Is my external dying?

254 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by FallenFaux, Mar 12, 2009

FallenFaux

Discussion Starter · Mar 12, 2009

So I have had this 120gb external for a year or so and never had any problems with it. Yesterday I go to boot it up and the little light on the outside of the case turns from green to orange right after I plug it in.

At first I thought the drive was going bad, so I opened up the case and put my ear up to it while turning it on. It doesn't making any clicking sounds, but it just keeps spinning up and then spinning back down over and over again. Also Windows recognizes it as being connected but then it disconnects. It does this over and over until the drive seems to stop trying.

I'm guessing it's either the external case or the drive itself, any insight?

Edit: It's a 2.5" IDE (NOT SATA)

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Enigma8750

· #2 · Mar 12, 2009

sounds like the HDD. I think you should right click on MyComputer and then left click Manage.
Go into the drives and choose your external drive and read what it tells you. You may just be able to reformat but I really think you should look into buying one of those 89.00 1 TeraByte drives and put it in your old case. Its possible that the case electricals are hooptie but it's not likely. See if you have an old HDD somewhere to plug in your case before you decide to get the new drive.

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dralb

· #3 · Mar 12, 2009

Could also be the adapter. Any way to hook it up directly?

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jaclipse

· #4 · Mar 12, 2009

Might not be getting enough power

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FallenFaux

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 12, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enigma8750

Well when I go to Manage the drive isn't there and if I go to My Computer it just keeps appearing and disappearing again. I'd try another one but all the other 2.5" drives I have are SATA and I don't have another 2.5" IDE case. Do you know if there is any kind of adapter for 2.5" IDE to 3.5"?

Edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by dralb

Could also be the adapter. Any way to hook it up directly?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaclipse

Might not be getting enough power

That's really my issue. I'm not sure if it's a power thing because I only have one IDE external case. I'm not sure if there is any other way to test it...

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