USB HD gone.

Poppycat

I have a feeling although I cant be 100% certain that the electrician who without asking turned my power off when installing a new shower cable to mains. I did ask him if he needed power off as he was threading through a thick cable to the meter and he said no.

Anyhow before he came I was using pc and it was definitely on when he came, and I had used the usb hd just before he did but cant be certain it was on when he was here.

I just switched it on today and it wont work. I tried reiserting the cables at the back, and opening up the case, the HD just makes a small clicking sound, I suspect the heads have crashed. Fortunately I backed up most important data like photos before hand but I still lost a lot of data

I am not looking for componsation as I cant be 100% certain but it was worked on Friday when I used it just before he came and havent used it since

Any suggestions.

Livingthedream

Poppycat wrote: »

I have a feeling although I cant be 100% certain that the electrician who without asking turned my power off when installing a new shower cable to mains. I did ask him if he needed power off as he was threading through a thick cable to the meter and he said no.

Anyhow before he came I was using pc and it was definitely on when he came, and I had used the usb hd just before he did but cant be certain it was on when he was here.

I just switched it on today and it wont work. I tried reiserting the cables at the back, and opening up the case, the HD just makes a small clicking sound, I suspect the heads have crashed. Fortunately I backed up most important data like photos before hand but I still lost a lot of data

I am not looking for componsation as I cant be 100% certain but it was worked on Friday when I used it just before he came and havent used it since

Any suggestions.

If you got access to a Laptop or another Desktop you could try and plug the External Usb HD into that and see if it works

Poppycat

Yes I do I will try thanks. I suspect though it wont work but worth a bash anyhow.

I didnt say anything on Friday because I didnt want to cause trouble but I did think at the time he could have said before turning off the power he did it when my back was turned.

I only used the HD today I lots a lot of data though but I have back up all important stuff, good thing I do make 2 backups sometimes 3rd on dvd.

Livingthedream

If it turns out to be knackered then you could try getting a cheap replacement hard drive off ebay and replace the broken one inside your external enclosure.
If you need help on how to do this just ask

Poppycat

Just tried it in a laptop no joy, the card reader reader and usb slots work that are on the case but HD is just clicking all time

Livingthedream

Yep sounds like the Hard drive inside is knackered. Unless anybody has any better ideas then you have 3 options.
1. Buy new external Hard drive and Enclosure
2. Buy 2nd hand internal hard drive and replace hard drive inside your enclosure
3. Try hard drive repair software

Right option 3 you normally have to pay for the software and its not guaranteed to work and you've already backed up all your data so don't need to recover anything off the failed drive.
Option 1 and 2 depends on your budget and IT skills.

bookduck

since you are not really interested in getting data back. 2nd last restort is to try another usb cable - a very short one. my drive is v sensitive to the output voltage of usb ports and only works with short cables and the rest of the time is speeds up and down, and clicks. last resort. open the drive box and check that the drive is not still under warranty. if you really want the data off the disk, buy the apropriate converter and plug the disk into a desktop, rather than using the usb drive box for recovery.

[Deleted User]

Is it still under warranty?

If yes, RMA it.

If no, buy another one.

Poppycat

I have had the drive about 3 years its Aldi 250gb hd. I can update the drive with another ide drive. I would like to recover some data if possible I lost about 150-200gb mainly photos, video, music. Photos, video I had two backups and a 3rd not quite up to date on dvdr.

Thanks for the help. What concerns me was it because of the power cut or just a coincidence as I dont want to loose my other usb hd I have

globalds

If you want a new cheap one .Staples have some in store .it is a verbatim 120g usb powered hard drive ..£29.99 .
The ones in my local store were away from the usual stuff ..I had to ask specifically for them .
The other thing to try if you need to just get data off ..Put the drive in the freezer for a while ..It seems to revive some hard drives for a little while .

Poppycat

Thanks I might try that. I think the heads have got stuck