Crash

[KevinP]

After losing 3 computers in 3 years to viruses, malware and software failures I was able to successfully move all my writing, downloads, pictures and videos to a remote terabyte drive ... which promptly crashed before I could back it up on discs (something was loose in the port that connects it to the computer and that something seems to have fallen into the terabyte drive).

So I'm back at square one as far as losing everything I've written, family pictures, and tons of downloaded golden age comics and pulps.  I don't know if the data on the remote drive is salvageable or not but the drive doesn't respond on any of the computers I've tried.  Anybody have any experience with remote drive hardware trouble?


kpb

[Yoc]

Holy crap, what a nightmare story!
Sorry Moon, I can't help but at least anything on DCM can be download again.

[bminor]

Can you remove the external drive from the case?

If so try another external drive case.
or
once removed from the case put it into your computer and see if you can get your computer to recognize it.

I would also like to say that since 1996 I have been using a Mac. Since that date I have had only one minor virus, way back in 1998.
Good luck!
B.

[John C]

If there's a warranty, the cost of shipping may take care of the tedious work for you.

Otherwise, yeah, pick up a USB to SATA adapter, which is an external drive without the drive.  They're usually about twenty bucks and nice to have around regardless, for those days you remember that old computer you haven't seen in years and want to know what's on the drive.

Anyway, scour the existing case for stickers that hide screws and remove them.  Yank all the screws and take the case apart.  Remove the drive and plug it into the adapter, and you should be back running.

I'd recommend copying everything off immediately, just in case there's a problem with the drive itself.  It's rare, but if there was a "head crash" (the sensor that reads the data scratches up the disc inside), the damage will just get worse over time, kind of like a pothole in the road.

I don't know how reliable my information is, but I've been told by a few people that the hardware in the external drives is usually lower quality than if you buy a drive without any enclosure.  That's another handy use for the adapters.

[KevinP]

Thanks, all; what does SATA mean? Probably something obvious that I'll kick myself when I find out.  What happened was that a child running past the desk tripped on the wire and yanked it out of the port on the drive case.  Everything still worked fine for a month or two, then there was no response when I plugged it in; tried two different computers and neither recognized the drive.  Then yesterday I was trying again and the metal piece in the port fell into the case.  I'll try a new case at Best Buy and your other suggestions.  I'm feeling discouraged about re-downloading everything, partly because there is so much I can't reacquire and partly because I'm no longer sure it's worth the effort if something else is going to happen and lose it again.  I can't afford a new external drive just now to back it up on and when I tried backup discs a few years ago files got corrupted with time.   

[Captain DJ]

SATA is just the interface on the hard drive. Few different ones out there but will either be IDE or SATA (most likely sata) ie

http://www.laptopparts101.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sata-ide-laptop-hard-drive.jpg

I would try taking hard drive out of the enclosure as hopefully just a bad circuit board that part of the enclosure and hooking the hard drive directly up to the PC or another enclosure and seeing if it works.

[KevinP]

Thanks for all the good advice!  Makes me feel a lot better.  As soon as I can afford a new case I will try that (My paycheck is being garnished due to a change in hours that left me owing vacation hours at the end of the year).  Meantime I'm feeling so good that I'm working again on the scan archives I started earlier.  I'm re-upping the STRONG MAN archive to correct some missing paragraphs in the intro, then planning to do JET POWERS.

[Yoc]

Sounds good Moon.
You might not even need a case to test your wonky external drive.
I use one of these cables to connect my HD via USB cable.  They're pretty cheap to buy as well and handy if you have a few extra HDs you want to keep for back-up reasons, etc.
Check this link to see the item I'm talking about -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

It works with either kind of HD - sata or the older ide style which makes them very handy.