My external drive went dead

Siberian

Member
So I was fumbling around the back of my cabinet when I suddenly heard and saw a spark and a noise from the power plug that goes into my external drive. Not good obviously, and my worst fear was realized when I found it not to be in working order, i.e. completely dead. And so the question is simple; what are the steps to take? Should I just rush to the nearest recovery place or is there something I can try out for myself first without being too much MacGyver-like? It is a WD drive if that matters.
 
It really depends on how much you want to spend. Most WD external HDDs and just sata or esata drives in enclosures. in most cases you can just dismantle the existing case and plug the HDD into your computer, you could also buy a new external enclosure and place it in there. If don't feel comfortable doing this you could take it to a data center but I would run it by your local Tech Store first and let them have a look at it. They might be able to remedy your problems cheaper than a costly data center.
 
Is it likely to be a power supply problem that anyting else? As there was a spark I mean...that doesn't imediately bust the whole drive? I'm guessing the female part in the drive probably took an early evening.
 
You could try removing the hard drive out of its External case and put it in your system internaly....see if the Hard drive still works that way.
 
Yeah, they are right. You may have just fried the case and its components if you're lucky. I would try to remove it and pop it in your computer or another case. But, if it still doesn't work, then you should take it to a professional to have the data taken off.
 
Just to clear up this thread: I went and had the power cable checked, and that was actually it. Got a new one and now all is good :)
 
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