# External Hard Drive Stop Spinning



## Sharmaine (Nov 21, 2004)

I dont know what happened to it but when i plug the usb nothing happens. I tried listening but i heard bothing. I think it stopped spinning. What can i do to get it spinning again? Could i open the drive and put it into my laptop? IS there a way I can recover the data myself?


----------



## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

depends on what type of external drive it is - 2.5 or 3.5
laptopp of desktop if you like
make and model of the unti may help
I suspect it should spin up as soon as the power is switched on to it...


----------



## Rumpo-Stiltskin (May 9, 2006)

Certainly more information would be helpful...... 

Check it's power supply if it has one.


----------



## Sharmaine (Nov 21, 2004)

I dont know if its a 2.5 or 3.5. The power is plugged in. Its external and the power light comes on when i plug it in. Here are the specs:

200.0 GB

Manufactured By
Magnetic Data Technologies
www.mdtglobal.com
Enhanced IDE Hard Drive

Drive Parameters:	7200RPM	.	ATA 100 . 2MB Buf .
5vcd	12vcd

S/N: MMAEH1979870
S/N: MMAEH1979870

MDL: MD02000-BABW
MD02000-BABW
DATE: 01 AUG 2005
DID: BB00DWA02000
BB00DWA02000


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Well, it's clearly a 3.5" drive. If the drive does not spin up when the power is connected, it's a defect either in the external P/S, the enclosure, or the drive. Of course, something could be unplugged too...


----------



## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

as its 3.5 you could put into a desktop as a slave and read the data off - it the drive works OK
i think there maybe adapters you can put into a drivebay on a laptop and read drives - but not really done that before


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Laptop 2.5" drives only use 5V, 3.5" drives require 12V, so I doubt an adapter to directly connect to a floppy is all that common.


----------



## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Here is how to do a laptop drive:
http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop...100200500100_B893655P.shtml&ORDER_ID=!ORDERID!
or another approach:
http://sewelldirect.com/usbtoideadapterwith35to25converter.asp


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

That's for connecting a laptop drive to a desktop, however he has a 3.5" desktop drive.


----------



## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

JohnWill said:



> That's for connecting a laptop drive to a desktop, however he has a 3.5" desktop drive.


 Glad you are so sure:
"I dont know if its a 2.5 or 3.5" doesn't sound ,like user knows....
Doesn't sound like you knew either:
"Laptop 2.5" drives only use 5V, 3.5" drives require 12V, so I doubt an adapter to directly connect to a floppy is all that common"
Glad you are now so positive...I wanted to cover all bases.


----------



## Rumpo-Stiltskin (May 9, 2006)

I think he's extrapolating from the 200GB and 7200rpm that it's a 3.5"
It's a fairly safe assumption. 

EDIT>

Here's the drive spec. and an expandable picture in the top-right corner:

http://www.amcom.com.sg/shop/catalo...51&PHPSESSID=4033177085dc81226be9d4e4f1eeff4f


----------



## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Rumpo-Stiltskin said:


> I think he's extrapolating from the 200GB and 7200rpm that it's a 3.5"
> It's a fairly safe assumption.
> 
> EDIT>
> ...


I agree Rumpo, but I am not sure how many people realize how easy it is to read a laptop drive in a desltop, so I wanted to post that anyway.


----------



## Rumpo-Stiltskin (May 9, 2006)

No harm done i'm sure.
The hardest part of any troubleshoot on this forum is trying to work out what people are talking about.
The answers are the easy bit.


----------



## Sharmaine (Nov 21, 2004)

I dont know if you guys realize this but its not in my laptop. It an external. Its in a case. My laptops Hard drive is fine


----------



## Rumpo-Stiltskin (May 9, 2006)

Yep.
We know.
Just trying to establish the type/size of drive in the enclosure. 

Something like this that Rich posted:

http://sewelldirect.com/usbtoideadapterwith35to25converter.asp

would allow you to connect the bare drive (from inside the external case) to your laptop (without having to open the computer).
But it might be just as well to buy a replacement enclosure to replace the failed one.
Although we still haven't established that the drive itself actually works any more......

Do you not have a desktop system that you could connect it directly to?


----------



## Slipaway172 (Apr 9, 2005)

it either has a bad ac source or the disc seized up. only way to retrieve data is a geek squad data recovery.


----------



## Sharmaine (Nov 21, 2004)

OK. I will have to try and hook it to a desktop. I guess thats the only way to tell if the case is bad or the drive.

thank you for all ur help


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Rich-M said:


> Glad you are so sure:
> "I dont know if its a 2.5 or 3.5" doesn't sound ,like user knows....
> Doesn't sound like you knew either:
> "Laptop 2.5" drives only use 5V, 3.5" drives require 12V, so I doubt an adapter to directly connect to a floppy is all that common"
> Glad you are now so positive...I wanted to cover all bases.


Show me a 2.5" 200gig drive, and I'll retract my statement.


----------



## Dubbs2o2o (Mar 12, 2008)

2.5" 200gb 7200rpm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145160
I found one


----------



## Sharmaine (Nov 21, 2004)

The problem is fixed. I finally bought another case and it worked. I can believe ppl are still respondig.


----------

