Broken External Hard Drive? :'(

via66

Honorable
Apr 30, 2013
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10,510
Hi I know there have been a lot of posts about this but I can't find one that fits my circumstances.

So I've got a Seagate 1TB Backup Plus. I accidentally dropped it a few days ago while powered on and I can't see it in My Computer anymore. :(

There are no sounds or vibrations at all and the light doesn't turn on. I can see it in the Disk Manager but it doesn't have a name and when I right-click it the only option that pops up is "Help".

I'm sure my parents won't allow me to pay for those data recovery services since the hard drive contains only movies and shows. But I really reeeaaally want to get it back, it's 1TB worth of movies and shows and ebooks I've collected and downloaded and slaved over for years. :( So if there's another way to get them back please please tell me.

Thank you so much for even reading this and I hope beyond all hope that someone can help me. Thank you all in advance.
 
Solution
If you had an external docking station then you could remove the drive from its enclosure and see if it will run in the docking station, or just try carefully connecting it to power and a data cable in a desktop PC and see if it works. There's a small chance that the drive is good but the power source or enclosure is broken, but the odds are good that the drive itself is broken.

If the drive is broken itself, then it can either be the circuit board interface that is attached to the drive, or the mechanical part (a head crash, etc.) Even if it's just the circuit board interfacing the drive, that costs around $100 to $130 to replace at a repair shop, at least in my part of the U.S., and if it is the mechanical part that's broken, then...

mbreslin1954

Distinguished
If you had an external docking station then you could remove the drive from its enclosure and see if it will run in the docking station, or just try carefully connecting it to power and a data cable in a desktop PC and see if it works. There's a small chance that the drive is good but the power source or enclosure is broken, but the odds are good that the drive itself is broken.

If the drive is broken itself, then it can either be the circuit board interface that is attached to the drive, or the mechanical part (a head crash, etc.) Even if it's just the circuit board interfacing the drive, that costs around $100 to $130 to replace at a repair shop, at least in my part of the U.S., and if it is the mechanical part that's broken, then it could run close to $1,000 to retrieve the data, if it's even possible.
 
Solution