External Hard Drive

[SouthRoute55]

I have this great external hard drive/ card reader , but suddenly its not working i.e. when I plug it into any laptop USB port it does not detect the hard drive bit, but it detects the card reader.

Is there anything I could do? or do I just go and buy a new external hard drive?

[Sockpuppet]

Try a another computer?

[SouthRoute55]

Try a another computer.

have already tried a couple of laptops.

[Cowboy Bob]

have already tried a couple of laptops.

Sounds like it's dead then...

[SouthRoute55]

Sounds like it's dead then...

I don't mind buying a new one, only I have some data on this external hard drive that I'd like to retrieve... any ideas?

[Sockpuppet]

Whats the HDD inside the USB caddy?

Try and buy the same again and then take the drive out and put it into the new one and hope that the controller in the USB was gone not the drive.

If it is a standard drive access it that way.

[SouthRoute55]

Whats the HDD inside the USB caddy?

Try and buy the same again and then take the drive out and put it into the new one and hope that the controller in the USB was gone not the drive.

If it is a standard drive access it that way.

just tried another USB cable - still the same mistake

[Swamp Thing]

If the HDD spins up then at least the head and platters are not knack’d. At this point I’d power it down and take it to a data recovery company. Get them to retrieve the data while you wait. If you’re thinking about another ext HDD, the dinky units by LaCie are pretty good…

[martinb]

I have this great external hard drive/ card reader , but suddenly its not working i.e. when I plug it into any laptop USB port it does not detect the hard drive bit, but it detects the card reader.

Is there anything I could do? or do I just go and buy a new external hard drive?

Remove the hard drive from the caddy and attach it as a slave drive to your computer - you'll need a desktop comp with an IDE cable. (You'll need to set the jumpers on the drive to make sure it is a slave and not a primary).

That is the best way to eliminate any issues with the caddy and connection within/to/from the caddy.

If your BIOS in the computer can't see the disk as a secondray hard drive, then you'll need to start thinking about data recovery companies. If your BIOS sees it, try browsing for the disk in Windows explorer. If the disk is ok, you should see all your data and be able to copy it.

If the BIOS recognises the disk but you can't see it in Windows, there's still a good chance of being able to get the data with appropriate software tools.

[SouthRoute55]

OK - solved it, was told (by my son) that card readers do not require power to be detected, hence if the laptop is detecting the card reader but not the HDD storage, the problem may be in the problem may be in the power, what do ya know, changed the fuse and its working now.