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external hard drive kaput

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JPSmit

JPSmit

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My son has an external hard drive - as he explains it, he pulled it off his computer without properly ejecting it - now computer knows it is there but he can't access it. My son has Vista - we tried it on my XP.

when I did it on mine, the little screen came up that said " storage device detected" (or words to that effect - same message as putting in a thumb drive)

then after a few minutes the "autoplay screen" (with the flashlight) came up, then it disappeared and that was the end.

any ideas?
 
One thing you could try is check disk. With the drive plugged in, go to "My Computer" and right click on the external drive. Choose "properties", then the "Tools" tab at the top. There you'll see "error checking", select "check now", at the next window click on "automatically fix file system errors" then choose start. Sometime that solves the problem.
 
I will try again later but the drive did not show up in "My Computer"
 
You could also try Disk Management to see if it shows up there. In XP: Off the start button go to Settings → Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Computer Management. With that open, look in the left pane for Disk Management and click on that. All your drives should show up in the right pane. If the trouble drive doesn't list a file system, I don't know what to do besides reformatting, though others might. If it lists the file system, you can try the check disk from that window by right clicking and choosing properties like the other procedure I outlined. Good luck.
 
John,

Does the drive spin up and make the right sounds when you attach it to power and the computer? Are the cables in correctly? If this is an external usb drive then unplugging the USB cable will not cause any problems (e.g. you don't have to "eject" the disk).

Most frequently what occurs is that the drive was dropped or manhandled. If it's not making the right noises, then I'd not be suprised if it had been dropped. If it's not spinning then it's toast. I just lost one of my drives of this nature because my son yanked it off the table while I was using it.

If it does make all the correct sounds, then working or no you should see the drive mounted on your computer (double click your "My Computer" icon.) If you don't see it, then I'd be worried.

Jody
 
JodyFKerr said:
If this is an external usb drive then unplugging the USB cable will not cause any problems (e.g. you don't have to "eject" the disk
Click to expand...
I wouldn't do that. Write caching delays information being written to the drives so the operating system can keep up with the demands of the user. Once things slow down, the OS will complete the write to the drive.
The eject function tells the OS to finish writing to the drive right away.
 
GregW said:
JodyFKerr said:
If this is an external usb drive then unplugging the USB cable will not cause any problems (e.g. you don't have to "eject" the disk
Click to expand...
I wouldn't do that. Write caching delays information being written to the drives so the operating system can keep up with the demands of the user. Once things slow down, the OS will complete the write to the drive.
The eject function tells the OS to finish writing to the drive right away.
Click to expand...

Which can result in incomplete sectors, incomplete files, etc. It will not, however, bork the drive, just the data presently being written (as the later data will never be written).

If the OS isn't reading the drive, then the drive is hosed (or the external case that the drive resides in). Easiest way to absolutely validate is to remove the drive and stick it into a desktop machine. If the bios can't read it then it's gone.
 
Ok - update.

started the drive this am - definitely makes drive spinny noises

I can see the drive in "My Computer" but when I click on it it, first freezes "my computer" and then eventually tells me it can't access the drive due to an I/O error. So, I went to the device manager to see if there is an I/O conflict and it tells me the device is working properly.

If I go the Computer management route - again I can see the drive - troublingly it shows the drive as having nothing on it. When I click on it here, it freezes up computer management and really won't let me go further.

any thoughts?
 
This doesn't help fix the current problem - but for external devices it sometimes is wise to configure the device's removal policy for "quick removal" so the write caching issue isn't a problem - and the usb device can be unplugged without ejecting it (as long as it isn't in the process of actually writing anything of course).
 
UPdate: Good news! Unbelievably, I managed to get it working again. Actually went at it through the DOS prompt and managed to get the checkdisk repair done. every once in awhile you get lucky.
 
JPSmit said:
UPdate: Good news! Unbelievably, I managed to get it working again. Actually went at it through the DOS prompt and managed to get the checkdisk repair done. every once in awhile you get lucky.
Click to expand...

Very good! I was almost certain that the thing was toast. I actually quit using the things and bought a NAS style one. The benefit of that it it's universally accessible from every computer in the house (and we have a lot of them!). The down side it that it's not portable.

But with the memory sticks as big as they are now, it's rare for me to need to drag an antire spare HD around with me.

Jody
 
Well it's dead again - same I/O error though now even in DOS
 
If it were my drive, I'd start eliminating possibilities. Is the USB cable the one that came with the drive? I've seen Iomega drives that get crabby using another cable. Jody had mentioned removing the drive from the housing and hooking it up as an internal drive, that would be my next step. Might be the external HD hardware (interface) has gone south.
 
Jody said:
But with the memory sticks as big as they are now, it's rare for me to need to drag an entire spare HD around with me.
Click to expand...

Too true. Got a 128Gig one last week. Five years ago that woulda been pure Unobtanium. Now we can carry around an entire third world government in a bauble hangin' from a lanyard around the neck.
Freaky. :jester:
 
did you try putting it in the freezer for a few hours?
 
weewillie said:
did you try putting it in the freezer for a few hours?
Click to expand...

seriously?! why? (I'm open but this is a new one)
 
my buddy says if the heads contact the hd disk and it locks up if you freeze it the metal will shrink and may seperate long enough to be able to read it. I am going to try it with mine as mine crashed and I had to get a new hd and lost everything I had on it. I may have to set the jumpers to a slave or go into the bios and change the boot sequence, but will leave all that for another day. :eeek: :crazyeyes:
 
well, we tried freezing it - no luck, it is responding to my computer right now - though has spent the last 24 hours repairing orphaned files I'm not especially interested in. Here is the post at Bleepingcomputer - (so I don't have to retype) any more ideas?

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic356521.html
 
I've had some success with just about the opposite technique. Warming the HD with a 100W lightbulb for an hour or two then quickly running it upside-down (so it spins up on the bearing opposite the one it 'normally' spins on) as a slave. This has been a one-shot deal numerous times.

Of course as always, YMMV. :wink:
 
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