Hardware

on the same system with the same operating system. I ask this as the usual problem with external USB drives is a problem with the USB port, often the port is NOT up to the same level as the drive as it may be an older motherboard with an earlier level USB (not all are compatible with the latest USB devices).

Try rebooting the system, then try the drive on other ports or another system.

What generally happens with External HDD's is that the user doesn't use the Safely Remove Option and just unplug it or turn off the computer. This eventually corrupts the File System on the external HDD.

The solution here is to open the Drive Management locate the External Drive when it is plugged in and run chkdsk /r on the external Drive.

Most times that will recover your Data but if it is Really Important Data you should not do anything except pack up the Drive and take it to a Data Recovery Company and let them recover the Data off the Drive. If you mess with it and Must recover the Data all you are doing is increasing the cost and decreasing the amount of Data that can be recovered by the Professionals.

However if it would just be Nice to get the Data Back Check Disc Repair should do it for you.

To prevent this from happening again you need to use the Safely Remove Option under Windows on the Task Bar beside the clock just click on the Safely Remove Icon different versions of Windows use a different icon and then the Safely Remove List in the Drop Down Menu.

You shouldn't turn off any computer with the External HDD running and ideally you should only run the External HDD for as long as you need them, not all of the time as they generate Heat and the hotter that the drive gets the shorter a life it will have. If you need to recover Data off a Dead Drive as apposed to one just not showing you can expect to pay in excess of 56K which is a lot of money that needn't be spent if the End Users just followed the Simple Instructions that are no longer included with these Drives.

As these External Enclosures use a Standard HDD in them you can also open the drive and plug it into a computer to bypass the USB to HDD Interface Card inside the Enclosure which may also be damaged by excessive heat.

If you need to use a External HDD a lot of the time you should buy a Actively Cooled Enclosure like the Antec MX1

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=NzA0MjIx

This will prevent the Drive overheating but will not fully protect it from Vibrational Damage.

If you Must Have a Small Form Factor External HDD for use with a NB while traveling you should buy a SATA Enclosure and fit a Solid State Drive to it as these do not generate mush heat and have no moving parts to suffer any damage from being moved while running. The down side of using something like that is it's Expensive compared to a Mechanical Drive and generally speaking much smaller capacity and slower to write to as well.

Col