BleepingComputer.com: External Hard Drive Problem

Well,

For the first time (and unfortunately not the last) in my life I have experienced what I believe is a failed external hard drive. I'm not sure 100%, I just know that it turns on but it is not recognized by my Windows desktop nor my MacBook Pro laptop. The drive is about 3 and a half-years old but it really saw minimal usage. I started to see problems with it roughly around the time I upgraded to Windows 7 x64 (last December). Then, it just stopped working. I don't have anything really important in there, however, there are some memorable photos of which exist only on this drive. Does anybody know of any software I can look into that will allow me to recover a minimal amount of files? I definitely don't need to save everything -- just a few files here and there. Obviously, I'll need a program that can recognize that the drive has actually been plugged into the system. Also, I swapped USB cords hoping for a damaged USB issue, but I came up empty-handed. I'd really appreciate the help. Thanks in advance.

P.S. I don't want to take it to get serviced, as I know that's the obvious (yet expensive) option.

- FS

This post has been edited by Feonix: 15 May 2011 - 03:31 PM

what is make / model ? have you used it with the macbook before ? if not maybe you should test it in another windows machine.
assuming that the drive will "spin up" can you hear it when it powers on ?

i have had great luck with this program to find lost partition http://findandmount.com/

also for lost files http://www.piriform.com/recuva

Thanks so much for the fast reply!

I really appreciate it. I have never used this drive with my MacBook Pro, that's why I am not really ruling this drive out completely. Honestly, I never really had big problems with this drive in the past. I don't hear the drive spin, it makes a few clicking noise at first start-up but thats it. Then again, to be honest, I never heard the drive spin. It was always super quiet. Thanks for the link(s), I will check them out as soon as possible!

The make is Cavalry, the model is CAUE37500 (500GB external Hard-Drive USB 2.0) Since then, I have never bought a non-known brand. I only buy Western Digital and/or Seagate now.

i should have asked first ... does the drive show up in disk management (thats XP, i don't have 7)

got it, this is how you get there in win7

To open Disk Management, open the Start menu of Windows Vista or Windows 7.
In the search box type diskmgmt.msc, typing the command then the file will appear in the box, just click the file to open the tool.

This post has been edited by caperdog: 15 May 2011 - 03:58 PM

Okay,

So I plugged in the Hard Drive in my desktop again and this time it was recognized (it made a chime); however it won't show the external drive in My Computer because while it was trying to "Install Software For The New Drive" it failed. Under Device Manager, I see that it is recognized but it has an exclamation point under it. At least, this is some sort of a good sign.

yes it is a good sign. i would try the find and mount program and get those photos before moving on.

Okay,

I tried Find and Mount but it didn't work for me since I am running a 64-bit operating system, (this is verified as "error code: 577" on the company's own website). Anything else like it? About to try Piriform's Recuva.

Thanks again.

This post has been edited by Feonix: 15 May 2011 - 04:45 PM

another good one is Easeus . They have a partition recovery tool and a data recovery wizard, free for home use, http://www.easeus.com/