External Hard Disk HELP!!! PLEASE??

[Smudgey]

Help!!!

there's a problem with my external hard disk (PREZMATE 2.5" 250GB (USB2.0))

when i switch it on and connect it to my laptop,
both the "Device manager" and "safely remove hardware" can detect it and shows that it is working properly.

however when i open "my Computer" i either cannot see the ext hard disk drive or the 'My Computer" window hangs ("Not Responding")

In the past, this Ext HDD was working fine previously with the same laptop and computer...

the Ext HDD has it's own power source....

I've tried to troubleshoot (by updating the driver (states that the driver i'm using is most recent) disabling and enabling the device in the device manager, when try to uninstall device in device manager, it hang "Not Responding")

I looked at the Computer management again, and this is what happen after a long time i see the ext harddisk at the bottom "Disk 1, Unknown, Unreadable"

when i check the properties, everything looks fine except the "Volume" tab

Disk: Disk1
Type: Unknown
Status: Unreadable
Partition Style: Not Applicable
Capacity: 0MB
Unallovated space: 0MB
Reserved space: 0MB


I looked up the status Unreadable in the Help,

"A basic or dynamic disk's status is Unreadable.
Cause: The basic or dynamic disk is not accessible and might have experienced hardware failure, corruption, or I/O errors. The disk's copy of the system's disk configuration database might be corrupted. An error icon appears on disks that display the Unreadable status.

Disks might also display the Unreadable status while they are spinning up or when Disk Management is rescanning all of the disks on the system. In some cases, an unreadable disk has failed and is not recoverable. For dynamic disks, the Unreadable status usually results from corruption or I/O errors on part of the disk, rather than failure of the entire disk.

Solution: Rescan the disks or restart the computer to see if the disk status changes."

I tried that, didn't work.... is there anyone here who can help me? PLEASE?!

[nickc1976]

Sounds like the disk has died. If you don't have any data on there, I would try formatting with Computer Management.

Otherwise, I would try taking it apart, removing the disk and connecting it as a slave to a desktop machine. You'll need a 2.5" IDE to 3.5" IDE Convertor for this.

[quaxo]

I'd follow nick's suggestion and try connecting it to the internal IDE cable and power and see if it'll work. If it works ok, the fault could be in the box in the small piece of hardware used to convert the IDE interface on the drive to the USB interface. If that's the case, simply putting it in a new box should help.

Some things to check:

Can you hear or feel the drive spinning?

Some cases have a 'read/write' light. Does yours? And does it come on at any point?

Has the drive suffered any kind of physical shock? (i.e. dropping, bouncing around in a bag, etc.)

[Smudgey]

hi,

Nick sorrie but i don't really get your meaning... how do i  "connecting it as a slave to a desktop machine. You'll need a 2.5" IDE to 3.5" IDE Convertor for this."

Sorrie i'm quite an IT Idiot...

Quaxo, when it's on i can feel the fan spinning, but when the fan is switched off and the HDD is switched on, there's a blue light that is on but there's no feel of spinning...

I think i dropped it a while back but it still worked till now...

[patio]

                 

Available at most Computer stores...bout 10 bucks.

Then sinply connect the drive tto a desktop machine.

[squall_01]

Okay I had the same error sort of, if you take out the harddrive and switch it with another one check the data cable an make sure it succured to the harddrive.  If you dont try putting it in a working computer, I gusse its a slave so if its IDE you should be able to connect it with out any problems to a pc that has IDE, or if its a SATA.  If you dont see anything its dead try also connecting it with out the case and feel if its spining if you dont feel any thing its probably dead.

[patio]

Who's feeding the parrott's again ? ?