I dropped my seagate harddrive and it won't work:

[Stargazer Lily]

I dropped my Seagate external hard drive and now it can't be detected by the computer.

I hear the disengaging sound when I take the usb port out or in but, the drive is not humming like it used to when it was on. No light is on in the drive as well, anymore.

Can this be fixed?

 

[foscooter]

Not cheaply! A new drive might be cheaper than repairing it.

 

[andrewcarr]

Hard drives are very fragile, seems like you are going to need a new one :/

 

[nbelote]

*hears Taps playing in the background*

They're right, there's nothing you can do on the cheap except buying a new one.

 

[smorizio]

depends on what took the hit when the ext drive hit the ground. if your lucky you pop a cable lose inside or the control board took the hit. if the unit out of warranty the the 20 fix would be to take the unit apart and use a usb to ide or sata cable and see if the drive is readable and spins up in your hand. if the drive does not it called a head crash and it dead jim....

 

[Stargazer Lily]

Thank you all so much for responding!

I am a photographer and those images on a terabyte were priceless. I own about 4 hard drives and nothing had ever happened to me like that.

Hmmm....I do know that Seagate offered to have me mail it to them, and they would give me a ballpark figure to fix it, if it could be done. 90% o the time, it can be fixed. I hope I am not the 10%. They offer free shipping to get it to them. Isn't that nice?

Again, thank you all for responding!

 

[Stargazer Lily]

Best answer selected by Stargazer Lily.

 

[Stargazer Lily]

depends on what took the hit when the ext drive hit the ground. if your lucky you pop a cable lose inside or the control board took the hit. if the unit out of warranty the the 20 fix would be to take the unit apart and use a usb to ide or sata cable and see if the drive is readable and spins up in your hand. if the drive does not it called a head crash and it dead jim....

"and use a usb to ide or sata cable and see if the drive is readable and spins up in your hand. "

Could you tell me what ide or sata cable means?

I could probably undo the unit, but what do I do next?

Thanks!

 

[smorizio]

depending on the age of your hard drive there to type of controlers ide or sata. ide was a older format and the drives have a 40 pin connector in the back of them. the newer sata drives have a small black or gray look connector that looks like a small l.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119152
this cable does both sata and ide you would connect the drive to it on one end and connect it to your usb port. if the drive is working you would be able to copy it onto a cd or onto anther drive.

 

[Wendy99]

Hi - did you end up sending your drive to Seagate? I am in the same boat an wondering if I should pay the $99 for the evaluation and quote.

Cheers.

"and use a usb to ide or sata cable and see if the drive is readable and spins up in your hand. "

Could you tell me what ide or sata cable means?

I could probably undo the unit, but what do I do next?

Thanks!

 

[Proximon]

You need to understand that repair and recovery are different things. Data recovery is normally a bit pricey, as it involves a clean lab.

In this discussion of HDD dis-assembly, no one mentioned clearly WHAT should and should not be taken apart. Any access of the actual disks or contamination from the outside will damage them further, unless it is done by a trained tech in a clean lab.

Here is a good video of the process
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iibPikysGw

I cannot recommend any given company.