Unresponsive external HDD

[mike the car guy]

HDD purchased as an external drive but just a generic WD Green, 1T. it was a loan and I was trying to copy some files, but it was very slow, got slower and is currently unresponsive. When it did work I for the most part could only really access it thru Firefox and the /// method, not windows explorer. Odd I know, but I try to make things work however I can. Anyway, it finally got to the point where it is not visible in computer management or explorer and can't be seen or accessed anyway I know. However, if it's connected when trying to boot up it will cause the computer to lock and hang. If I turn it on after a system is running I can hear it spin up, a little clicking and it slows, it goes thru this process 3 times then coasts to a stop and is silent. So even though it's not apparently visible, somehow it is. I have tried a different external enclosure and on several different computers and the results are all the same. OS on all is XP, SP3.

Should I try the freezer trick? Try buying a new HDD PC board? A software solution? The $300 HDD recovery place? Other suggestions?

 

[fzabkar]

It sounds like an internal fault, possibly a bad head.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there mike the car guy,

After all the troubleshooting steps you've performed and given the fact that the HDD clicks and powers down, I would say that your safest bet of recovering your data is to contact one of WD's Data Recovery Partners.( You didn't mention trying the drive with another USB cable but I assumed you have tried that)

WD's Data Recovery Partners: http://goo.gl/gNPEHN

D_Know_WD