Is my hard drive a lost cause?

[fmonte]

I have a hard drive that I converted to an external hard drive by use of a usb converter box. One day it is working and the next day it is not. The drive does not show up in “my computer”. I put another hard drive in the box and it showed up fine, so I know it is not the box. Also the hard drive that showed up clearly makes a start up noise(kind of a spinning sound) while the one that doesn’t work seems to make a very slight, slow, low volume spinning sound. In other words it seems like it is trying to start but never does.

I have two questions:

1. Is my drive history?
2. If so, is there any way to get the data off the drive?.

Thank you.
Frank

 

[TrainTrackHack]

One day it is working and the next day it is not.

Well, if you get lucky and it works, get all your data off it while you can.

1. Is my drive history?

Could be, but have you tried plugging the drive in internally? Sometimes those things can just play up on you... it may well work.

 

[fmonte]

Just to clarify. The drive crapped out over night. I haven't been able to get it recognized for many weeks trying it ocasionally.

 

[fmonte]

I did try connecting it internally. I used the cables that were going into the cd rom drive and it worked. Since I can't get it to work with my external box, can you tell me how to permanently install the hard drive and is it wise to do this if I am using this to back up files like family pictures and such. I did notice there was an extra ribbon cable with 40 teeth but I did not see an extra 4 prong cable. I am a novice so please give as much detail as possible. Thank you. Frank

 

[Yogi32]

Well you should have 2 IDE connecters per IDE cable. (I'm assuming your hard drive is an EIDE.) Connect your hard drive to the connecter that's at the very end of your IDE ribbon cable. Then connect your CD-ROM drive to the connecter that's in the middle of your IDE ribbon cable. Set your jumper on your hard drive to Master and set your CD-ROM drive as the Slave. This should work if you have a power connector for each drive. And as long as you know for sure that the hard drive is in good working condition, I'd say it's safe to use it for backing up data. Hope this helps.

 

[TrainTrackHack]

I did notice there was an extra ribbon cable with 40 teeth but I did not see an extra 4 prong cable.

By the 4-prong cable I assume you mean the Molex connector... that's the power connector, the drive ain't going to work without it. If you don't have any spare ones, you can try temporarily unplugging your CD/DVD drive and use the power connector for the CD drive to power the hard drive and see if it works. If you want to make it permanent, you'll have to get a molex splitter.

can you tell me how to permanently install the hard drive and is it wise to do this if I am using this to back up files like family pictures and such.

Yogi already covered connecting up the drive, and yes it's perfectly save to have it installed internally... if you want a drive that's easy to take along when you go, or want to store your backups off-site, I recommend a "real" external HD.