Please Help My External HD! :(

[Pistol Pete]

Today My external just stopped showing up...It spins up and normally connects quickly...

it does not click or anything. My whole photo library is on it so my life depends on it!

Please point me in the right direction please!!!!

Thanks,
Peter

 

[timswim78]

Have you tried viewing / mounting it with Disk utility? If not, start there.

If it does not show up in Disk Utility, try putting the drive in another enclosure (if you have access to another enclosure).

If the drive is going bad, the longer that it runs, the more likely it is that data will be destroyed. Shut the thing down and contact a data recovery service (which will not be cheap).

Some people say that putting a failing hdd into the freezer for a few hours will make it work long enough to get your data off of it.

 

[idea_hamster]

Before you try the freezer thing (not that it doesn't work, but think "condensation"), I would try repairing permissions on your Mac.

I've noticed that things like a program not starting, trash not emptying can be traced to a fouled permission file.

For a more complete attempt, you could shut down, disconnect the drive, restart (which includes a permission repair), and then reconnect.

Good luck!

 

[Flyinace2000]

Go buy Disc Warrior.

 

[adk]

Also, the enclosure could be fried. That happened to me once.

 

[deebster]

You could also try the demo version of Data Rescue, an app which is available on versiontracker or macupdate.

The demo will allow you to scan the drive to see if any files are recoverable, but you would have to pay for a licence before you can recover them.

Still cheaper than going to a data recovery place though, and I know it works as I did it last weekend.

Alternatively DiskWarrior is a great app, and if you hold the option key down when scanning drives it will switch to 'scavenge mode', which might allow you to rescue items that way too.

Good luck mate

 

[janey]

i've had a lot more luck with data rescue than with any other app - got most of my files back from some severe filesystem corruption (thanks a lot hfs..)...good stuff.

 

[Pistol Pete]

thanks a lot everyone...

the enclosure is good because another HD works in it, also if it helps at all the light is orange if it is on and flashes yellow if in use...well after 30 secs the light stays yellow and does not connect...

 

[Pistol Pete]

thanks for all of the help all, the culprit was actually my lacie enclousure....

damn lacie!

 

[lexfuzo]

After going through all that you might consider doing a BACKUP regularly.
If "all your life depends" on a single harddrive, it's not bad luck nor "damn lacie", it's all your fault alone if you lose data.