Damaged Hard drive external

[RainLover]

I plugged in an external hard drive. It took a while, like 30 minutes or so, for me to be able to see the drive in Windows Explorer.

See only, because the moment I click on any file the screen goes feint and then things freeze up.

I am running Windows 7.

Does any one have a trick or two up their sleeve to fix this.

I was told to put it in the freezer for 10 Minutes. I have not tried that but I will if I can't find anything else.

BTW This is the external Back Up.

Glad It is not mine.

But then I have a live version, an External Drive and I also use "One Drive", and then for those special documents like a photo of the Boss. Leave the balance up to your imagination. I use Dropbox. You realise I am only joking don't you.

 

[RainLover]

I was able to correctly copy the main file I wanted. Luckily I still remember most of my DOS.

Not sure what to do now except I have a new external which I shall Format then see what I can copy onto it directly from the original damaged Hard drive.

Please jump in if you think of anything.

 

[Vassago]

Does it make any low grinding or high pitched squealing sounds? Can you always feel the hard drive moving inside the enclosure when it's plugged in and powered?

What kind of external is it? 3.5? 2.5? Can you open the case and get to the hard drive inside? If so, you can try connecting it another way. It could be something as simple as the external connecting mechanism gone bad.

 

[RainLover]

Does it make any low grinding or high pitched squealing sounds? Can you always feel the hard drive moving inside the enclosure when it's plugged in and powered?

What kind of external is it? 3.5? 2.5? Can you open the case and get to the hard drive inside? If so, you can try connecting it another way. It could be something as simple as the external connecting mechanism gone bad.

Thanks Vassago for the help.

I think I retrieved as much as I can. In the morning I will venture into my workshop to find some cables that I can swap around but I feel as though this is the end.

I could try harder but I found and transferred what was mostly required. Any more than that even at a low charge rate could buy more important things.

But as I mentioned before it is good to shake out the cobwebs and freshen up my DOS skills. They come in very handy at time.

I read earlier this week on one of our threads that one of our members thinks DOS is now dead, and never to be used.

I am glad things are different.

 

[RainLover]

BTW

It was rude of me not to answer your questions.

The Drive is 3 1/2 "

It is a Samsung and I would say a few years old.

There are no unwanted noises coming out of the case.

 

[Vassago]

BTW

It was rude of me not to answer your questions.

The Drive is 3 1/2 "

It is a Samsung and I would say a few years old.

There are no unwanted noises coming out of the case.

I just noticed you responded.

I'm thinking you should try a different case or connection combination.

 

[moradisndat]

Glad to hear you were able to get the important stuff off using DOS. As for the freezer trick, I heard that was supposed to be overnight (inside a zip lock bag). Not sure about that though.

What I can suggest is that you look at the cable where it connects to the drive and see if is loose. It's hard for me to say without seeing the connection. I have had about 5 drives that have gone bad after several years and I was able to make them work again by using vise grips. With the first drive, I noticed there was a slight gap in the case where the data & power cables are connected. I used the vise grips to hold the case and tighten the connection and it worked like a charm. Also, I used some pieces of rubberized material (like the kind you would use as a toolbox liner) so the metal clamp would not come in direct contact with the drive. With the other drives, I didn't find a gap or noticeable loosening but I thought since it worked the first time, why not give it a try? By that time, I decided to take my repair to the "professional level" and bought a set of mini plastic clamps so no need for the extra material. 100% success rate. I do realize you are dealing with an external drive and mine were 4 SATAs and 1 SSD, but there's more, keep reading... I did have an old WD external that was like 7 x 6 x 1.5". It didn't die but just got kind of touchy. Would sometimes quit working and I'd have to jiggle the cable a bit. There wasn't anywhere to put clamps on that thing. But there's a saying, "you can fix anything with duct tape." I agree, lol.

 

[RainLover]

Thanks for that.

Very interesting.

Do you realise that this question is over 2 years old. I can't remember what I did but thanks for going to the trouble of sharing your knowledge.

 

[moradisndat]

LOL, no I didn't realize it was old. At times like this, I joke around that I suffer from time displacement syndrome, but this one beats 'em all.

 

[RainLover]

Doesn't matter.

It could come in handy another day.

 

[robert_mann]

I faced the same problem with my Tosiba HDD a year ago. I think if you have a extra PC in your home then you should make copies of your important files and images. HDD can't be trusted. Now we have SSD in market with lots of speed.