Is it possible to recover data from my broken external hard drive?

raj1235

Reputable
Jan 31, 2015
2
0
4,510
I broke my hard drive when it fell on the floor whilst unconnected to the pc. Now when ever I connect it to the pc it isn't recognised. When I connect it it makes a few short beeping noises (Not normal for it) and then stops. It doesn't make the noise to say it's been recognised and doesn't show up in my computer or disk management in Control panel. I've tried using iCare and it doesn't recognise the disk either.

The light that signifies the hard drive is on shows and doesn't fade. It's a small samsung and mas "m3 portable 1tb" on the back and says model number is HX-M101TCB/G. Any help would be appreciated
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Depends on what exactly is 'broken'.

Take it apart and remove the drive.
Connect it via standard SATA cables (internal), or a different USB dock (external).
If it works, then the original enclosure is broken.
If it still doesn't work, then the actual drive may be toast.
 
Sorry to hear that. Beeping isn't a good sign - hard drives normally do that if their heads are stuck to the platter. Unless you are willing to open up your hard drive, you have probably lost the data. (Professional data recovery is always an option but is normally always too expensive to use unless you have heaps of cash lying around :))
 
depends on how broken.
the most fragile part in an external enclosure tends to be the connector for the hdd. often it will go wrong but the hdd is still readable.
so pull it from the enclosure and attach it to an internal sata port. if its still readable it will show up as a normal hdd.

or what they said... :/
 


OK, try reading from it. I don't think it'll work at all but it's worth a try :)