External HDD not showing on "My Computer"

icebergx

Hi all,
Got a bit of a problem with an external HDD.
It's a USB powered device which powers up (red lights on HDD come on) but it doesn't appear on the list of drives in "My Computer" and it doesn't sound like it's spinning up. I havent had this problem before but the HDD did suffer a couple of minr knocks yesterday!!!

Will data recovery software help?
Is there anything else that can be done in order to get the drive accessible?

Thanks.

gaming_guy

have you got it plugged into the ports on the back of the machine?

sometimes the front USB ports don't provide enough power to supply the drive with

icebergx

No luck unfortunately.

andy2004

what do you call MINOR knocks.

as its usb powered. did it come with a usb lead with 2 usb heads if yes 1 is a data + power and the other is a power only. I would suggest plugging both heads in. they are color coded.

its also possible due to the minor knocks that it is disconnected inside the case. depends on the case.
if the drive inside is a sata you could take it out and connect it to your internal sata connector. you'd need a sata lead and a power sata lead. then you could test the drive itself.

icebergx

It has knocked against my laptop a couple of times and fallen onto my bed from about 1ft high.

There are 2 usb connectors but they're not colour coded. I've had them both plugged in, but no joy.
It's a Dynamode SATA drive so I guess I could try taking it out of the case. Is this pretty straight-forward or complicated?

As my drive isn't even appearing in "My Computer" is there any point in trying data recovery software?

Thanks for all your help.

closed

Can you try it in a different pc?

take it out of the case, and either attach internally to a pc, or use another caddy/cable.

If it isn't recognized via existing caddy, data recovery software won't work, but might be useful if you manage to see the drive using the above method.

icebergx

It's funny, When I go into "Computer Management", the disk is visible but it say that it must be initialised. When I try to do so, a pop up says "device not ready"?
This is what it looks like:

scottishf

Which Operating System are you using, and what are the specs of the drive ?

icebergx

I'm using Vista.
The Drive is a 180GB Dynamode SATA external drive running off a lead with 2 USB connectors.

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icebergx wrote: »

I'm using Vista.
The Drive is a 180GB Dynamode SATA external drive running off a lead with 2 USB connectors.

Do you plug in one or both connectors and have you tried both separately? With these double connection leads only one will work and power the drive so that it is recognised. I assume that if there isn't enough power from the USB socket you need to plug in both.

icebergx

Tried plugging in both independently but no luck. The drive lights up regardless of which connector I plug in but the "USB connected" tone only sounds when one particular connector is connected.