I'm creating a separate thread since this seems like a specific problem but if there is any relatable threads I'd love to be directed accordingly. I also do not know much about PC diagnostics. I did build my own PC but I don't know anything as far as software, computer programming, or coding goes. So consider me a total novice.
PROBLEM:
I have a 1tb Seagate backup plus portable external hard drive that I bought from Costco over a year ago. I've used it every day since to transfer data between computers and as an additional storage for music and pictures instead of my 250gb SSD. Just yesterday it started acting up and it no longer is recognizable to my computer and the LED doesn't power on.
events that happened towards error:
I force powered my PC off by holding down the power button. Whenever I tried to power it back on the computer froze at the ASUS motherboard screen before you enter the BIOS. I then tried to actually enter the BIOS by pressing f2 or del and nothing was working. I looked into my PC case and noticed that the BOOT_DEVICE_LED light was solid red. I decided to unplug everything and plug in just the mouse and keyboard and my PC fired right back up. Thinking it was just some weird error I plugged everything back in and continued to use my PC for a little while. Later I tried to power off my computer the proper way when I was done for the night. My computer then froze on the "Windows is shutting down" screen and it never turned off for over an hour. I decided to unplug my external hard drive and it instantly powered off. During this entire time I never noticed that the hard drive LED wasnt turning on, nor do I know exactly when the LED quit turning on.
I've since then turned my computer back on to troubleshoot the error with the hard drive and I noticed when I plug it in, it makes what i believe to be considered a fast pace "beeping" sound (sounds almost like a faint alarm/error sound) for around 3 seconds then stops. My headphones also give me the "du-du" noise that the hard drive has been plugged in. This leads me to believe that its getting power.
TLDR: hard drive started acting up, can no longer access content. somehow freezes my computer and makes a weird noise when I plug it in.
I am curious as to whether this is a corrupted data issue, or if this is a hardware issue. The data in the inside is more important than the hard drive since I don't have this data anywhere else. (I know stupid but poor college kid). I have done some research and seen that you can break the hard drive apart and try to bring the (reader arm?) back to its initial spot inside the hard drive which I would only want to do last resort. I don't mind converting the hard drive to an internal hard drive if that's even possible. I suppose if i were to order possible solutions it would be
1) fix hard drive without changing anything (obviously)
2) try to find a software fix (if thats the issue) to keep the integrity of the device intact.
3) break it all apart and then converting it to an HDD that I just leave in my PC.
I have seen some solutions as to "tapping" it on the side to see if you can free the arm and I also started to look at "discmgmt.msc" and it took a while but it finally recognized that its a "996gb" disk 1 (whatever that means) but it obviously wasn't 100% just stating that it was acknowledging that it was there.
Thank you for reading this, hopefully its thorough enough, if any more information is required please let me know. I can try to provide screenshots or videos of anything necessary.
PS: I do have a cat and did notice my hard drive on the floor (2 ft drop from the top of my tower to the ground) the day before
PROBLEM:
I have a 1tb Seagate backup plus portable external hard drive that I bought from Costco over a year ago. I've used it every day since to transfer data between computers and as an additional storage for music and pictures instead of my 250gb SSD. Just yesterday it started acting up and it no longer is recognizable to my computer and the LED doesn't power on.
events that happened towards error:
I force powered my PC off by holding down the power button. Whenever I tried to power it back on the computer froze at the ASUS motherboard screen before you enter the BIOS. I then tried to actually enter the BIOS by pressing f2 or del and nothing was working. I looked into my PC case and noticed that the BOOT_DEVICE_LED light was solid red. I decided to unplug everything and plug in just the mouse and keyboard and my PC fired right back up. Thinking it was just some weird error I plugged everything back in and continued to use my PC for a little while. Later I tried to power off my computer the proper way when I was done for the night. My computer then froze on the "Windows is shutting down" screen and it never turned off for over an hour. I decided to unplug my external hard drive and it instantly powered off. During this entire time I never noticed that the hard drive LED wasnt turning on, nor do I know exactly when the LED quit turning on.
I've since then turned my computer back on to troubleshoot the error with the hard drive and I noticed when I plug it in, it makes what i believe to be considered a fast pace "beeping" sound (sounds almost like a faint alarm/error sound) for around 3 seconds then stops. My headphones also give me the "du-du" noise that the hard drive has been plugged in. This leads me to believe that its getting power.
TLDR: hard drive started acting up, can no longer access content. somehow freezes my computer and makes a weird noise when I plug it in.
I am curious as to whether this is a corrupted data issue, or if this is a hardware issue. The data in the inside is more important than the hard drive since I don't have this data anywhere else. (I know stupid but poor college kid). I have done some research and seen that you can break the hard drive apart and try to bring the (reader arm?) back to its initial spot inside the hard drive which I would only want to do last resort. I don't mind converting the hard drive to an internal hard drive if that's even possible. I suppose if i were to order possible solutions it would be
1) fix hard drive without changing anything (obviously)
2) try to find a software fix (if thats the issue) to keep the integrity of the device intact.
3) break it all apart and then converting it to an HDD that I just leave in my PC.
I have seen some solutions as to "tapping" it on the side to see if you can free the arm and I also started to look at "discmgmt.msc" and it took a while but it finally recognized that its a "996gb" disk 1 (whatever that means) but it obviously wasn't 100% just stating that it was acknowledging that it was there.
Thank you for reading this, hopefully its thorough enough, if any more information is required please let me know. I can try to provide screenshots or videos of anything necessary.
PS: I do have a cat and did notice my hard drive on the floor (2 ft drop from the top of my tower to the ground) the day before
I'd strongly recommend you try to access your external from another computer and also try using a different USB cable with it. If you manage to gain access to your files on it, make sure you back them up somewhere else IMMEDIATELY! This is the surest way to avoid the potential data loss. Unfortunately, you should always make sure that you have at least two copies of your files stored on different storage locations/drives. Moving your files from an internal to an external drive is not a BACK UP, unless you have a duplicate of that file elsewhere! 
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