Hello all,

so recently I came home from university for my reading week, and brought my external harddrive. I went to set it up today because there was some stuff I needed off of it. When i plugged it in, nothing happened, and still nothing's happening. It gives me USB error 10, and is an SATAII 500gb harddrive. I can hear something clicking, what sounds like a spring, and an attempt to spin up. I really really really will go batty if I lose all that data. Any idea what's wrong? Can I fix it, or will it need to be sent out? Can the data even be recovered?

Thanks to anyone who helps, because you'll be helping my sanity as well.

Hi Have you tried goiving it a tap on the side fairly hard to see if it will unstick it sounds like the heads could be stuck!!!. Also as a last resort try putting it in a zip lock bag and put it in the deep freezer for 15 mins this shrinks all the metal components and some times allows the drive to work long enough to get your data works good for stuck heads.

Have a look at this link Freeze your hard drive to recover data: Myth or reality? - [Geeks are Sexy] technology news

Welcome to PCHF Qertw,

First, you want to rule out any problems with the device itself. A good way to do this is to plug the USB device into a different computer to see if it works there. If it does not work in a different computer, then the problem is with the device itself. USB devices, although very handy and portable can fail just like any other device.

I have heard of people putting ipod hard drives in the freezer to recover data. but i do not know if it does work. have you dropped your hard drive recently?

No But a I gave it a good hit on the side because it was clicking and wouldn't work it spun up and I retrived the data and replaced the drive. It reminded me of the old days and amstrad PC with those huge 20Gb hard drives we used to get them in the workshop all the time with stuck hard drives we used to give them a tap with a hammer. Sound stupid but it works!


If its very important data send it off for recovery some places if they don't get your data back there is no charge!


P.S it works read this link Freeze your hard drive to recover data: Myth or reality? - [Geeks are Sexy] technology news

i tried tapping it, but not with a hammer, or while on. i can give it a shot i guess. it did drop, but nothing more than anything it's been through already. which is why i was really surprised anything was wrong. I sadly can't test the harddrive w/o the usb connection because i have no motherboards with SATA drives here. I'm just going to assume it's the harddrive.

I'm out of town tomorrow, i'll try the ideas you guys gave me on wednesday and get back to you.
Thanks all!

Oh. PS. I have actually close to 500gb of data to recover, so a few minutes won't do it. Has anyone tried keeping it in the freezer and using it so that it stays put together?