While working on my mac the other evening,
the old "do not remove devices without dragging
them to the trash first" message appeared, although
I had done no such thing!

On further investigation, I discovered my 200gb
External Hard drive had ceased to function.

After some twiddling and fiddling about (usual
remedial actions that one normally would take,
in such circumstances), I was unable to return
the drive to its working state!

The drive wouldn't even try and spin-up, no
motor sounds came from within and wiggling the
power supply cable caused the LED on the front
of the unit to fluctuate from dim to bright and
flicker a lot!

So, I'm wondering, is this a power pack problem?
Could the disk itself and its contents still be
intact and retrievable? Would it be worthwhile to
purchase a new enclosure and transplant the disk
into that?

How would I go about sourcing a suitable replacement?
What criteria do I need to establish and look for
when looking for the new enclosure and where can
I get one from?

Or if this would be a waste of time and there's no
hope of reviving said disk... please tell me.

Any info greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Dean Heighington

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:02:07 -0400, Dean Heighington wrote
(in article <d.heighington-1160EE.21031621082005@news.btinternet.com>):

> While working on my mac the other evening,
> the old "do not remove devices without dragging
> them to the trash first" message appeared, although
> I had done no such thing!
>
> On further investigation, I discovered my 200gb
> External Hard drive had ceased to function.
>
> After some twiddling and fiddling about (usual
> remedial actions that one normally would take,
> in such circumstances), I was unable to return
> the drive to its working state!
>
> The drive wouldn't even try and spin-up, no
> motor sounds came from within and wiggling the
> power supply cable caused the LED on the front
> of the unit to fluctuate from dim to bright and
> flicker a lot!
>
> So, I'm wondering, is this a power pack problem?
> Could the disk itself and its contents still be
> intact and retrievable? Would it be worthwhile to
> purchase a new enclosure and transplant the disk
> into that?
>
> How would I go about sourcing a suitable replacement?
> What criteria do I need to establish and look for
> when looking for the new enclosure and where can
> I get one from?
>
> Or if this would be a waste of time and there's no
> hope of reviving said disk... please tell me.
>
> Any info greatly appreciated.
>
> thanks,
> Dean Heighington

Sounds like a power problem. I'd buy a new enclosure and try it out, even if
the drive itself is gone new enclosures aren't that expensive and you'll need
a new drive anyway if the old one's toast.

--
email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:02:07 -0400, Dean Heighington wrote
(in article <d.heighington-1160EE.21031621082005@news.btinternet.com>):

> While working on my mac the other evening,
> the old "do not remove devices without dragging
> them to the trash first" message appeared, although
> I had done no such thing!
>
> On further investigation, I discovered my 200gb
> External Hard drive had ceased to function.
>
> After some twiddling and fiddling about (usual
> remedial actions that one normally would take,
> in such circumstances), I was unable to return
> the drive to its working state!
>
> The drive wouldn't even try and spin-up, no
> motor sounds came from within and wiggling the
> power supply cable caused the LED on the front
> of the unit to fluctuate from dim to bright and
> flicker a lot!
>
> So, I'm wondering, is this a power pack problem?
> Could the disk itself and its contents still be
> intact and retrievable? Would it be worthwhile to
> purchase a new enclosure and transplant the disk
> into that?
>
> How would I go about sourcing a suitable replacement?
> What criteria do I need to establish and look for
> when looking for the new enclosure and where can
> I get one from?
>
> Or if this would be a waste of time and there's no
> hope of reviving said disk... please tell me.
>
> Any info greatly appreciated.
>
> thanks,
> Dean Heighington

Sounds like a power problem. I'd buy a new enclosure and try it out, even if
the drive itself is gone new enclosures aren't that expensive and you'll need
a new drive anyway if the old one's toast.

--
email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com.

In article <0001HW.BF2E6D2200EA06DBF0407550@news1.news.adelph ia.net>,
J.J. O'Shea <try.not.to@but.see.sig> wrote:

> On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:02:07 -0400, Dean Heighington wrote
> (in article <d.heighington-1160EE.21031621082005@news.btinternet.com>):
>
> > While working on my mac the other evening,
(snip>
> > On further investigation, I discovered my 200gb
> > External Hard drive had ceased to function.
<snip>
> > So, I'm wondering, is this a power pack problem?
> > Could the disk itself and its contents still be
> > intact and retrievable? Would it be worthwhile to
> > purchase a new enclosure and transplant the disk
> > into that?
<snip>
> Sounds like a power problem. I'd buy a new enclosure and try it out, even if
> the drive itself is gone new enclosures aren't that expensive and you'll need
> a new drive anyway if the old one's toast.

Here's an idea - depending on what type of mac you are using, put the
HD in your mac, boot from your install CD (or another source if you have
one) and see if it sees it ... cheaper than a new enclosure (for
troubleshooting)

Mikey Mike

In article <0001HW.BF2E6D2200EA06DBF0407550@news1.news.adelph ia.net>,
J.J. O'Shea <try.not.to@but.see.sig> wrote:

> On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:02:07 -0400, Dean Heighington wrote
> (in article <d.heighington-1160EE.21031621082005@news.btinternet.com>):
>
> > While working on my mac the other evening,
(snip>
> > On further investigation, I discovered my 200gb
> > External Hard drive had ceased to function.
<snip>
> > So, I'm wondering, is this a power pack problem?
> > Could the disk itself and its contents still be
> > intact and retrievable? Would it be worthwhile to
> > purchase a new enclosure and transplant the disk
> > into that?
<snip>
> Sounds like a power problem. I'd buy a new enclosure and try it out, even if
> the drive itself is gone new enclosures aren't that expensive and you'll need
> a new drive anyway if the old one's toast.

Here's an idea - depending on what type of mac you are using, put the
HD in your mac, boot from your install CD (or another source if you have
one) and see if it sees it ... cheaper than a new enclosure (for
troubleshooting)

Mikey Mike