External Hard Drive Stopped working Over Night

Last night my external hard drive was working just fine. I wake up this morning after my computer has been restarted, and it no longer shows up.

*My computer did make the sound when i unplug it and plug it back in (but it stopped doing it)

*My usb port works fine with my flash drives
*My hard drive was recognized when plugged into another computer and said the hardware was installed and ready to    use BUT did not appear on that computer’s “My Computer”

*The hard drive does not show up in My computer or in the Disk Management.

Also my computer would not properly boot up when my external hard drive was plugged in and my computer would be started up but if i unplugged it, booted my computer up, and then plugged my hard drive in it was fine (this problem did not happen before either).

ok so i restarted my comp and after it booted up i plugged in my external hard drive again and it started loading all my stuff  (the box that shows its loading all the files that appears)

and when it was finished a new error message displayed.

Is it now showing up in Disk Management?  If so, what color is the bar representing the drive?

It doesnt show up in disk management anymore

Have you tried the typical troubleshooting tips:

  1. Try on another pc.
  2. Change data cable.
  3. Plug drive directly into wall. (Makes sure that it’s getting enough power to spin the drive up.)

When it’s plugged in can you feel the drive spinning?  There should be a slight vibration.  If not you may have to replace the power adapter.

If you’ve done all of that, then there’s nothing more you can do, unless you pull the drive from the case.  However, doing that voids the warranty on the drive.  If you have the data backed up, elsewhere, I’d recommend doing an RMA if the drive is under warranty.

Also, after rereading your initial post, it could be that the internal drive failed if another pc says that it’s connected, but it doesn’t show up in Computer.  That’s about all I can offer.  Sorry.

1 Like
  1. Yes i have and its the same way. The computer makes the Beep like it recognizes something was plugged in (and the beep when unplugged)

  2. I have tried a different cable and no change

  3. The hard drive does spin like it is loading up but nothing happens

So an update is all the above and my comp wont start up when its plugged in  but i unplug it and the start up continues

What is an rma? i dont care about the hard drive cuz i needed a bigger one anyway, i just want the data off this hard drive.

RMA is for a warranty replacement.  My only recommendation is send the drive in for data recovery, if you need the data from the drive.