External Hard Drive not recognised in Windows 7

I noticed that my PC suddenly took a long time to boot up and close down. After some testing I found that if my external HD was plugged in that was the cause. I thought it might be an indexing delay so didn't worry as all I needed to do was plug the HD in when needed it and make sure I "Safely" unplugged it before shutting down. But now I can't get access to it at all. I hear the usual bleep when I plug it in and it appears in the task bar "Can I safely remove etc" but it doesn't appear in Disk Management or Explorer. I fear the HD has died although I can detect the normal very slight murmer of the drive when it is switched on. I did find the disk using a command prompt but can't remember how I got there! Is there any way I can save the data on it? I have tried all the usual tests like a different USB port (not a hub) and a different Windows 7 machine but to no avail.

Hi,
You might try this,
Lucid Puppy way to recover files from a non-bootable computer

Many thanks for the suggestion but I have no trouble booting up the machine. I did however complete the exercise but still can only get as far as this:

If I rt click on "actions" and try to initialise the disk I get "Can't find sector"
I have come to the conclusion that if I try more invasive techniques I might do more damage o at the moment the HD is being looked at by a commercial data retrieval company. Hopefully they will be able to retrieve my data at a reasonable cost. We will see

Hello mitchell65!

The idea is that you boot into a Linux-based OS like Ubuntu or Lucid Puppy through a Live CD. Linux based OS-es are more simpler than Windows thus it's easier for them to access and view drives that are having issues. Test this with yours. :)

What's the make and model of the drive?

I see it has most probably suffered a file system error, as per the indication from Disk Management. Try changing the cable, as well.

Post back to say what happens. :)

CK_WD

Thanks for your response CKWD. I had already tried the Ubuntu method to no avail. As I said in my last post the disc was in the hands of a commercial data retrieval complany and I had it returned today. Delighted to report that they retrieved all of my files and i cannot find one that is even corrupted so all is well.

I would agree with @Jumanji on 100%. Important data should be backed up, may be not all the files from a healthy/doubtful drive, but the most irreplaceable should be backed up.

Otherwise, if you've gotten your data back, I'm glad to hear it! :) Make sure you now make at least two copies of it on two different physical drives.

If you can, contact the manufacturer to RMA the old drive.

CK_WD

I fully appreciate your comments and agree with you 100% but there is much more than just an iffy HD here. There is a very personal distressing situation surrounding this Hard Drive that I shan't go into here. Suffice to say it was worth twice the cost of the retrieval to alleviate the distress of a very close friend. I was just trying to help and was delighted to be able to do so!!!

I am glad for the outcome and your efforts too! :)

We just wanted to stress it's a must to keep back ups as drives are replaceable, data – isn't. :)

Hope you don't get any more problems with any information lost! :)

CK_WD