Hey ya,

Our hard drive recently crashed and we're now in the process of trying to recover whatever data we can. We have an external HD casing and trying to use our other laptop to see what we can get off the corrupt/failed hard drive. Problem is, we've tried 2 different computers and neither of them can recognize the external (damaged) drive. We know the casing is working as we've tried with another hard drive (a brand new replacement one) and the laptops both recognize the new one.

Question is, how do we begin our attempt to recover data if we can't even get the damaged HD to be recognized? Any ideas?? Please help!!!

The fact is you may never recover your data. When a hard drive "crashed" it can be physically damaged. If it is then you will not be able to start the drive. It will be unrecoverable\unrepairable.

Sorry.

You could try SpinRite, but if the damage is mechanical, you are pretty much out of luck.

I am not sure of the company's name, but they offer Hard drive repair starting from $99- $5000 I believe. If its important you could try that. Google for the name.