External Hard Drive Issues

[WolfsRain]

I think technology hates me. I really, really do.

My external hard drive decided to stop working. It shows up, but it says that it is inaccessible and the 'parameter is incorrect". And I can't safely remove the hardware.

Can anyone help me with this problem? Or am I basically screwed?

[daniyagami]

You must test the hard drive in another computer to see if works. If work correctly, try to reinstall the drivers or switch the connection to a different port (is usb? sometimes the usb dies).

[WolfsRain]

You must test the hard drive in another computer to see if works. If work correctly, try to reinstall the drivers or switch the connection to a different port (is usb? sometimes the usb dies).

Yes, the external hard drive is connected via a usb cable. I tried it out on another computer, but it still didn't work. Thanks for your help though. *sigh* I don't know what happened. It was working this morning, but then it disconnected, I guess, and hasn't worked since. This stupid thing is only like a year old.

There goes my all my yaoi.

Again.

[daniyagami]

Don't give up so fast! Take to a computer shop and let them test the drive. If doesn't work, maybe they can save the data. My brother did that a couple times with hard drives that had problems.
I wish you luck, I hope it works

[KarumA]

If it is one of those box harddrives that connects with a power cord and then with another cord into your computer then most likely it went boing.
I had this problem once when I inserted it into a friends laptop, this meant it would show up but it would be accessable because the automatic drivers on it couldn't load and would show up as Unknown Device.

The problem was that inside this box, and this is how the hd is constructed for all those box like drives, you have a hard disc like in your computer and in front of that a chip set that manages the wholse driver aspect. That chipset is most likely fried and cannot function properly anymore (a small remainder of power caused a short circuit when you put the cable in), so what you get is the section behind is recognised but your computer cannot figure out what. No biggies because your data is still intact, all you have to do: 2 options a) if you want to keep it external simply buy a new casing for an external HD, open the old one insert it into the new one. Basically it is connected with a few cables to this chipset nothing more and if you have some begging skills someone at the shop might be able to do it for you. option b) if you want a new HD inside your computer you can open it, take it out and put it inside and voila more disc space.

[WolfsRain]

Don't give up so fast! Take to a computer shop and let them test the drive. If doesn't work, maybe they can save the data. My brother did that a couple times with hard drives that had problems.
I wish you luck, I hope it works

Thanks, I probably should take it to a computer shop since anything I do is bound to make it worse as I'm technologically impaired. I'll probably go to Best Buy or something to check things out (mainly because I don't know where else to take it). Thanks for the encouragement. I just hope it doesn't cost too much--I have no money.

EDIT:

@KarumA: That is exactly the type of external hard drive I have. You make it sound so simple. I originally wanted the external hard drive so I could easily connect the data to either my desktop or my laptop, but last year my old desktop finally died and all I have is my laptop, so I don't really need an external hard drive anymore. However, I have no idea how to put it into my laptop (or if I can even do that) without royally screwing things up. Thanks for the info, you're making me think that there might still be some hope left. ^^

[Munemasa Katagiri]

I remember I saw at the local newspaper here that those boxed drivers were dying like that. KarumA said the right thing.

[KarumA]

You can't put it into a laptop, there is too little space in a laptop to put a second one it. If you had a desktop it would be no problem, merely a connection cable to connect it and voila. Putting it inside a new casing isn't hard though =) just ask an employer at the shop which one you need and maybe he can do it for you, or yourself

I will never forget it because this happened to me during finals when I had to hand in my final made animation :/ it was on the hd that went boink the day before the exam presentation but I was able to hand in a back up I still had in my temp files somewhere

[WolfsRain]

You can't put it into a laptop, there is too little space in a laptop to put a second one it. If you had a desktop it would be no problem, merely a connection cable to connect it and voila. Putting it inside a new casing isn't hard though =) just ask an employer at the shop which one you need and maybe he can do it for you, or yourself

I will never forget it because this happened to me during finals when I had to hand in my final made animation :/ it was on the hd that went boink the day before the exam presentation but I was able to hand in a back up I still had in my temp files somewhere

Seriously, thanks for the info. I didn't think I could put it into my laptop. I won't actually be able to do anything until this weekend though, so I'll bear with the wait and hope for the best. ^^

[WolfsRain]

*huge sigh*

I finally managed to get a new enclosure for the hard drive, and well, it wasn't the enclosure. I put the hard drive in the new enclosure, but when I plugged it in, the same problem occurred. I went to my computer and it was located under Unspecified, Local Disk (G: ), and when I tried to open it it said the same thing: G:/ is not accessible, the parameter is incorrect. Windows can't access it.

*thumps head against wall... repeatedly*

EDIT:

I think the problem arose from my my hard drive somehow switching from NTFS to RAW. Don't know how it happened, but I think this is the actual problem.