External Hard Drive Problem

[PaulSB]

I use a Freecom HD to back up family photos. Yesterday I went to add some more only to find two different laptops wouldn't recognise it - that is the HD did not show as present under My Computer.

The power light illuminates and I hear the familiar feint whirring of the HD spinning. I'm keen to access this as while it's only back up there may be a few images which are no longer on the laptops - this was the main point yesterday, to double check everything. 99% of our photos are on the laptop as well.

If the drive has failed is it possible to perform a rescue? Cost is not the prime issue as this is family stuff I'll be using two EHDs in future

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Do you know anyone with the same make and model of drive? If so then try their power supply.

 

[User269]

Have a look in Device Manager and see if it's listed, and if there's an error message. Try disabling the drive then re-enabling it. Also, try connecting with a different USB lead, as it's surprisingly common for these leads to fail.

 

[2PedalsTez]

What WW said.
I have an MP3 player that For some reason does this. I just delete it out of device manager and plug it in again and it works fine.

 

[defy-one]

If 2 laptops cannot see it, i would try another USB lead. The electronics between the drive and the USB leads is generally poor and you may need to buy another cheapo case and put your drive within it. The drive itself should be fine.

In future and as you have indicated - do another backup to DVD - our family library is split year by year so i archive them onto seperate DVD's and keep an external usb drive as you do


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[PaulSB]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I shall be trying all as necessary.

Cheers

 

[PaulSB]

Thanks again for the suggestions. The USB lead proved to be the problem. I'm now taking the advice of DVD as a secondary back up which also provides a nicely organised archive.

cheers

 

[defy-one]

Good man