Hard Drive issue.

[Jennifer Walters]

Babysitting a dog and I did not expect this, but the puppy was playing with the usb wire to my external harddrive causing it to drop to the floor. It has been making a scanning noise when plugged in sense and the light is on and it recognizes in device manager but there's no way of getting to the actual stuff on the drive.

What's up?

 

[Kryptonian Warrior]

Babysitting a dog and I did not expect this, but the puppy was playing with the usb wire to my external harddrive causing it to drop to the floor. It has been making a scanning noise when plugged in sense and the light is on and it recognizes in device manager but there's no way of getting to the actual stuff on the drive.

What's up?

Unfortunately, it's most likely hosed. There are a lot of moving parts in a Hard Drive (unless you have a solid state drive) and most likely something is broken inside the drive. Even if it fell a couple of feet, it doesn't take much for something to break. Anyways, you might have to take it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy or a local computer shop in your town to see if they can fix it and/or retrieve any information on that hard drive. Before doing any of that though, have you tried unplugging the power from it and disconnecting it from the USB? Try that first before taking any other drastic measures.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Unfortunately, it's most likely hosed. There are a lot of moving parts in a Hard Drive (unless you have a solid state drive) and most likely something is broken inside the drive. Even if it fell a couple of feet, it doesn't take much for something to break. Anyways, you might have to take it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy or a local computer shop in your town to see if they can fix it and/or retrieve any information on that hard drive. Before doing any of that though, have you tried unplugging the power from it and disconnecting it from the USB? Try that first before taking any other drastic measures.

Yeah. I've taken those steps. It just sounds like it's scanning noise everytime it's uplugged it gets recognized in device manager but you can't actually get to it under the drives menu. I do suppose it's hosed.

 

[Kryptonian Warrior]

Yeah. I've taken those steps. It just sounds like it's scanning noise everytime it's uplugged it gets recognized in device manager but you can't actually get to it under the drives menu. I do suppose it's hosed.

Go out to the internet and search for free data retrieval programs. If your computer is still "seeing" the hard drive, then there is a possibility that the data can be retrieved. Quite honestly, I have never had to do it, but I do know that there are several free programs out there.

 

[Kable24]

Wrap the drive in a bunch of paper towels and put it in a ziploc bag and then put it in the freezer for a few hours. Then take it out and plug it in and you should be able to pull your info off. It sounds like the drive is dying. We have put them in the freezer at work and it sometimes helps.

 

[Just one more]

Wrap the drive in a bunch of paper towels and put it in a ziploc bag and then put it in the freezer for a few hours. Then take it out and plug it in and you should be able to pull your info off. It sounds like the drive is dying. We have put them in the freezer at work and it sometimes helps.

I'm a tech as well and if you try this, make sure it is completely airtight or you damage the drive further.

Also, Data Rescue 3 is your friend. I use it a lot at work to get files off drives with those exact symptoms (making noise, recognised by comp but canna access)