External Hard Drive Not Working...

Greetings,
A friend has just contacted me. His external drive fell and now doesn't want to work. Unfortunately It's got important data on it which need to be recovered.
At this stage I'm not sure what make or model it is but I would be interested in any suggestions that you might have.
Best wishes,
s.

 

I found this on youtube.
s.

 

If he can remove the drive from the enclosure he should connect it to his PC via an IDE/SATA to USB connector.
Then we'll know whether it's the actual drive that's damaged or perhaps the circuit board, connectors or cable.

 

I shall go and visit tomorrow. Luckily I have a

which I can try. It is a 1TB drive so I expect it to be a SATA connection. Unfortunately my mate has a Mac and so the disk will be formatted in HFS+.
I will keep you informed...
s.

 

No problem.
But you've got some homework to do...

HFS+ for Windows by Paragon Software is free for 10 days.
https://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/#

HFSExplorer is free but requires Java.
http://www.catacombae.org/hfsexplorer/

 

Thank you Eldon, In the first instance I shall try and dismantle the external disk drive and connect it to my SATA to USB connection - it has a 12 volt 2 amp input requirement. I use an old BT router power plug.
My plan will be to see if it works on my mate's Apple Mac and then puzzle from there.
Thank you for the links in #5
s.

 

If it is only the enclosure connection, you may have aa chance, but when they are dropped, hard drives are often damaged too much.
There are many such ideas on you-tube, as the one you found- anything is worth a try.
I did exactly the same with a 1.5tb hard drive in an enclosure (knocked onto floor ,) and , if he has important data on it, he may need professional help to recover it .
(Opening up, and removing disk/platter etc: is not for the timid.......

 

Tank you baklogic,

It all might be too far gone.
That said I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
s.

 

Success. It is working.
I will suggest.
Currently working on my adaptor USB 3.0
Are there any faster connections for a Mac?
s.

 

This bypasses the usb hub.
s.

 

Good , that most likely infers that the internal connections to the enclosure were damaged- hopefully hard drive is now salvageable.
Using a mac to read it will not be easy- probably safer, and easier if you can use a Windows, or, even Linux pc.
I found HFS tool not so easy to configure, myself , when I was in a position to try it- Mac coding is so different.

 

My plan is to copy the external drive to a new drive. Connected through the usb C port.

Check out the old drive.

s.

 

Sorry, I mis-interpreted- the hard drive is mac- HFS+ - The laptop/pc is a mac, you should be able to connect as is , to the mac with that adaptor, and read/copy files from it, without too much bother

 

My thoughts are that I can bring the old drive back to my Windows 10 machine and do some tests on it.
It was disconnecting via a USB 2.0 link.
s.

 

If the hard drive was used just for storage, you may be lucky, as this post suggests.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2014/feb/06/move-files-mac-windows-pc
This might be useful, too, if you need to convert a few files. (I would try copying, first, then if converting, convert the copy.(keep original intact,in case of problems)
Download Pixillion Image Converter

• Download Pixillion Image Converter for Windows
• Download Pixillion Image Converter for Mac

 

I'm a fan of NCH Software's programs.
But, you must be careful during installation.
Better still, disconnect from the internet before installing anything.