Dropped External Hard Drive Beeping when Powered on.

[Phanotak]

I dropped my Toshiba 3TB External Hard Drive Model Number DWC130 about 2 feet onto a hard floor. Now, when I plug it in, it beeps a few times and doesn't show up. I can still see it on the Safely Eject Hardware. Seatools for Windows cannot detect it. I can see it on Device Manager as "TOSHIBA External USB 3.0 USB Device". It's worked before, so I don't think it's a power issue. The hard drive doesn't make any noise when it's plugged in either. It also doesn't show up on My Computer or on Disk Management. Maybe something internally got knocked about so it doesn't work. I really hope not, but it appears it's most likely the case. I can't afford to pay hundreds of dollars to recover data. Any suggestions?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Phanotak,

Unfortunately, HDDs are really vulnerable to hits/shocks. Most probably, the HDD has sustained some physical damage. As it doesn't even power up, you will not be able to access it with software tools.
To me, it seems that the only option you have is to contact a data recovery company, in case the data is really important.

Let me know in case you have some more questions,
D_Know_WD

 

[D_Know_WD]

@oliverpowell If the drive is not picked up by the testing software the OP has already used and it is not making any sound(spinning up), I doubt that it could be accessed by any software tool or the disk check feature. It is most probably not recognized by Disk Management as well.

D_Know_WD

 

[Phanotak]

@oliverpowell If the drive is not picked up by the testing software the OP has already used and it is not making any sound(spinning up), I doubt that it could be accessed by any software tool or the disk check feature. It is most probably not recognized by Disk Management as well.

D_Know_WD

Is there such thing as a service that as opposed to recovering the data, simply can compile a catalogue of what files are on my hdd. Ultimately, the stuff on there is not worth $1k I'll have to spend. Its all mostly movies and anime, it'll take at least a few months to re-download everything, but beats spending all that money. I just want to know what files are on my external hard drive.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Well, that would really depend on the company. It will not hurt to just contact several of those.
Most of the HDD manufacturers offer their own data recovery services or have some partners.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[MonicaBery0]

Hello,
In such cases, you are supposed to try this hard drive on different computer USB ports or on different computers to see whether it is still recognizable.
If it could be detected with else USB port or computer, you’d go firstly extract everything out and back it all up well elsewhere. Of course, if it is recognized there, but, also asks you to format or gives the like drive error problems, you’d better go rescue dropped hard drive data back.
But, if it completely cannot be read on any computer or machine, it could be corrupted due to your sudden dropping, you’d better send it to some drive repairing shop to take chances.