Is my external hdd damaged?

[FleaBittenDogg]

i have an external hard drive. when i plug it in the green light comes on and it vibrates. the problem is, is my computer, my girls computer and my sisters computer won't find it. nothing comes up in "computer" I'm using windows 7, my girl and my sister both have vista. is there anything i can do to get my computer to recognize it or is it FUBAR?

 

[Wamphryi]

Here are some possibilities.

If you are using ESATA then the ESATA Controller must be activated in BIOS and the External drive plugged in before booting the system.

If you are using USB 2.0 then in theory the drive should show up. It may be possible that the drive has never been Initiated and so the computers dont recognise the device. Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Disk Management and see if the OS is recognising the drive but just not displaying it.

Try a different Cable. If those things dont work it could very well be a hardware fault. It could either be the HDD itself or the device it sits in to attach to the PC. If possible remove the HDD from the device and plug it into an internal SATA port. If the PC sees it then that eliminates the HDD itself. That would leave the chassis itself as the most likely suspect.

 

[FleaBittenDogg]

it's a usb2. i forgot to add it was recognized before. i transfered some family photos to it. the usb cables were yanked and now nothing. the cable has two usb plugs which i've checked by using it with something els and got no problems. just no joy with the hard drive. think it's screwed