Unable to see external HD =(

As the title says, I can't see my external HD. I've been looking for a solution on some forums, but I can't find a proper solution, because people with kind of the same problem eventuallly appear to have a different problem and so their solution doesn't work for me =(. So I thought this would be a more efficient way to solve my problem, if somebody helps me who knows more than I do. And I would really really really appreciate help, because I already lost once about 400 GB of information(it was a stupid accident) and now my HD is almost full again and I do not wanna lose that info, it's not really important(games, movies, programs nothing essential that I can't get again, but still) So now I'll describe my problem: I can't see my external hardrive, if I open my computer, but I can see it in device manager and in disk management. When I connect my external HD to my laptop, it says that the connection is fine and I can use "safely remove hardware", so I assume the connection isn't the problem. Device manager says the hd works properly(as I said I've been looking for a sollution on some forums and I found out that it doesn't really mean much, coz device manager says the same about lots of other not working hd, but I don't know much about HDs, so maybe you will be able to exclude some problems by knowing it). Anyway, the HD doesn't have a letter and I can't allocate one. And disk managment says: Disk 1, unknown, unreadble. If I click properties, general tab(device status)says: this device is working properly. Tab, Volumes: disk: disk 1, type: unknown, status: unreadble, partition style: not applicable, capacity: 0 MB, Unallocated space: 0 MB, reserved space: 0MB. And driver appears to work properly. It doesn't really look good, but I hope I'm wrong….. So I assume something made my ext HD unreadble and I don't what it is or how to solve it. And I want to fix whatever made my HD unreadble. PLEASE HELP . Additional info: My HD worked fine untill I lent it to a friend, but he says that it didn't work when he received it. I don't know what happened there. All I know that I doesn't work now. Regards from Netherlands =)

Hey Alek

That sure doesn't sound good, sorry for your problem.

I may be on "shaky" ground, but since no one else have come forth with suggestions,
I'll present what I would do. And in the process "bump" your post so that other more
knowledgeable in this field may lay eyes on this topic.

You say you can see it in disk-management, have you tried see if you can format it via Disk-management.? (Right-click it in the upper field)
Does LED light up upon connection?
Does it emit any strange noises when you power it up?
Is the USB connector intact and cords well seated?

Additional info: My HD worked fine untill I lent it to a friend, but he says that it didn't work when he received it. I don't know what happened there. All I know that I doesn't work now.

How and by whom was it transported?

Regards Abydos

Hi, Just to follow up on the excellent advice provided by Abydos, we get lots of drives come into the workshop with this sort of problem. On questioning the owner carefully and thoroughly on exactly what happened to their drive, a fair proportion admit to the drive having received a "knock "or a blow or some sort ,whilst a few folks actually admit to having dropped it! I hope your back up was up to date accurate and reproducible…. its often possible to recover data in these circumstances, but it can be a costly procedure. Regards paws

I wasn't exactly specific about the problem, but this time I'll be more specific: It does show in disk managment, but not in the upper field(upper box with details) of the diskmananagment, it only shows up in the below box. Here is the the image: http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=notclickbleur6.jpg The name is disk 1
If I click right mouse button, I only get 2 options: properties and help =(. So I can't even format it. If I click properties then I get the info which I provided in the first post. Help is useless.

Good news, about led: yes it burns when I connect the hd, so it's alive. About noises, yes it makes noises, so again, it's alive. I transported and nothing happened to it, so it shouldn't be the problem of bad transportation. USB connections and all cords are intact and well connected. Device manager sees it andeven gives the correct name of the HD.

Bad news, about noises: When I disconnect it, it makes normal sounds as it used to, but in a different way. It sounds like a damaged cd which can't be loaded. It speeds up and then the speed goes down and then again it speeds up and then the speed goes down and again and then it stops making noises. When I plug it in, it doesn't make any noise or whatsoever, only the led starts burning. Possible drop: I have spoken to my friend about it, but he denies it, I believe him and I don't think he dropped it, but I think the cause is some "fall" in the past(i have dropped in the past 1 or 2 times and maybe it's resulting in this now), coz I've done so many things by now and nothing helped. I haven't made a back up, but loads of my friends have most files of it and i can get all them of again… eventually.

Update about things:
I've used different "file recover" programms… well all were unsuccesful even at seeing the HD, beside 1 program, but it wasn't able to collect any data about the HD, coz the size was 0 MB, and other data were like the whole HD is nothing. well here is the image, so see it yourself: http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=infoas0.jpg But when I tried to go further with retrieving files, it said: Unable to read bad sector(s).. with options: try again, skip, cancel….or something like that, coz now it says: turn off UAC, while it's already off …

Summarize:
It's alive, but data is unreadble and unaccessible. Possible corruption of all files, sectors or whatever. I can't do anything with it, even formatting, which is really bad. Most programs don't even see it. And I can't find my warranty, coz I just moved(well 2 months ago), which is the worst news of all (not the move , but not being able to find warranty)

Oh one more thing: How do I "bump" my post so that other more knowledgeable in this field may lay eyes on this topic ?

And I'm looking forward for your reactions, it's bloody mystery for me now.

P.S: Thanx for the reactions . And I'm gonna try some other program which might(though very unlikely) do the job (one friend recommended it, but I forgot the name) well something like magic partition…. and he said something about zero fill drive, I don't even know what it is, but he said to use it as a last resort.

Hey again Alek

hmm, it sure sounds like bad news. I would say that the disk within the HD is scratched / cracked or broken,
based upon how you describe it sounds when "running".

If I were you, I would filter through boxes and stuff to get that warranty in hand. If it still goes, make use of it.
Any hardware failure such as this, is not likely to be solved here. It could be from a drop (they are sensitive!),
and if you have dropped it in the past as you mentioned, this may be the case. The disc within the HD is
sitting very close to the reader, and a knock could push it, pushing it in direct contact with the reader,
result; Scratched surface, leading to cracks and eventually it will break.

I hope I am wrong on this one, but it doesn't look good IMHO.

If I should be right here, you may look into data-recovery by a pro. if its important data. The prices can be
steep, and the results may vary. But the tech need to be payed nonetheless.
Its just an option you might wanna consider if the data is worth it.

Maybe Paws can provide more info based upon your excellent description, as this is not really my field.

Oh one more thing: How do I "bump" my post so that other more knowledgeable in this field may lay eyes on this topic ?

Hehe. I did the "bump" by answering your post. It moves up in the pages on the forum, closer to the top of active topics.
So instead of being on page 3 or 4, it would appear on page 1, giving it a chance of being noticed more easiely.
Many people "bump" their own post if they haven't got an answer within reasonable time. Only place where thats not
good, is in the malware forum. Occasionally some people bump their posts to much. As with all things, to much or
to little of everything makes the day sour.

Regards Abydos

Hi Alek Have you tried to remove the disk from the enclosure you could then either try it as a second internal drive just remember to set the jumper to slave so as to avoid hardware conflicts, it maybe that the enclosre is damaged rather than the disk in which case a replacement enclosure could be purchased