Data Recovery Help

[Marty]

Well my Maxtor one touch external harddrive is not working.

Here is the error that pops up when I try to click on it.

E:\ is not accessible.
The request could not be peformed because of an I/O device error.

Per the troubleshooting help @ 1800-seagate they said it's an Input/Output error which means 1 of 3 things.

1. USB cable problem.
2. Computer USB problem.
3. External Harddrive USB problem.

1. = I switched the cables with the extra one I had from my second external harddrive.

2. = I switch computers and used both cables and still had the problem.

3. = Likely problem per the troubleshooter but this is not covered under the warranty. WhyTF not?

Soooo anyone with any experience with these things in particular? I'm pretty good with electronics - any idea's on what I can try? I have another exact external harddrive as well if that helps.

The Seagate data recovery place wanted $700 and Geek squad wanted $300 something... I hope to avoid that!

[Marty]

Bump !

[Dirk]

I don't think it's a problem with your main computer. I have/had USB drives fail on me all the time.

Is this a solid state drive or a laptop drive in a USB case?

Have you plugged the drive into another computer?

The more you try to access the drive, the less likely it can be recovered.

Do not use geek squids. They use OTC products and are barely capable of being functional humans. Data recovery will cost a bit of change..

[Diesel Monkey]

A trick I learned on many computers is the hard drive will loose one pole out of the motor that spins the drive. Lay the drive flat on a desk, when you switch power on the drive, turn it clockwise on the desk. This may bump start it and then you can recover what you want. It will also work on the main harddrive in the computer.

Like I have told many people, "They don't design this stuff to last forever."

[Dirk]

Originally Posted by Diesel Monkey

A trick I learned on many computers is the hard drive will loose one pole out of the motor that spins the drive. Lay the drive flat on a desk, when you switch power on the drive, turn it clockwise on the desk. This may bump start it and then you can recover what you want. It will also work on the main harddrive in the computer.

Like I have told many people, "They don't design this stuff to last forever."

He would have better luck freezing the drive first.

[Marty]

Well I just took the external apart... there was a regular hard drive in there that I plugged into my computer.

Long story short, it's toast. I'm sending it off to a guy "Crowz" off of PSN for some cheap data recovery (it's what he does for a living).

Anywho... thanks for the responses... wish I didn't have to do this

[MrJohnWayne]

WEll marty You did what I was going to say. You can take the "external" drives apart and use them as in internal. If that didn't work I don't know what else to do...