[Wozzie]

Hi Folks,

I've just plugged my PC in and realised my Maxtor external hard drive is dead! I get a message saying directory is corrupted or unavailable. This is an nightmare as all my music, pics etc are stored on it.

I've tried running chkdisk and plugged the drive into my laptop but still getting the same response.

Is there anyway of bringing it back to life or getting the data off it?

Or should I just bite the bullet and format it it?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Woz

[MightyMouth]

Is it making any noises when you plug it in? The caddy might be dead but the drive itself might be ok, is it a 3.5 inch drive or a 2.5 inch? If its a 3.5 you could always install it in the PC and see if you can read it from there, if its a 2.5 you will need a laptop to try it in or another caddy. If it still doesn't read it but it detects it you might be able to use some data recovery software to try to recover the data. These will sometimes work even after a format. Just do a search on google, you can find good freeware versions. I have personally used SoftPerfect File Recovery with good results

[dasteph]

does it have its own power supply or does it pick power up through a usb connection depending on what size it is you could take it out and put into desk top pc if its 3.5 inch drive and try to access that way, does it show in your computer with your internal hd if it does and you still cant access it then you will not be able to format it.

[Street Hawk]

Hey Wozzie,
i have no idea how valuble the pictures & documents are to you on the external drive but if its any help & you are desperate for the data to be recovered and all of the above fails PM me & ill send you a link for a data recovery company that can help.
but......
if your hard drive is making any mechanical noises, clicking sounds, spinning up & down again.. turn it off and leave it off and get it sent off to the data recovery company as it will reduce your chance of having the data recovered if you did decided you were faced with that last option.
best of luck if you need any more help.. stick a reply on the thread & i & anyone else will try to help you out.

Regards

Street.

[Mordor1946]

my maxtor did the same...it was 300gb with 240v supply...I removed the drive from the case...made sure all internal connections were OK ...switched the drive on and as it was trying to start I tapped spin point of drive...it accessed Ok
\\another possibility is to remove from case and install as slave internal drive on your pc...hope this helps...