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External Hard drive no longer recognised by laptop

  • 06-04-2011 11:28pm
    #1
    Tweedle Faduh
    Registered Users Posts: 32 ✭


    Hi,

    I have a 640gb western Digital Passport essential HDD that is no longer recognised by my computer. When I plug it in the disk spins, the LED comes on but then starts flashing. This is the drive I bought to use as my backup so has most of my files:rolleyes:

    I have tried the following:
    Two different laptops, XP and Win 7
    Different USB cables
    Reinstalling the USB controller drivers
    I've opened the chassis to try and put the drive into another one but the USB connection is attached to the board and not a separate bridge.

    Can anyone think of anything else I can try?

    I was thinking of buying an identical drive and swapping out the board but I would like to try somewhere professional first. Can anyone let me know where I can get the data recovered at a reasonable price?

    Thanks in advance:)


Comments

  • #2
    bonzodog2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,254 ✭✭✭bonzodog2


    Tweedle Faduh wrote: »
    Hi,

    I have a 640gb western Digital Passport essential HDD that is no longer recognised by my computer. When I plug it in the disk spins, the LED comes on but then starts flashing. This is the drive I bought to use as my backup so has most of my files:rolleyes:

    I have tried the following:
    Two different laptops, XP and Win 7
    Different USB cables
    Reinstalling the USB controller drivers
    I've opened the chassis to try and put the drive into another one but the USB connection is attached to the board and not a separate bridge.

    Can anyone think of anything else I can try?

    I was thinking of buying an identical drive and swapping out the board but I would like to try somewhere professional first. Can anyone let me know where I can get the data recovered at a reasonable price?

    Thanks in advance:)

    I'd doubt there's any external drives with USB integrated into the drive electronics. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

    I'd guess the electronics in the enclosure are borked. New enclosures are cheap; I'm guessing its a 2.5" SATA drive ?


  • #3
    ricman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,559 ✭✭✭ricman


    you could try a linux live cd,eg mint ,that,ll detect any working usb drive . it should be easy to remove if its a sata drive, it just slides out from pcb sata interface.Can you post a picture of the pcb.


  • #4
    Overheal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 85,315 ✭✭✭✭Overheal


    depending on what the error is it could get very expensive. was it dropped? did it surge?


  • #5
    ricman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,559 ✭✭✭ricman


    you need to remove the drive from the case ,put it in a caddy, sata hd caddy 20 euro.the usb cable is irrelevant , the hardrive itself is likely to be working fine.
    see here http://www.google.ie/imgres?q=ata+interface&hl=en&sa=X&tbm=isch&tbnid=CLpW5WJm-EnFcM:&imgrefurl=http://www-947.ibm.com/support
    see here ,make sure the drive is sata ,as above pic shows.
    theres sata and IDE ATA caddys in the shops,ie 2 interface types.
    its likely the pcb that s connected to the usb cable is faulty ,
    not the hardisk .


  • #6
    ricman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,559 ✭✭✭ricman


    it would be possible to install the drive in a pc, with a spare sata interface,
    you,d need a sata power cable, sata data cable to connect it to the pc motherboard.its easier to just buy a sata caddy,that ,ll have a usb cable to plug the caddy into any pc or laptop.


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