I had connected my WD10000H1U hard drive to laptop and was transferring some data when my toddler fell it on its side. After that, the hard drive lost connection and now I am facing problems connecting it to my laptop. When I connect the hard drive using the USB cable, my Windows 7 laptop detects it and shows it up in the Devices list as ‘My Book’. However, it does not show up in My Computer as a drive. I have also tried some data recovery softwares like EASUS and Virtual Labs, but they fail to detect the failed partition (that’s what I think it is). But, most likely there is some internal physical damage. In this scenario, will I be able to recover the data somehow. I have loads of personal stuff, photos, videos, documents, that I had put onto the hard drive and it will be a shame to lose them. Can somebody help, please?!! :cry:
You’re probably looking at data recovery. That’s about the only thing I can recommend that will give you the best chance of recovering your data.
Does the drive attempt to spin up? Does it vibrate? Buzz?
It does vibrate, buzz, the lights come on. But, it makes a weird noise as if it is trying to do something and then gives up. The disk is under warranty so I can get it replaced. But, how do I recover the data? Is there some data recovery software that can help me?
Many data recovery tools I have tried give an Error 27. What does that mean? And how can I recover from it?
If you hold the drive in your hand, can you feel it vibrate periodically? If so, then your drive may have a seized spindle motor, or a stiction fault. Stiction occurs when the heads land on a smooth section of the platters instead of their normal landing zone.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiction#Hard_disk_drives
Stiction forces can often be overcome with gentle “percussive maintenance”. 
This thread may interest you (it has a couple of success stories):
http://forum.hddguru.com/samsung-portable-500gb-dead-t14351.html#p99445
See the warnings on page 5 of the following article.
Disk Drive Science (Steve Legg):
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/7803/5/DiskDriveScience_copy.pdf
Here are photos of what can go wrong:
http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15911#p105001
Thanks for the reply! Am going to try this today when I reach home. I should have guessed as this technique can be used for a lot of electronics. Wish me luck!! Wonder what the right technical term is for kicking something to make it work :wink:
