Guest Olen R. Pearson Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 I have an USB external drive that no longer appears in the list of devices in My Computer. The drive has worked fine for several years, and then it just was not there. Is there any way to test the drive to see if is really dead. I am running Win XP Pro SP2. Thanks.
Guest WindPipe Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 Re: Dead Disk? Hello Olen, When you turn on the Hard Drive, are there any unusual 'clicking' sounds coming from the disk? If so the disc may of had it. If you look in Disk Management, Control Panel -> Computer Management -> Disk Management, is there any reference to your external disk, even an 'unpartitioned' disk in the list? Are you able to put the disc in another external case, or place another disc in the mentioned external case to see if it is the case, rather than the disc? Hope you have a back up of the disc, unless the disc is your back up disc. In the case you can get the disc to spin download Recuva from http://www.recuva.com/, if you're in the situation were you may have some corruption (not too physical) on the disc, and you want to attempt to get as much data off it as possible. Hope this steers you in a right direction. - WindPipe Olen R. Pearson wrote: > I have an USB external drive that no longer appears in the list of devices > in My Computer. The drive has worked fine for several years, and then it > just was not there. Is there any way to test the drive to see if is really > dead. > > I am running Win XP Pro SP2. > > Thanks.
Guest WindPipe Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 Re: Dead Disk? (Correction) Re: Dead Disk? (Correction) Control Panel -> Computer Management -> Disk Management, should be, Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. My sincere apple-logies..... - WindPipe WindPipe wrote: > > Hello Olen, > > When you turn on the Hard Drive, are there any unusual 'clicking' sounds > coming from the disk? If so the disc may of had it. > > If you look in Disk Management, Control Panel -> Computer Management -> > Disk Management, is there any reference to your external disk, even an > 'unpartitioned' disk in the list? > > Are you able to put the disc in another external case, or place another > disc in the mentioned external case to see if it is the case, rather > than the disc? > > Hope you have a back up of the disc, unless the disc is your back up disc. > > In the case you can get the disc to spin download Recuva from > http://www.recuva.com/, if you're in the situation were you may have > some corruption (not too physical) on the disc, and you want to attempt > to get as much data off it as possible. > > Hope this steers you in a right direction. > > - WindPipe > > > > Olen R. Pearson wrote: >> I have an USB external drive that no longer appears in the list of >> devices in My Computer. The drive has worked fine for several years, >> and then it just was not there. Is there any way to test the drive to >> see if is really dead. >> >> I am running Win XP Pro SP2. >> >> Thanks.
Guest Olen R. Pearson Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 Re: Dead Disk? (Correction) Re: Dead Disk? (Correction) Hi, Yes, there is a listing for this disk in Disk Management. All the entries APPEAR normal or correct except there is NO Volume or File System given. The data on this disk is a backup and can be replaced. What next???? Thanks. Olen "WindPipe" <wind_pipe@msnews.com> wrote in message news:e9gO6Do2IHA.548@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > > Control Panel -> Computer Management -> Disk Management, should be, > Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk > Management. > > My sincere apple-logies..... > > - WindPipe > > > WindPipe wrote: >> >> Hello Olen, >> >> When you turn on the Hard Drive, are there any unusual 'clicking' sounds >> coming from the disk? If so the disc may of had it. >> >> If you look in Disk Management, Control Panel -> Computer Management -> >> Disk Management, is there any reference to your external disk, even an >> 'unpartitioned' disk in the list? >> >> Are you able to put the disc in another external case, or place another >> disc in the mentioned external case to see if it is the case, rather than >> the disc? >> >> Hope you have a back up of the disc, unless the disc is your back up >> disc. >> >> In the case you can get the disc to spin download Recuva from >> http://www.recuva.com/, if you're in the situation were you may have some >> corruption (not too physical) on the disc, and you want to attempt to get >> as much data off it as possible. >> >> Hope this steers you in a right direction. >> >> - WindPipe >> >> >> >> Olen R. Pearson wrote: >>> I have an USB external drive that no longer appears in the list of >>> devices in My Computer. The drive has worked fine for several years, >>> and then it just was not there. Is there any way to test the drive to >>> see if is really dead. >>> >>> I am running Win XP Pro SP2. >>> >>> Thanks.
Guest Twayne Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 Re: Dead Disk? > I have an USB external drive that no longer appears in the list of > devices in My Computer. The drive has worked fine for several years, > and then it just was not there. Is there any way to test the drive > to see if is really dead. > > I am running Win XP Pro SP2. > > Thanks. Silly question; have you tried a Restart?
Guest William R. Walsh Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 Re: Dead Disk? Hi! > The drive has worked fine for several years, and then it just was not > there. Is there any way to test the drive to see if is really dead. The first thing to do is to check and see if the drive still turns on and runs normally when you power it up. (There should be no repetitive loud clicking or squealing sounds.) If you can get the drive out of its enclosure and hook it up directly to your computer's internal hard disk connectors that will give you another data point as to where the failure lies. I have seen enclosures, bridge chips (these "convert" SATA/PATA to USB and/or Firewire) and power supplies all fail. It's worth a shot and may be all the fix you need if you find the drive works. Once you are sure of that, you could just buy an empty enclosure and put the drive in it. William
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