Knocked over external hard drive, now it's not being detected by Windows

Naffa · 8 Jun 2007 at 23:49

As title. I was stupid enough to know over my external USB Toshiba hard drive. Since, it's not being detected by Windows. I've unplugged it, restarted, etc. But to no avail. Is there any way to see if it's damaged? Or shall I just chuck it in the skip now?

fini · 8 Jun 2007 at 23:56

Have you tried taking the HDD out of the caddy and connecting it normally to a computer - hopefully it's just the extra little circuit board that's broken

MeatLoaf · 9 Jun 2007 at 09:32

This happened with a freecom drive i had, the pc wouldnt pick it uop, but i got the drive out of the enclosure and it worked perfect in the PC, so i got another enclosure and it works fine in there

Naffa · 9 Jun 2007 at 10:56

Oh right, cool.

I never knew that's how they worked.

So I take it out of the enclosure, would I be able to try it in the PC? eg Does it have a SATA/IDE port?

And if so, would something like this be adequete?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-000-AN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=72

Thanks for the posts guys, you've really cheered me up.

MeatLoaf · 9 Jun 2007 at 11:19

Chances are it will be an IDE drive inside.

I had to break the Freecom enclosure apart to get it open so dont bash it with a hammer or anything

For the enclosure id get this as its a good enclosure plus supports SATA and IDE drives

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-003-EN&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=72

fini · 9 Jun 2007 at 11:51

It'll just be a standard IDE drive so pop it in like any other drive. Depending on how much you use the drive I'd go either passive or actively cooled for a new enclosure. If you're just using it for the occasional backup then passive, like the enermax one, is fine. If it's going to be on whenever the computer is then I'd suggest an active one like the one you've suggested - as sometimes the HDDs can get a big hot in the passive ones.

Naffa · 9 Jun 2007 at 15:42

Cool beans.

Thanks for the replies.

So if it's not being detected, will I HAVE to open it?

fobose · 9 Jun 2007 at 16:06

How old is it? It might still be under warranty.

Rroff · 9 Jun 2007 at 16:07

Is it a largish external HDD with a seperate power supply or one of those really small portable ones powered off the USB port? if its one of the small ones chances are its got a 2.5" laptop type drive in there that might have a glass platter... a hard enough knock can shatter it... tho usually in that case it would still be detected just not readable...

Naffa · 10 Jun 2007 at 18:45

It's a rather large Toshiba 300GB job. I'm not sure about the warranty, but a lot of the information is very important, and I wouldn't be able to do without it. Even if they would RMA it.

Thanks guys.

Naffa · 10 Jun 2007 at 20:55

How on Earth do you get the enclosures off? Do you actually have to break them?

Naffa · 10 Jun 2007 at 22:15

Ok, I've got the enclosure off. I have a rather strange problem now. Some help with this one would REALLY be appreciated.

First of all, I just want to point out that there aren't any jumpers on the drive itself. So this could be the source of the problem itself.

Basically, as you can see, "Disk 1" is the external hard drive now inside the computer. But it's not showing up in My Computer, and it doesn't have a drive letter assigned. And apparently, all the space is free on the drive? :/

A bit mashed up to say the least.

Can anyone help me? If so, thankyou VERY much.

kvfb97 · 11 Jun 2007 at 00:37

Right click the drive and choose assign drive letter.

Wierd though as it says 100% free space...

Naffa · 11 Jun 2007 at 01:39

Everything that appears when I right click is greyed out, bar 'Delete Partition' and 'Help'.

Thanks for the post though.

MeatLoaf · 11 Jun 2007 at 08:17

Have you got it on its own IDE channel?

If theres a diagram on top of the drive it may tell you what setting its at - master or slave.

On most drives tho - no jumper = slave.

Naffa · 11 Jun 2007 at 09:57

Yeah that's what I assumed. Although, it is the master on the IDE channel that it's on.

IAmATeaf · 12 Jun 2007 at 10:34

Try doing a google for the drive model number and see what info you can find re master/slave. I'd have thought it would be set to master but sometimes the external USB drives have weird/special firmware on them so they can't be plugged into a normal IDE port.