external hard drive says please insert disk

adscofield · 02-13-2009, 12:00 PM

Please help me. I have an external hard drive hooked to my computer through a 2.5 external enclosure. It was working fine up until yesterday. Now I connect it and when I click on the drive (E) it says please insert disk into drive E. I can't access my files or anything.

Please help! What can I do?

**simpswr** · 02-13-2009, 01:03 PM

and welcome to the Forum

Have you tried the drive on another pc?

adscofield · 02-13-2009, 01:10 PM

Thank you!

Yes I have and got the same error. I have also tried testdisk to see if there is a bad partition but it doesnt even reconginize the hard drive. The only one that comes up is my internal hard drive.

Please help! I have lots of pictures and documents that I don't want to lose!

I swear I will back up everything if I get these recovered!

**raptor_pa** · 02-13-2009, 01:38 PM

Testdisk often misses USB drives, two options at this point. If the drive is spinning and you hear no clicking, try downloading the manufacturer's diagnostics and run it against the drive. Also see if you can identify teh make and model of the drive that is in the enclosure. ( not the model of the enclosure). Can you fell the drive spin up, and is it making any noise like a rhythmic clicking or tapping?

adscofield · 02-13-2009, 01:53 PM

The hard drive is model # HTS541680J9AT00 it is a Hitachi. When it starts up I don't feel it spinning but it makes a almost rythmic sqeaking, not really clicking or tapping.

its not looking good is it?

02-13-2009, 12:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
adscofield Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 8 OS: win xp	external hard drive says please insert disk Please help me. I have an external hard drive hooked to my computer through a 2.5 external enclosure. It was working fine up until yesterday. Now I connect it and when I click on the drive (E) it says please insert disk into drive E. I can't access my files or anything. Please help! What can I do?

02-13-2009, 01:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 12,249 OS: XP, Vista, Win 7	Re: external hard drive says please insert disk and welcome to the Forum Have you tried the drive on another pc? __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help How to post a Screen Shot \| PC running slow?

02-13-2009, 01:10 PM	#3 (permalink)
adscofield Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 8 OS: win xp	Re: external hard drive says please insert disk Thank you! Yes I have and got the same error. I have also tried testdisk to see if there is a bad partition but it doesnt even reconginize the hard drive. The only one that comes up is my internal hard drive. Please help! I have lots of pictures and documents that I don't want to lose! I swear I will back up everything if I get these recovered!

02-13-2009, 01:38 PM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,834 OS: XP	Re: external hard drive says please insert disk Testdisk often misses USB drives, two options at this point. If the drive is spinning and you hear no clicking, try downloading the manufacturer's diagnostics and run it against the drive. Also see if you can identify teh make and model of the drive that is in the enclosure. ( not the model of the enclosure). Can you fell the drive spin up, and is it making any noise like a rhythmic clicking or tapping? __________________

02-13-2009, 01:53 PM	#5 (permalink)
adscofield Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 8 OS: win xp	Re: external hard drive says please insert disk The hard drive is model # HTS541680J9AT00 it is a Hitachi. When it starts up I don't feel it spinning but it makes a almost rythmic sqeaking, not really clicking or tapping. its not looking good is it?