External Hard Drive Data Recovery

External USB and Firewire hard disk drives comprise a case containing a standard IDE or SATA hard disk with a USB-to-IDE SATA or Firewire-to-IDE or SATA interface adaptor. These units are therefore prone to all the usual problems relating to hard disk drives plus some others that the external case and interface may bring.

Common problems:

Overheating due to inadequate cooling within the external case or blocked air vents. Modern external hard disk drives often contain a fan inside to disperse the heat generated by components. This fan however can become defective or the vents may become blocked resulting in operation above the recommended operating temperature.

External hard disk drives are also prone to impact, transit or vibration damage.

Symptoms:

The drive is not recognised by the BIOS, clicking or grinding noises, red or no lights on the enclosure.

Recovery possibilities:

Successful recovery is dependent upon the extent of the physical or electrical damage to the magnetic storage media or platters. Heat associated problems are often easier to remedy than those due to impact or mishandling.

Recommendations:

Do not run a repair utility on the drive (such as Scandisk / Chkdsk / Norton etc) - these utilities work the drive harder than usual and may cause further irreparable damage to the storage media and your data.

Further Information:

External Hard Drive Article: External Hard Drives - The best place to hold your data?