external HDD not spinning

[Zach Eskaf]

I just purchased a 1TB hard drive and want to transfer all my files from my smaller hard drive to my new one. When I plug in the old hard drive to the computer using a USB it does not spin. The LED light comes on but all I hear is a clicking noise. I then tried plugging in the hard drive to an electrical outlet and it started spinning. Lastly I plugged in the hard drive internally. I hear it spinning but it does not show up on my PC.
Any help on how I can access my files on the old HDD?
Thanks!

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Zach Eskaf,

As the drive is most probably 3.5'', it will require external power source.
Apart from that, you need to provide some more information on whether and how is the drive recognized.
Is the drive recognized in Disk Management? Does it have a letter assigned, healthy partitions, etc.
Depending on that, you will have to either assign a drive letter or use some data/partition recovery software.
In case the HDD is not recognized by Disk Management, you need to double check your connections(cables and ports). You can connect the HDD to another system as well.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD