External Hard Drive Stopped Showing Up In My Computer

[samo231]

I've been trying to fix it for over 10 days now, and I tried lots of things but nothing seems to work , so I hope that you can help me.
 
 

• System Info (If Needed):-

   - Operation System: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64-Bit).
    - Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth P67  (1 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR3 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394).
    - CPU: QuadCore Intel Core i7-2600K, 3500 MHz (35 x 100).
    - Memory: 8168 MB  (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM).
    - Disk Drive: WDC WD20EARS-00J99B0  (2000 GB, SATA-II).
    - GPU: ATI Radeon™ HD 5770
    - USB 2.0: 8 Ports.
    - USB 3.0: 2 Ports.
 
 

• Problem:-

    My external hard drive stopped showing up in My Computer, but it was working fine before.
 
 

• Possible Causes:-

    1-   I think "And I'm NOT Sure" this happened after I Unplugged it without   using "Safely Remove Hardware", I'm Totally aware that unplugging it   while it's in use could damage it, but when I tried to "Safely Remove   It" it told me "Windows can't stop your device Because a program is   still using it", and I was in a hurry, so I unplugged it without using   "Safely Remove Hardware".
 
    2- Few Days before it stop working, it was getting slower and sometimes it hangs.
 
 

• External Hard Drive Condition:-

   - it's Samsung S2 Portable (640GB).
 
    - I think I bought it from about 1-1.5 years ago.
    - It's out of warranty.
    - I'm Not using it that much, maybe 1-2 hours per day and sometimes I don't use it at all for several days/weeks.
    - Content: all my family pictures & videos (NO backup anywhere   else), I thought it would be safer here in case any damage happened to   my desktop hard drive. but i Guess I was wrong.
    - No Physical Damage.
    - When I plug it, I hear it spinning and it's light is on.
    - I hear a weird intermittent constant "Sound" and it's NOT loud, MAYBE It's a "Clicking" sound, But I'm not sure.
 
 

• Things I Tried:-

   - I checked All USB Ports and it's all working fine with other devices.
    - It Doesn't show up in "Disk Management", So solutions related to "Disk Management" Won't work.
    - I Cleaned up and removed old USB storage drivers and replugged it, but it didn't work.
    - I connected it to another PC, it didn't work there too.
    - I tried Different "USB Cable"
    - I was always checking it with "BitDefender Total Security 2011" For Viruses or any kind of infections and it was clean.
    - I tried to check it for errors, but as it's not recognized I can't check it.
    - I was Defragmenting it with "DisKeeper 2011" from time to time.
    - I tried to use "Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) v5.1.1" to recover the data, and i used this Guide "How to Create an Image of a Crashed Hard Drive using the UBCD, dd-rescue and P2 eXplorer",   and when I reached to "Step 3 - Identifying your Hard Drive" I couldn't   Identify it and I couldn't know it "Path", because it wasn't showing up   in "Mount Devices" window, because as I said It's not recognized.
 
 

• So What I'm Asking For Is:-

  1- Is there a way to fix my External Hard Drive and make it work again?
  If Not...
  2- Is there a way to make it recognizable so i can recover the data using "DD-Rescue"?
  If Not...
  3- Is there any other way to recover the data from my External Hard Drive?
  and...
  4- I tried to open my External Hard Drive "case" but I couldn't, and I was afraid to go any farther So i Don't damage it. So is there any safe way to open it?

  Thanks

[Geek-9pm]

Welcome!
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You have done a great job of everything possible to tray and read that drive.
I can't think of anything more at this point. but just wait, some of the experts here will come in with some ideas.

Are you in North America or Europe?

[samo231]

Thanks Geek-9pm, I'm from North Africa Region (Egypt).

[joy division]

I connected it to another PC, it didn't work there too

That pretty much says it.  If another computer won't recognize it then there's apparently something wrong with the drive.


Bootable operating systems (from CD) don't recognize the drive either as you stated so that rules out a software issue in Windows...So don't bother making any more changes in Windows. 

Will the drive show up in CMOS ?   If it does then that gives you a clue as to what's specifically wrong with the drive.



What "other" devices does the drive work with ?

[Allan]

Sounds like the drive is shot.

[patio]

See Here...

Seems it's difficult to open the case without damaging it...

Not sure i'd recommend the method listed but apparently one person was able to get it going long enough for data retrieval...