External HD not being recognized

I have an iomega 500GB desktop external hard drive (USB/eSATA) it was knocked off a small table (about a 2 foot drop) and ever since then it is not being recognized on any of the 4 computers i have tried it on. One running XP x86, the other Vista x64, and a laptop and desktop running Win 7 x64 RC

when i try to initialize it and assign a drive letter in disk management, i can't do that cos it says Disk 1 Unknown Not Initialized and I can't get a menu from there on cos its greyed out.

I have also tried mounting the drive in linux - kubuntu, still nothing.

In addition to this, i tried opening the enclosure taking out the hard drive plugging it directy into the computer's mobo via SATA and the BIOS detected nothing after a short pause.

Any thoughts of what I can do?

jago86 said:

I have an iomega 500GB desktop external hard drive (USB/eSATA) it was knocked off a small table (about a 2 foot drop) and ever since then it is not being recognized on any of the 4 computers i have tried it on. One running XP x86, the other Vista x64, and a laptop and desktop running Win 7 x64 RC

when i try to initialize it and assign a drive letter in disk management, i can't do that cos it says Disk 1 Unknown Not Initialized and I can't get a menu from there on cos its greyed out.

I have also tried mounting the drive in linux - kubuntu, still nothing.

In addition to this, i tried opening the enclosure taking out the hard drive plugging it directy into the computer's mobo via SATA and the BIOS detected nothing after a short pause.

Any thoughts of what I can do?

Unless you want to spend a couple of grand to have it rescued at a laboratory,
Remove the screws, open the case, and use the platters as coasters.
Looks neat on the coffee table.

In other words. Drive is dead.

Sorry.

Bummer,
figured so.

Thank you anyways.

This may be a related problem. Maxtor USB 300Gb external HDD working fine on Windows XP. Unplugged and attached to new Windows 7 PC. OS responds by saying device found and working properly. I use the disk to download assorted files.

Then moved CPU a few feet (did not swithch off or move USB HDD). Reboot, and USB HDD not seen as a working disk. Seems very unlikely that HDD damaged at this time. Manage disks shows the disk apparently working but not "initialised". Right click to initialise. Hour glass shows for ~2 seconds, and goes away, but disk not initialised.

Reattach to old Win XP computer, and now looks the same as on the Win 7 machine, not initialised and not initialisable. Gots lots of data on that HDD which I would like to keep, so have you guys got any new ideas???

Craig Mackay said:

This may be a related problem. Maxtor USB 300Gb external HDD working fine on Windows XP. Unplugged and attached to new Windows 7 PC. OS responds by saying device found and working properly. I use the disk to download assorted files.

Then moved CPU a few feet (did not swithch off or move USB HDD). Reboot, and USB HDD not seen as a working disk. Seems very unlikely that HDD damaged at this time. Manage disks shows the disk apparently working but not "initialised". Right click to initialise. Hour glass shows for ~2 seconds, and goes away, but disk not initialised.

Reattach to old Win XP computer, and now looks the same as on the Win 7 machine, not initialised and not initialisable. Gots lots of data on that HDD which I would like to keep, so have you guys got any new ideas???

If the disk was spinning while you moved the computer, chances are you damaged the disk, but it could also be a total coincidence.

If it still has warranty, don't mention it happened after moving the computer!

Just say it stopped working, and that is the truth because we don't know for sure if it was the move that did it.

Tip:
Never, ever move a spinning disk.

From the last part of your post I conclude you didn't make a backup of the data that's on the disk???

Well, you could try Spinrite 6.0 to see if it can recover your disk, even if it's only temporarily.

Spinrite runs from a floppy or bootable cd and operates under a special DOS.

It access the disk at an extremely low level, that no windows utility could ever do.
It has been a lifesaver for me.

When I got it yrs ago, it was freeware, but now you have to pay for it.
Since my version legally is freeware and the eula says I can freely distribute it,
you can PM me your email, and I will send it to you.

Just one thing.
Rescuing the disk might take 48hrs or more, so do it when you don't need the computer for a few days.

Greetings.

PS, I will help you with Spinrite, it's kind of intimidating.

Disk may well have been spinning while CPU moved, but the HDD was not (I agree: rather too risky to move). I have full backup, but I also have lots of other HDD that contain terabytes of data taken at telescopes (I am an astronomer). I really do not want this to happen every time (indeed any time) I attach a working USB HDD to a Windows 7 machine.

No evidence that HDD is damaged as it correctly reports size, etc. Mind you if the files are invisible it might as well be.

Will try another of the disks on Monday to see if it repeats. All rather scary, since external disks are widely used for peoples photo collections, etc.

I believe that I have managed to get to the bottom of this problem. Seagate suggested that this was a problem with Windows 7, but I did not see this On my Sony (Windows 7, 64 bit) system. It turned out that the computer uses an Intel i7 860 motherboard and that the latest BIOS revision mentions "fixed the USB legacy disable option non-functioning issue". Difficult to tell what that might mean but, having updated the BIOS problem, I now find no difficulty in reading unaffected discs. However any that had been looked at with the old hardware had been irrevocably damaged and could only be brought back to life by reformatting and losing all the data on them. So, if you have an Intel motherboard, look at the BIOS updates available on that board and, if they show this as being a problem that has been resolved then this may well be what you need to do.