Question External HD not appearing, despite windows recognizing it's being plugged in.

[Flonne]

OS: W10 LTSC


I have a Seagate SRD0NF1 4TB HDD i use mostly for storage purposes that stopped working some weeks ago, i just realized it because i have multiple external HDDs so i thought it was simply not connected.

The issue is, while the HDD light does not turn on nor appears on the disk list of my computer, windows DOES make a sound when i plug it and unplug it.
I believe the HDD makes sounds for a few seconds after that and then it goes silent.

In the device manager i do not see any yellow ! that could indicate a driver error or anything regarding the HDD.
In the disk manager the HDD does not appear.
Yet...windows acknowledges it has been plugged it or plugged out.

What could the problem be?
Is my HDD dead? I hope not.
In the worst case i would like to get at least a list of the files that were there.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

windows DOES make a sound when i plug it and unplug it

most likely just recognizing that a USB device has been detected.
that doesn't mean the drive is working, just that some sort of power/data has been detected.

What could the problem be?

could be the housing that failed;
issue with power to the drive inside,
issue with data connection to the drive, etc.

try reconnecting USB to current port and try others.
try a different USB cable, if possible.
try a different external power cable, if it uses one.

if all else fails you can try removing the drive from the housing and connecting through another method;
direct SATA,
another housing, etc.