External hard drive help!!

[Gregvivi0401]

I have old external hard drive WD 500gb witch is now stop working you can hear its spinning (icon on desktop) but i can't access the hard drive. My wife is mad at me and want me to get data from this hard drive and its mainly photos what is my option guys?

 

[CuriousTomCat]

I assume the drive is out of warrenty?

It's either the harddrive or the USB interface. Open the external hard drive enclosure to reveal the harddrive inside. Remove the hard drive and connteced to a PC using the SATA connector. Is it a 3.5" or a 2.5" hard drive? Some external 2.5" hard drive enclosures have a proprietary connector inside instead of the usual SATA connector. So it would be best to research this first before you open it.

If the hard drive is recognised by Windows but you cant access the file system then you can try some hard drive recovery software like Easeus Data Recovery. If the hard drive has completely failed then most hard drive manufacturers do a data recovery service, although this does cost hundreds of pounds.

 

[13oots2]

There are places that do component level repairs on HD's, one I watch regularly on YT. Only real issue being is he is in the US, NorthridgeFix is the company, might cost a bit but if it gets you out of the mire it's worth it.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Well before you start worrying about recovery labs...

- Windows makes the USB connection sound when you connect it? If Mac, I don't know if there's a sound...

- There's an icon on the desktop? What is this icon? Does the drive appear in the file explorer?

- Open disk management and see if the drive is there and if it's populated with volumes. See if you can mount and assign a drive letter.