimes works.

If you're going to put the drive in the freezer - and this can help, for certain specific problems - make sure you wrap it up in waterproof anti-static first. Also, if cooling the drive helps, you will only have a limited amount of time before it warms up and stops working again, so have a clear idea of what data is most critical, so you can grab it first.

Freezing the drive is generally of more use when it's an electronics problem, but it has been known to help. Most drive manufacturers offer drive-checking software, which may be of some help - for Seagate, check out http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.js...00dd04090aRCRD

Good luck!