A buffalo 80 gb external hard disk problem

Right… I've had this hard disk for about 5 months, perhaps. I've only used it a few times. It worked like a charm. Now, I've misplaced the usb lead and the energy plug, but found from other electronic gagets ones that fit perfectly. The machine went on, allright… on with vengence. It made such a high noised racket that I got a heart attack. Then I switched to another energy plug… it made only a few bleeps, then the light stayed on. But the pc still wont' recognize that it is on. There is actually NO recognition on the pc of the existance of this hard disk, what-so-ever! HOW did it break? Did it break? What to do? Thanks.

Sounds like you've assassinated the drive, you can't just plug any old lead(s) into things where electricity is concerned, it's how people get shocks and start fires etc, you must ALWAYS use the appropriately rated power source. About the only thing I can suggest is to remove the drive from the enclosure, then add it to your desktop system as a slave, then see if the system acknowledged it then, if you can identify the hard drive maker then download the utility that they provide (well the big names do anyway) and try a scan with that, if the drive refuses to show up you may well have a dead drive, but try this first and see how it goes.

You do realize that I didn't understand a single word of that, don't you? As you can see, I am not a very electronics savvy guy…. Well, there is one thing I understood… I killed my drive. Ok then… so if you lose one lead, the whole machine is completely uselles? NICE! Thanks for answering, though.

LOL, sorry about that, I can go at whatever speed you need, but you need to let me know when I go over your head so to speak. Now the external drive, it comes in it's own case, these can be removed to expose the actual hard drive itself (the ones I've seen anyway), obviously caution is required so you don't break the cover\clips etc, then you can add a replacement drive to it if the drive is actually dead, rather than replacing the entire thing, so it will save you some money, then once the drive has been removed from the case you can add the drive to your actual PC, what this would achieve is making sure that the case\leads aren't at fault instead of the drive. Do you have a PC (not a laptop) ? And how comfortable are you in going inside the PC and adding a hard drive ? When you tell me this we can see what options you have, but as to using the wrong cable, to help this understanding it would be like my plugging in a PC thats comes from the US into a socket here in the UK, the US is 110v, the UK is 240v, end result a blown power supply minimum, so if you used a cable that did not supply the correct power requirements for the drive, it's a fair bet it has been damaged, but without trying it in a PC we can't say conclusively, I hope this makes a bit more sense to you.

NOW yer talking english! Ok, so I opened the hard-disk…. it is still a huge blob of meta. Though, I can see some pi-electronic… well, don't know the word in english, but the green thingy with all the silver and black parts. Anyhow, how big is the essential part, because there is a part that looks like it could go into my pc (into some white sockets where I believe things like the graphics cards go…) anyhow, the rest of it is some black metal, which comes in the way when trying to put it in… I definitely don't know even does it go where it looks like it might (with the excess metal away). NOR do I know what to do when I do have it in its correct place. Nice, eh? Oh, by the way, the green thingy with the power bit was definitely melted and fried. The other, seemingly essential part, seems ok to me. Thanks for your patience!

Right the metal lump you describe sounds like the actual hard drive, the following is typically what to expect:-
[external image: Posted Image]
Now can you take a pic of the damaged bits your describing and post it up here ?
I fear your describing that the electronics of the case are fired, if so your lucky to of got away without more serious possible things like electric shock and\or fire, you must NEVER use a plug unless it's supplying what something needs, people have died plugging in any old lead, so make sure you never do that again.

Now if you can give me the make and model details from the hard drive, then the same for your PC, I can check as to what the spec is and can advise where and how to connect it, but from the above I fear the entire case\drive that you are having problems with are destined for the bin, but if you can show some pic's of what you mention it would help us to confirm this.

sorry this took so long.. had to find a camera Anyhow, here are the VERY bad pics… a bad camera produces bad pics. As for the pc specs, I know this pc can't take it. I need to check my mum's pc, which I can only do next week. Anyhow, there are two pics of the broken part and one of the hard disk itself. Thanks (I think it is a sata 2 one… 3.5 inch.)

That looks like ide from here, take a look on top of the drive, and post back the make\model of the drive, then I can say for sure.

model: HD103SI made by samsung It also says "serial ata" (with an "s" in the middle, going in between the letters of "ata"… guess that means it is "sata"): 3gb/s hope that helps

In that case Yes, it is definitely a Sata drive, so lets see if we can move you forward and see what damage may have been done, but this requires you to open the side of your case, and add this drive in, do you think you can manage this with instruction ?
Once I know then I will post a guide on what\how to do this, but to aid this it would be handy for me to know what motherboard you have, then I can try and show you what and where to look for things, so if your up for this post back the make\model of you system, but you will need a Sata drive lead, so see if you have one of these available, it will look like the following:-
[external image: Posted Image]
Let me know about all this and we can go from there.

Motherboard: unknown… great (I used everest home edition). Anyhow, I did manage to see that the drive I've there right now says sata on it, but I couldn't see a single think that looked anything like those leads you showed me…faxconn or something like that, I couldn't see too well, but something like that was the only thing that could be anywhere near that.

The pic above is a blown up shot of the plugs, the actual lead\connections are very thin and a lot smaller compared, length is the only variation apart from some have 90 degree plugs, but you will need such a lead to check the drive out, power will hopefully be there already, but that depends on your current PSU and set up.
Now was this a store bought system ? if so if you could give the make\model etc, possibly service or tag numbers if present, some makers use these, but not all.

Everest not finding everything is a pain, but not the end of the world, as long as your comfortable shut the system down, remove the mains\power lead from it, lay it on it's side, make sure the window side (if it has a window) is facing up, if it has no window then looking straight onto it, lay it to the right hand side, undo the screws on the rear lip of that side and remove the side panel, these usually slide to the rear of the case before being able to be lifted clear, now the inside should be exposed, make sure you touch nothing to begin, just look.

Now look at the board, somewhere on it the make\model should be printed, make sure you include any revision numbers as well, that should give me your board, now while your looking try and see if you have any of the leads in the pic above, they will be thin red leads, usually anyway, what I am hoping is you will have 2 of them, if so we can borrow one from another connected device for testing the suspect drive.

There is an alternate option available if you are not comfortable going into the system, also if you don't have another Sata lead free this will take care of all that in a risk free method that you may be happier with, and it's simply a USB Sata connector, great tool, allows connection of all drive types via USB which saves going inside and upsetting components, they don't like being moved sometimes, see what you think.
This is the sort of thing I mention, I don't suggest getting this specific one, nor from this seller, although theres nothing wrong with either, but search for your best deal from a reliable source, hope this helps.

Yeah, I THINK I like the second option more. Correct me if I am wrong, but that basically will work as a container would? I mean the black box in which it originaly came? Oh, will that power plug work in finland?

Yes, in basic terms anyway, that allows you to use the drive as though it's in the now damaged casing, but without the casing, if that makes sense lol, you attach directly to the drive all exposed, just don't touch the printed circuit board on the underside of the drive, there are no shock issues as voltage is very low, but it "can" damage the circuit, so best to avoid if possible.
As to the plug, I have no idea on what you use over there, that is a UK plug which works with 240v, you would be best placed to find a supplier over there which can supply exactly what you need, just look around any parts suppliers you have there and you should find this, I found one place, but know nothing about them, not sure how price compares, but shop around and you may get a better price\supplier, but this at least shows you have one place to turn too, hope this helps.,
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_…1&sku=30504

http://www.halvathinnat.fi/magento/usb-2-0…cocthh66h90kld4

That also has the description in english. If I am not badly mistaken, that should do it. Funny thing being that the case itself costs only about 4 € more (though, a really good one might cost up to 15 € more than that).