My external hard drive wont pick up on my pc or mac

[SashVonSlaughter]

I have a Western Digital 500GB external hard drive that I got 2 years ago and only about a month ago the problem started, it won't pick up on my Windows PC or my Mac laptop. When I plug it in, the light turns on, but there's no sound coming from it to show that the drive is running or working, and it won't even show up when i go into Disk Management on my Windows. Can anyone please help me with this? I bought a new cable for it yesterday and still nothing, and even plugged it into a few friends pc's and the same thing happens on theirs, the data isn't lost, just won't pick up anywhere. Also, I sent it into a pc store and the tech said he couldn't do anything and said I'd have to sent it to a guy to recover the data that will cost R3500, which I can't afford. I can't lose any of that data on this drive. Help?? URGENT.

Just an update.
I plugged into my Mac, and it says the drive cannot be recognized and opens up in Disk Utility. But I have no idea what to do? Here's a screenshot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/87973010@N06/8047785375/in/photostream/ I really dunno what to do. Can I do something to get it to work and all my data will still be there or what? Please help.

 

[RealBeast]

If the HDD is mechanically dead you are out of luck, but it may just be a corrupted boot sector from disconnecting before a write was fully completed. Whether you get the data back or not -- never trust an external drive alone for backup of important data, they have issues too often.

I would try some PC based recovery tools like Recuva and try attaching to a back plate USB port not a front panel port.

 

[brigitteez]

I have a Western Digital 500GB external hard drive that I got 2 years ago and only about a month ago the problem started, it won't pick up on my Windows PC or my Mac laptop. When I plug it in, the light turns on, but there's no sound coming from it to show that the drive is running or working, and it won't even show up when i go into Disk Management on my Windows. Can anyone please help me with this? I bought a new cable for it yesterday and still nothing, and even plugged it into a few friends pc's and the same thing happens on theirs, the data isn't lost, just won't pick up anywhere. Also, I sent it into a pc store and the tech said he couldn't do anything and said I'd have to sent it to a guy to recover the data that will cost R3500, which I can't afford. I can't lose any of that data on this drive. Help?? URGENT.

Just an update.
I plugged into my Mac, and it says the drive cannot be recognized and opens up in Disk Utility. But I have no idea what to do? Here's a screenshot. http://www.flickr.com/photos/87973010@N06/8047785375/in/photostream/ I really dunno what to do. Can I do something to get it to work and all my data will still be there or what? Please help.

the exact same thing is happening to mine! it flashes and starts up like it should but it won't come up in my PC or Mac. Not even in Disk Utility! Please help.