Help! My external hard drive is not 'acting' up!

schmikey · 04-09-2010, 06:54 AM

I was away for a few months - (to escape the Canadian winter - which wasn't too bad this year!) Shut off my computer, external hard drive, unplugged everything from the wall. Now that I'm back I've got things up and running - except when I turn on my external hard drive I don't get the icon appearing on my computer... The light appears on the hard drive and I can hearing it 'whirling' but nothing seems to be detected by the computer... I changed the connection from firewire to USB and still nothing - I also tried hooking up to my laptap and nothing....
Is there anything else I can do? I've had the hard drive for a while and this has never happened before...
Anyone, someone please help!!!
At a loss!
Mike

**davidreilly3207** · 04-09-2010, 08:58 AM

I would purchase an external enclosure and try the hard drive in that. Hopefully it is the electronics in the enclosure that went bad, especially if the drive is spinning up. Also, try plugging the power supply directly into an electrical outlet as sometimes even a slight voltage drop of an extension cord or power strip will be a problem. Alternatively, you could remove the drive from the enclosure and mount it directly in the pc, assuming the proper connection is available (sata or eide).

04-09-2010, 06:54 AM	#1
schmikey Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 159	Help! My external hard drive is not 'acting' up! I was away for a few months - (to escape the Canadian winter - which wasn't too bad this year!) Shut off my computer, external hard drive, unplugged everything from the wall. Now that I'm back I've got things up and running - except when I turn on my external hard drive I don't get the icon appearing on my computer... The light appears on the hard drive and I can hearing it 'whirling' but nothing seems to be detected by the computer... I changed the connection from firewire to USB and still nothing - I also tried hooking up to my laptap and nothing.... Is there anything else I can do? I've had the hard drive for a while and this has never happened before... Anyone, someone please help!!! At a loss! Mike

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04-09-2010, 08:58 AM	#2
davidreilly3207 Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: South Jersey Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 720	I would purchase an external enclosure and try the hard drive in that. Hopefully it is the electronics in the enclosure that went bad, especially if the drive is spinning up. Also, try plugging the power supply directly into an electrical outlet as sometimes even a slight voltage drop of an extension cord or power strip will be a problem. Alternatively, you could remove the drive from the enclosure and mount it directly in the pc, assuming the proper connection is available (sata or eide).