External HDD is no longer available

First ever post and yes I have a problem. I have read threads all over the place before coming across this one:
disk 1 is unknown, not initialized, unallocated
I will read it again if someone can confirm that somewhere in here is the way to solve my issue.

My Seagate 1TB USB 3.0 external hard disk drive is notrecognised by my computer. It is less than a couple of years old – no physical damage. I remember it being at about 10% of its capacity(mainly photographs and music files some of which it seems I have no backup elsewhere).
I tried the drive on my laptop machine as well and I got the message that it was installing drivers but this failed.
I have also followed all the troubleshooting advice on the Seagate UK website. I tried the contact page but it doesnot recognise the serial number on the back of the case so there is no way to contact anyone (how convenient).
When I plug my external HDD into my Windows 7 PC it seems to start up fine as I can feel the disc spinning. The blue light flashes and then comes on solid. When I unplug the HD the light goes off. If I try to restart the computer with the expansion drive in, it causes the computer to hang in the "shutting down" mode/screen.
It now shows in device manager simply as “disk drive” and all the volumes information is missing.
In disk management Disc 1 unknown not initialized
It has appeared (after a long wait)in safely eject as ASMT1053

Any help would be much appreciated,
Paul.

I thought I would add that even though something is showing under disk management when I just downloaded and launched Partition Wizard it only shows the c drive. Is there anything else I can do to search for my external drive?

ThrashZone said:

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
A couple of this months updates have been causing problems with external hdd's
KB3139398
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3139398
KB3133977
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3133977

Thank you for the reply.
Are you recommending I uninstall these updates?

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
I would test uninstalling this one,
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3139398

The other update was about another issue i just posted as another one seeing isolated issues so it would not apply to your issue.

I uninstalled it but it hasn't cured the problem.

Automatic updates is turned off.

Just to say I am not highly skilled in this area but I am willing to learn to try and save my data. This is completely new to me so is everything I need to know in #8 of the thread? Do I just need an empty pen drive?

Since yesterday I have carefully removed the drive from its case and plugged it in through a new usb 3.0 sata adapter and it is still not seen.

What I cannot understand is how this has happened when it was left plugged in to a usb port. Working one day and not the next.

Thank you for the help,
Paul.

ipaulog said:

This is completely new to me so is everything I need to know in #8 of the thread? Do I just need an empty pen drive?

Since yesterday I have carefully removed the drive from its case and plugged it in through a new usb 3.0 sata adapter and it is still not seen........Paul.

Yes, It has to be an empty pendrive. Since Rufus formats the pendrive before writing Lucid Puppy in it, you will lose all data in it. Rufus itself will warn you that all data in it will be lost and whether you want to proceed.

Next, the instruction I gave to try Lucid Puppy was for the Seagate External drive. Now that you have taken out the HDD from its enclosure on your own without anyone of us suggesting it, that instruction is no longer valid and is hereby withdrawn.

You have now introduced another "Unknown" interface between the HDD and your PC in the form of a USB3 Sata to USB adapter. It may be new but what is the guarantee that it works? If it is DOA - dead on arrival, which can happen - you will be getting the same result as you have got now. So check it by connecting a known to be good HDD and confirm that it can be read with the adapter, before proceeding further.

You have only complicated the troubleshooting process by taking the HDD out of its original enclosure. If Lucid Puppy was unable to read your External drive, the next thing I would have suggested is try to ascertain the status of the external HDD by running Seatools for Windows.If it says your drive is dead whatever you have done now becomes infructuous.

If you had taken out the HDD, the best thing to do is to connect it as a secondary drive in a Desktop with direct SATA connection to the motherboard without any other interface between the HDD and the PC.

I would like to add that when you have come here asking for help, you should stop doing things on your own.