I can't access my external Toshiba Hard Drive

[onthesurface]

Okay, I really need help with my Toshiba External Hard Drive!!! I have a lot of valuable, and irreplacble files on there - I am a student and most of my work is on it because of transferring between college and home. Yesterday I tried to open some files from my hard drive on my home laptop - which is Windows 8 - and usually I can see the hard drive in 'My Computer', but it is no longer showing up there. I have already tried the Disk Manager, but when I try to initialise it a box comes up with - Data Error-Cyclic Recognition Fail or something along those lines. When I plug the hard drive in, it lights up and I can see it in the Devices and Printers menu, but I cannot - no matter what - get onto it like I used to be able to. I have not changed anything, no settings whatsoever. I haven't done anything differently, it just all of a sudden won't let me get onto it.
Also, I went onto 'Recent Places' and I could see it there, but when I clicked on it and tried to open it, it said 'The Drive or connection shortcut Toshiba HDD (E).Ink refers to is unavailable. Make sure the disk is properly inserted, or the network resource is available...' but the hard drive is plugged in?!
I also reverted my computer back an update because that has caused problems in the past, but that didn't fix it either. I also tried plugging it into a Mac at college but it didn't show up there either! I really need the files, and I will move them off it if I can access it once more. I am panicking big time! Any help would be great!
Is it corrupted? It hasn't been damaged in any way, so is it the USB wire?
Please help!
Thank you...

 

[fzabkar]

Does the drive spin up? Can you hear any sound, however faint?

Do USBDeview or UVCView see your drive?

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html
http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/b/a/eba1050f-a31d-436b-9281- 92cdfeae4b45/UVCView.x64.exe
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/UVCView.x86.exe

Can you see it with CrystalDiskInfo or HD Sentinel?

 

[onthesurface]

Does the drive spin up? Can you hear any sound, however faint?

Do USBDeview or UVCView see your drive?

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html
http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/b/a/eba1050f-a31d-436b-9281- 92cdfeae4b45/UVCView.x64.exe
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/UVCView.x86.exe

Can you see it with CrystalDiskInfo or HD Sentinel?

Yes, I can hear the drive boot up. It's a sort of faint whirring sound, which I am used to. Also I should mention that I am using the 3.0 USB port as advised with the hard drive.
I have tried both programs...Yes I can see it in USBDeview and it has the little green dot that means it's online, and I can see it in UCView. And it also shows up in HDSentinel, although its like it can't read it, and there are lots of question marks. I really hope it's not corrupted!
It's like the shortcut to access it has disappeared or is blocked, but I haven't done anything differently! I take very good care of it, and always take the wire out and put it in a case so that it doesn't get damaged, so I can't understand why this is happening.
Should I replace the wire? I have already had to do this so I figure that might be the problem, but I don't want to buy a new one if the problem is with something else.
Hope someone can please help!

 

[fzabkar]

If UVCView shows the Product ID and Vendor ID, then this means that the USB-SATA bridge IC is being detected. This in turn would suggest that the USB connection is OK. It would help to see the report, though.

Here is an example for a flash drive:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/USB_drive_UVCView.txt

As for HD Sentinel, it attempts to communicate with the HDD behind the bridge. The fact that it reports "question marks" would suggest that the HDD may have an internal problem. :-(

If the drive has a separate USB-SATA bridge PCB, then you could try to remove it from its enclosure and connect it directly to a SATA port on your computer's motherboard. However, I suspect that yours is one of those models where the USB hardware is integrated on the drive's own PCB. :-(