seagate 2tb external hard drive

[laparse12]

I have a 2tb seagate external hard drive. The light is not coming on and isn't being picked up by my pc or laptop. It is in device manager and it says it's working normally. Iv uninstalled it and reinstall it but still nothing. I can't get any access to the drive. 

If you click start and go to my computer right click and click on manage - go to disk management it shows it but says unreadable. 

Any ideas?????

 

[BadAsAl]

Is there data on there that you need?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there laparse12,

This is really unpleasant.

I believe you can start with just using a different USB cable. Does the device require a power cable? In case it does, you will need to find another power cable as well.
The fact that the device is not recognized by both your laptop and desktop, rules out a possible driver/USB port related issue.

In case the issue persists, then I guess there is something wrong with the enclosure or the HDD itself. In both cases, your safest option for recoverying the data stored on the drive is to contact a data recovery company.
Apart from that, your other options are more or less the following:
- Contact the manufacturer and RMA the drive if it is under warranty.
- Some users attempt to take the drive out of the enclosure. I believe you've come across similar threads. Keep in mind that this will void the warranty and may not work due to multiple reasons(proprietary connectors, encryption, etc.).
- Try to access the drive with some data recovery and HDD testing tools. Yet, keep in mind that there is a chance that you won't be able to access the drive with software tools.

Thread on data recovery: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1644496/lost-data-recovery.html
Testing tools: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility

Let me know in case you have some more questions,
D_Know_WD

 

[laparse12]

I don't mind loosing the data on the drive if I can start a fresh. The device is no longer in warranty so any option is doable.

I'm not very technology minded (more so with shorten down words lol) any help that is step by step would be appreciated or if there is a video link someone could post that I could follow would also be great. Thanks again for the help

 

[D_Know_WD]

Alright then.

The easiest thing you can try is to get another USB cable and attach it to another system.
Another thing would be to test the drive with any of the tools provided in the following link: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility
The results should provide a SMART report, which will show you the overall health status of the drive.

When in Disk Management, you can right click on the drive and see what are the options given.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD