USB Sata Hard Drive wont mount

Someone unplugged my Sata USB connected hard drive when it hung up during a file copy session. Now, it won't mount. XP and Linux will not recognize it. XP Error message is USB Not Recognized. Linux Error Message is Cannot Mount Volume. :cry

What Free Hard Disk Utility Software can fix this problem?

 

First off, you can check the status of the filesystem of the hard drive buy going to computer management under administrator tools. Once you get to computer management, click drive management.

If you do not see administrator tools on your start menu, right click on the start icon and go to properties. Go to the start menu tab and then and then click customize. Towards the bottom you should see an option to include administrator tools in the start menu.

See what the drive shows up in drive management (be sure not to mistake it for your boot drive, probably c:\). A lot of things can show up, so report back with what it says. If you don't see the drive, report that also.

 

The drive does not show up in Disk Management. (Right click on My Computer, go to Manage, go to Disk Management.) I am taking the time to download System Rescue CD, 238 MB. Will take about 24 hours where I live. Have already taken down Advanced System Care (Free) and NTFS Mechanic (shareware). I wont pay for NTFS Mechanic, but will see what can be done in their demo mode. But first, I will try going to recovery console from XP boot disk and run Chkdsk /f. Will let you know the results.

 

Here is something else for you to use.
http://majorgeeks.com/Seagate_SeaTools_for_Windows_d2858.html
Seatools is a hard drive testing tool that will work with any brand and through USB. Just checkmark the desired drive to test (be sure it's not actually your c:/) and run generic test. If you only see one hard drive (which would probably be your c:/), then a) Your external HDD enclosure and/or cables may be malfunctioning or b) your HDD may have a serious problem. Seatools doesn't even take into account filesystems, so it removes that variable from the equation; Though if the drive does not even show up in device manager than I suspect something else is wrong than the filesystem.

It is also a possibility it is your computer and not the external HDD at all. Try plugging the external HDD into a different computer and see if it works there.