external hard drive dead

[theador50]

My external hard drive won't power up. Got a new power cord, nothing. How do i get my files off the external hard drive, onto a new one?

 

[Jonathon Mirza]

This might sound a bit technical, but this is cheaper than the alternative.

First just to establish this is your HDD and not the computer plug it in to a different computer, if that works, try a diffrent port on your computer, if it does not work on a different computer you need to do a little electronics work on the board.

To provide further instruction I need to know the exact make and model of the External HDD.

I can then tell you how to proceed and what component it is that is likely causing the problem.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there theador50,

In case the drive requires external power source, you need to try connecting it with different cables(not only with different power one but with a different USB one as well). Also, you can connect it to the ports on the back of the casing as they tend to provide more power.

In case the issue persists and the HDD is not powering up, I would say that there are two possible causes.
1st one: There is something wrong with the enclosure. Some users take the drive out in similar cases. Though, keep in mind that this will void the warranty. Also, things like proprietary connectors and hardware encryption, could prevent you from accessing the data on the drive.
2nd one: There is something wrong with the drive itself. In this case, your safest bet of recovering the data is to contact a data recovery company.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[Jonathon Mirza]

Yea that is a point, D_know a different cable might solve the problem in that situation.
But if it is taking power from the USB, than chances are it is either a relay, electrolytic capacitor or resistor that has gone. I would be surprised if it is more than one component that is gone, and a digital multi meter is all you need to test the components.

 

[qstick]

I had a dead external hard drive. Plug it in, no noise, no action, nothing. Completely dead.
I tried some of the tricks mentioned. Different cable, different computer. Put it in the freezer, tapped it with a soft mallet, turned it upside down, over on it's side. Nothing.
About a year went by. I removed the external hard drive case and plugged it in hoping it would work. Nope. I pulled the small cable circuit board off the front and was looking at a notebook/laptop hard drive. In desperation I bought a Sabrent Sata II HDD 2.5"/3.5" to USB converter, about $25. It comes with a power supply and hard drive to USB cable. As soon as I plugged in the power supply the hard drive began spinning. I connected the data transfer cable and 12 hours later, the data on the bad external hard drive was transferred to a new external hard drive.
It had data I needed, about 750 GB.
Worked for me after I'd given up hope.

 

[andrewjcole]

It might not have enough power. If it's a portable one, you may need a Y cable.