Seagate external hard drive not recognizable

[joslinh]

Please help! I have an old Seagate 60 GB hard drive that is no longer recognizable by any computer. It doesn't show up in my computer or disk manager but in device manager, a message pops up under unknown devices saying, "Cypress AT2LP RC42". Is anyone familiar with this and/or know how to fix it?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

It could be a problem with the small PCB inside the enclosure rather than a faulty hard drive.
Remove the hard drive from the Seagate enclosure and buy a third party enclosure for the drive.
Worth a try. Good luck.

 

[christinebcw]

As Philip brings up, "removing drive from enclosure" is about your next step. I don't know this model of enclosure but, in the last 8 years or so, Seagate's used a plastic clamshell design (top piece, bottom piece) that are clipped together with real, genuine plastic. So I have to snap those off (crack!) by inserting a flat-head screwdriver into a side-seam, and twisting it. Probably at the corners, first.

Some had 4 clips, some 6.

But first, I'd look for screw-holes deep on the underside or back of the case. Any dark dank hole is probably a bolt-hole, probably philips-head type.

Once you get the case open, there will be a few screws to undo and the hard drive can be extracted.

At this point, I'd open up my computer and plug in the power-connector to it, and hold the hard-drive in my hand to see if I could detect 'motion', vibrations - anything to indicate life!

If so, then you can buy a new external case (well, an old IDE version) and insert the drive there, or you might get a USB-to-IDE/SATA converter kit and attach the drive as a bare external.

 

[joslinh]

As Philip brings up, "removing drive from enclosure" is about your next step. I don't know this model of enclosure but, in the last 8 years or so, Seagate's used a plastic clamshell design (top piece, bottom piece) that are clipped together with real, genuine plastic. So I have to snap those off (crack!) by inserting a flat-head screwdriver into a side-seam, and twisting it. Probably at the corners, first.

Some had 4 clips, some 6.

But first, I'd look for screw-holes deep on the underside or back of the case. Any dark dank hole is probably a bolt-hole, probably philips-head type.

Once you get the case open, there will be a few screws to undo and the hard drive can be extracted.

At this point, I'd open up my computer and plug in the power-connector to it, and hold the hard-drive in my hand to see if I could detect 'motion', vibrations - anything to indicate life!

If so, then you can buy a new external case (well, an old IDE version) and insert the drive there, or you might get a USB-to-IDE/SATA converter kit and attach the drive as a bare external.

Thanks Christine and Phillip. Acutally when I plug it in, it does show signs of life (lights and spinning) so I'm hoping all is not lost. I will do as you've suggested and cross my fingers. Thanks!