External Seagate HD- letter appears, then disappears quickly

Hello,

I am afraid that I am probably too late, but I am not able to access any data on my 300 GB Seagate 7200.9 USB external HD.

Windows XP recognizes the drive very briefly when I plug it in, then it disappears just as quickly, and after that I cannot view the drive letter in Computer Management.

Like a silly fool, I had not backed up the data since the drive was so new- only 8 months old! Hopefully one day storage and other computer parts will not have moving pieces that can fail- we have a lot invested in these miniature record players! Maybe we should have not copied that particular design. Let this be a lesson to all- don't skimp or be lazy about backup!

At any rate, I would like to determine if:

1. Is any of the data still there?
2. Can the data still be accessed if the drive does not appear in Windows?
3. If the data is kaput, is the drive still usable in any way?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

i would pull the HDD out of the external bay and connect it properly to your pc. that way you will be able to tell if its the external enclosure or the hdd itself that is faulty

 

I don't use TweakUI or Powertools, so I guess this would not be the issue. I have unplugged all other USB devices, still no no avail. The drive does not work in 2 other PCs. I have an identical external drive that works fine, is recognized by XP, autoplays, etc, so I think the USB ports are fine.

I noticed that the power supply for the nonworking drive does not work anymore either (light does not come on), though when I use the good power supply from the working external drive it still doesn't work. It starts up, lights come on, gets warm and there is movement inside. My suspicion is that the power supply shorted or something and fried the drive too. Every once in a great while it will recognize the drive and indicates a RAW file system, but I can't even get it to do that anymore.

I have 2 smaller internal hard drives in my PC that are currently working fine. What is the proper procedure to unhook one of these to try the nonworking drive (sounds like there is not much more I can do with USB?)? I don't want to mess up the internal drives! I know how to connect the IDE cables for the drive and MB, but do I need to do anything special or particular before this?

Thanks again!

 

the easiest way to do this would be to use one of the ide cables from your cd drive - this way nothing should go wrong with your hard drives. just unplud the power & and cable from your cd drive and plug straight into the HDD you have removed from the external case.
(also, if there is more than one device on the IDE cable you are using, make sure you have the pins on that device and on the hdd arranged so that there is only one slave and one master)

IF that fails to work then chances are that the hdd has been zapped and is pretty much useless. HOWEVER if you can get your hands on the EXACT same drive (exact same size, brand & model number) then you can unscrew the circuit board and use it on the dead drive (assuming nothing is mechanically wrong with the drive) to transfer data off it.
note however that drives usually carry a 3 year warranty so you should be able to take it back for a warranty replacement