Seagate USB HDD and folders visible, but unable to access data files. Please help

[larrens]

I have a Seagate 500gb Expansion Portable Drive (USB3).

I am unable to access my data, and would really appreciate some help.

When I plugged this into my USB port (directly on my Win7 PC) the drive is recognised.
A box pops up to ask if I want to “scan and fix the removable disk”. I click “continue without scanning”

At this point I am able to see the drive under My Computer.
When I click on the drive and open it up, I CAN see the folders.

The problem I have is this:
When I try open up a folder to access the files, or right click to delete nothing happens. The green progress bar in in the address moves slowly, eventually saying it is not responding and seems to freeze.
Same thing happens if I try to delete a folder.

I don’t care that the drive is stuffed, but is there any way (cheap if possible) that I can get the data off?
I have read that a way it to boot up using Ubuntu but this to didn’t help.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

It may not be the drive that's the problem, it could be the bridge chip PCB inside the enclosure that's faulty, a common issue with ready-to-use external hard drive units, especially those with no cooling vents where heat build-up can affect the bridge chip.

Extract the actual hard drive from the Seagate enclosure (minus the bridge chip card) and buy a third-party enclosure for it.