Interrupted File Transfer; External No Longer Recognized

[EquivalentTrade]

Long time since I've posted in this forum; I've Googled my problem a bit and also scoured these forums, but couldn't find an identical problem. Hope you guys can help! I have a lot of pictures and such backed up on here that I would hate to lose.

Earlier tonight, I attempted transferring some files from my external hard drive (500GB Seagate in an Antec MX-1 connected via USB) to my internal. It took way longer than usual, so I canceled the transfer. Afterwards, I noted the hard drive was no longer being recognized by my computer at all, despite the enclosure's light still being on. There are some odd noises being made by the hard drive as well upon turning the enclosure on-- a few rattly whirrs, then normal sounds as if nothing happened.

I've tried using different USB ports and plugging it into my netbook to no avail. It doesn't show up in Disk Management either. I've rebooted once as well. My next endeavor will be to see if it's recognized in my BIOS, as well as taking it out of the enclosure and plugging it directly into my computer via SATA. Any other tips to get my computer to recognize it any form?

Thank you in advance.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Sounds like it simply died to me. Try taking the drive out of the enclosure and slaving it to a SATA port, and see if the BIOS recognizes it.

 

[pete1229]

After you mount the drive internally run a chkdsk on it and see how it fares. You'll need to specify the disk number (eg chkdsk X were x is the disk number) or it will do the chkdsk on your system drive. FYI chkdsk x/r will repair any errors the test will find. If anything this may repair the disk (if it is in fact failing) to a point where you may be able to recover all those pictures and save them to your system drive drive.

 

[VirtualLarry]

After you mount the drive internally run a chkdsk on it and see how it fares. You'll need to specify the disk number (eg chkdsk X were x is the disk number) or it will do the chkdsk on your system drive. FYI chkdsk x/r will repair any errors the test will find. If anything this may repair the disk (if it is in fact failing) to a point where you may be able to recover all those pictures and save them to your system drive drive.

That's a VERY BAD IDEA on a drive that may have physically failed. If the OP wants to attempt recovery, he should do so either with the original drive or an image copy.

Running CHKDSK on a drive that has failed, is liable to either cause the drive to fail completely, or render it virtually unrecoverable.

 

[tcsenter]

I had an external drive with a similar problem. It was the enclosure (electronics) that were flakey, the drive itself was OK. Installed in a new enclosure and it works fine.

 

[gsaldivar]

After you mount the drive internally run a chkdsk on it and see how it fares. You'll need to specify the disk number (eg chkdsk X were x is the disk number) or it will do the chkdsk on your system drive. FYI chkdsk x/r will repair any errors the test will find. If anything this may repair the disk (if it is in fact failing) to a point where you may be able to recover all those pictures and save them to your system drive drive.

Do not listen to this guy's advice.

 

[gsaldivar]

taking it out of the enclosure and plugging it directly into my computer via SATA

Do this.

 

[EquivalentTrade]

Good evening gentlemen,

Do this.

Thank you for your help thus far. Unfortunately, upon plugging the drive into my computer via SATA, it was not recognized by my BIOS. Is there any particular method required for "slaving it"? I was under the impression I could just use the SATA cable and power cable from my SATA CD/DVD Drive and connect those.

Sadly, I doubt putting the drive in a new enclosure would do good since it's not even recognized when connected directly via SATA, so I haven't tried that.

This CHKDSK thing sort of scares me, but if it's my last resort I'm open to it. The photos and such on this drive are indeed of sentimental value, but I doubt I can afford paying to get my stuff back. How much would recovering 400GB of files off a 500GB drive cost anyways?

If it helps, my drive sounds like it's hissing when it powers up. It definitely spins at an increased rate for a second or two, but then soon after stops making noises and just spins quietly as normal.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[EquivalentTrade]

Hey guys,

Sorry for the self-bump. I was just wondering if anyone had additional tips before I try this chkdsk process that may or may not kill my hard drive :| thanks a lot for your help thus far.

 

[Soundmanred]

How will you use checkdisk if it's not recognized?
It sounds like it's just a dead drive.
Data recovery is usually prohibitively expensive, that's why alot of users have backups, some of us multiple backups.

 

[EquivalentTrade]

Oh, fair point. Sigh, I guess it can't be helped then. Simply nothing recognizes it. Thanks you for help everyone, lesson learned!