Solved External hard drive not being recognized

[star15389]

I had an external hard drive that was working fine for about two months, then suddenly stopped working. The power light still turns on when it's plugged in, but it isn't recognized by disk management or anything. I tried it on a friend's computer and got the same result.

What are the odds of it being fixed if I send it in for repairs, and how much would that cost me? Failing that, is there any way to retrieve the stored data?

 

[star15389]

Want to add a bit to this. When I plug the hard drive into the USB port, and only later power it on, the computer makes the "ba-dum" sound it makes when recognizes a new device, but the drive still doesn't show up anywhere.

 

[TypeR]

Hello and welcome to sevenforums.

I have a 2TB external hard drive that takes over two minutes to show up in Windows 7.

Out of curiosity how long have you left it plugged in for? Also could you tell us the make and model of the drive?

 

[patio]

To test if it's a failing enclosure remove the HDD and connect it internally...

My bet is the drive is fine.

 

[star15389]

Hello and welcome to sevenforums.

I have a 2TB external hard drive that takes over two minutes to show up in Windows 7.

Out of curiosity how long have you left it plugged in for? Also could you tell us the make and model of the drive?

It's a Seagate FreeAgent 2 TB, model number is STAC2000100. Longest stretch I've left it in for since the problem arose is probably about three hours, maybe longer; before it stopped connecting it would always be recognized more or less immediately.

To test if it's a failing enclosure remove the HDD and connect it internally...

My bet is the drive is fine.

I'm a bit confused as to what you mean by this. Should I take it out of the casing? I'm not sure I trust myself to do that. And what does "connect it internally" mean?

 

[TypeR]

To test if it's a failing enclosure remove the HDD and connect it internally...

My bet is the drive is fine.

I would advise against this, at this stage.

Is the drive still under warranty?

 

[star15389]

Yes, it's under warranty. I've only had it for about two months.

 

[TypeR]

It could be a faulty drive or enclosure, but as it is still under warranty, you should return it to the shop where you bought it from and get a replacement.

 

[star15389]

Can't beat that I guess. How likely are they to be able to recover my data?

 

[TypeR]

Difficult to say, as it really depends on where you bought the drive. They may just bin it and give you a new one.

However, if you specifically ask for any data to be recovered they may return it to the manufacturer and ask for the data to be salvaged.

If it is the enclosure that has failed then it's simply a case of putting the drive in a new enclosure. If the drive has had a failure, it's a bit more complex.

How much of the 2TB had you filled in the 2 months you've had it?

 

[star15389]

Only about 300GB. Does it matter?

 

[TypeR]

No, 300GB isn't too bad I suppose. I had a 1TB HDD fail on me because it was too full. I lost 912GB of info. It was a very bad day.