Computer help!!!!

Sawdust · Jul 6, 2010

I know this may not end well for me but I could really use some ideas.

My external hard drive that I use as my back up seems to not be working

. I have TONS of photos stored on there. I also have DVDs of most of the pics but I have not made a back up recently. 1-2 months. Is there a shop near that someone can recommend that might be able to retrieve my data?

BTW The drive is a Western Digital 500GB and it won't even power up right now. The proper voltage is coming out of the power supply.

HELP!

tallshipsgo · Jul 6, 2010

Sent you a PM - check your messages.

Sawdust · Jul 6, 2010

Thanks all for the info. I'll be making some calls in the morning.

Thanks again.

Gunner3456 · Jul 7, 2010

Is it in an external HDD case where it plugs into that? If so, have you tried removing it and hooking it directly to a computer as a slave? In that case there will be instructions on the drive as to how to configure jumpers if it's an IDE drive. Often no jumper works because that's "cable select" and the computer may just see it. Depends on the make and model.

talntid · Jul 7, 2010

More likely, this is a SATA drive, and if you carefully open the enclosure, you will find a hard drive inside. If you plug this in directly to your computer, it should power up and function properly. If not, do NOT take it to a normal computer shop, take it to someone who really knows what they are doing, or mail it to me. If they are guessing and "trying" to get it to work, they can cause more damage than good.