dropped seagate expansion hard drive

[postie1392]

i dropped my 2tb seagate expansion external hard drive yesterday and now my computer wont recognize it.
the light flashes on the hard drive when i plug it into my computer and i can hear it spinning, but then the drive makes a couple of strange beeps.
the hard drive is listed on the "device manager" on my computer but is not available to access via "my computer"
please help!!!
i dont know if it makes a difference, but the hard drive was plugged in and powered up when i dropped it

[smrpix]

Unfortunately, it's very likely you had a literal head crash, where the head physically smashes into the trays. If there was no important data on the drive see if you can reformat it. If you need the data, try plugging and unplugging a few times to see if you have any luck -- if not, you'll need a professional repair service. This will cost several times more than the price of a replacement.

[DB83]

Pro data recovery from a crashed HDD will cost £000's.

One thing that you might want to consider is taking the drive out of the enclosure. Try another enclosure or even install direct in to a PC just in case the connectors were damaged rather than the drive itself.

Just be prepared for the worse.

[aedipuss]

assuming it's a usb expansion drive take it out of the case and either plug it directly into the motherboard or use a usb to sata/ide adapter like this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002&cm_re=sata_to_usb_adap...-002-_-Product

[pandy]

HDD is probably dead... not sure if you can cheaply recover at least part of data...
Sorry - you will be amazed how HDD are sensitive for even small vibration (it is easily visible on latency performance)... dropping working HDD is disastrous...

[SameSelf]

For drives that still spin up but Windows has trouble seeing, try mounting the drive using Knoppix.

1. Download the latest Knoppix iso for you boot medium of choice: CD, DVD, or USB stick (if your mobo BIOS supports USB boots, I always keep a Knoppix USB stick handy for these scenarios).
2. Follow the directions to create a boot CD/DVD/USB.
3. Boot the computer using the Knoppix CD/DVD/USB. You may need to press/hold down Del or F12 during the motherboard POST in order to access the boot device list. Watch the POST screen carefully to see what it says.
4. Plug the external drive into the machine and see if Knoppix mounts the drive. Alternatively, you can try plugging the drive into the computer before you boot into Knoppix.
5. If Knoppix mounts the drive, immediately start copying the data to a good drive.
6. If Knoppix can't mount the drive, the drive is toast. Contact mfr if still under warranty.

[hech54]

For drives that still spin up but Windows has trouble seeing, try mounting the drive using Knoppix.

1. Download the latest Knoppix iso for you boot medium of choice: CD, DVD, or USB stick (if your mobo BIOS supports USB boots, I always keep a Knoppix USB stick handy for these scenarios).
2. Follow the directions to create a boot CD/DVD/USB.
3. Boot the computer using the Knoppix CD/DVD/USB. You may need to press/hold down Del or F12 during the motherboard POST in order to access the boot device list. Watch the POST screen carefully to see what it says.
4. Plug the external drive into the machine and see if Knoppix mounts the drive. Alternatively, you can try plugging the drive into the computer before you boot into Knoppix.
5. If Knoppix mounts the drive, immediately start copying the data to a good drive.
6. If Knoppix can't mount the drive, the drive is toast. Contact mfr if still under warranty.

7. Ignore all of this nonsense just like I ignored the part about "i dropped my 2tb seagate expansion external hard drive".

[ron spencer]

Probably has The Fall virus on it now.

[bendixG15]

Probably has The Fall virus on it now.

Ugh, that's bad ... you've done better

[Bjs]

If when physically connected internally in pc it still beeps then you'll need to purchase another matching drive and perform a platter swap.

There are kits available to keep platter alignment intact which is the most crucial part of the job and you need a good dust free area to do it.

The other crucial component is the control board on the matching drive must absolutely have the same firmware and revision or recovery is not possible

Iv'e pulled 100's of terabytes back for customers this way.

If platters are scratched from head clash then recovery is still possible but the costs would be ... we'll unless you IBM it's very expensive process.

[sum_guy]

Go to the local pub, get hammered, come home, consider the drive toast, buy a replacement, fill it with all new stuff. Live happily ever after.

[ron spencer]

Probably has The Fall virus on it now.

Ugh, that's bad ... you've done better

Booyah!!!!

[postie1392]

thanks for all the input, i'm afraid i haven't had time to try any of your suggestions yet, but i will let you know how it goes when i do.
incidentally, if there was nothing wrong with the hard drive housing, would another hard drive work in that housing or would it have to be identical to the hard drive that originally came out of it?, thanks for your help