Iomega eGo external hard drive non-responsive

[rickredhead]

Hi all. First time post!

Am having a problem with an Iomega eGo external hard drive. I'm running XP on a Samsung netbook.

When I connected the eGo, it worked first time, a bit slowly, but i could access the files. There's only about 40GB on there, but they are big video files.

The second time i did it - and now every time - it does the following (excuse the lack of technical language): first the computer seems to recognise it (it makes that bimbom sound you get you plug in a USB device), then, after a long time, it scans the files. But then nothing. The light on the eGo is blinking so it's working and moving, but the computer can't seem to recognise it any more. At this point I wait, and wait and wait. The light on the eGo is still on, sometimes it flickers. But nothing else happens. If I go to MyComputer, the whole thing is slow. Eventually, if I leave it, it recognises the hard drive and F: will come up. When I click on this to see the contents, a long, long pause and freeze occurs and when it thaws the computer says the hard drive is not formatted and do I want to format it.

I tried using the Dos prompt and pressing F: and - after a long pause, during which the eGo light flickrs - I got: "The volume does not contain a recognised file system. Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted."

I've tried it on two other laptops, both running XP. Same results.

So. What does it sound like to you experienced folks?

A couple more things that may offer clues. I think the video files were originally made by a Mac, does that make a difference? Also I think I may have unplugged the hard drive without safely removing it the first time I tried it. If that is the reason, then the eGo is very fragile - I do this a lot with my WD external hard drive and they are always fine.

So - any thoughts?

If it is because of not safely removing it, is there a solution? The files are very valuable to me (I know everyone says that, of course. But I paid money for those videos).

Thank you in advance!

Rick

[Computer_Commando]

Open Command Prompt, type & enter this:
chkdsk f: /F
use big F or little f for either one, not case sensitive.
"f" is the external hard drive
"/F" fixes errors on the disk
If there's an error and it is able to fix it, you might lose a file.
BTW, type chkdsk f: /? to see all the options

[rickredhead]

Commando - thanks for replying so quickly!

Tried /F and got "access denied"
also tried /V and /R, same response

[Computer_Commando]

Unplug it and start over.  Windows may have locked the drive because of the errors it found.  Hope you have backups of the video files.

UPDATE:  Same issue here:  http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/923769-wd-external-drive-not-accessible.html

[rickredhead]

ok, i've tried what you said, nothing has changed. trying f: at the dos prompt returns the original 'volume not recognised' message.

i don't have copies because i bought the files and there aren't any more. it's a long story. but basically i need to find a way to get those files!

please help anyone. thanks.

[Computer_Commando]

Too late now, but you should have burned them to a DVD, as a backup.  Try doing what the guy did in the link I gave you.  Put it in the freezer for a while, I have my doubts whether it will work, but you have nothing to lose at this point.

[rickredhead]

Thanks Commando for your help. But is it really finished? There must be computer companies that can get the data off for me. It's valuable to me. What sort of company should I approach?

Thanks. Rick

[Computer_Commando]

Professional Data Recovery is very expensive.
Lets try this first:  http://www.easeus.com/partition-recovery/
If it wasn't an external notebook drive, it would be a bit easier.

[rickredhead]

Ok, I will try that. I have to go now, but thank you for your help. If anyone has any other ideas, please, I'm interested to hear them.

I'll try leaving the drive off for a few hours, then try the freezer trick, and then the data recovery software. I'll be back to report my findings. Hope something works.

Rick