External Hard Drive Problems (Weird noises, connecting etc.)

How would I take the case off of the Hard drive? I have looked but don't see any screws, obviously I'm missing something. Thanks in advance!

A common hiding spot for case screws are under rubber feet or little round stick on labels.

Bob

What do I do to connect the hard drive to the computer after the case is off? IDE and SATA?? I don't know how, or what these are ( sorry for the illiteracy) Thanks again in advance!

These devices come with either type connection so I have to open it up to find out what to do next.

Since it took a bounce the zero dollar approach may be best. Connecting it to some desktop and seeing if the hard disk survived.

Bob

I took the rubber grips off and there are no screws. The rubber grips are the only place on the thing where it could be hidden, the only other thing I can think of is there the same color as the casing and was made by the gov so it couldn't be found, but I doubt it. Anyways, what do I do/look for ? I took off all of the rubber grips (theres four on the bottom) and there seems to be nothing under them. Thanks in advance!

Some cases are snap fit click together affairs. Brute force and prybars are the usual tools to open.

Let's be honest here. It's busted so we can't hurt it too badly.

Bob

I got it off, what am I looking for? Do I take the whole thing out or leave it in? Thanks in advance!

Is it SATA or IDE?

You can use google.com to see pictures of said connections on hard disks so I don't offer that here.

Bob

I think it's IDE, it has a strip like thing, but it's real short so..what would I do? Oh, and do I take off the computer case? I mean mine, Thanks in advance!

There's a 4 pin MOLEX for power and then put that on some desktop in place of say a DVD drive (swap for a test run). If the drive is visiable in Windows then that's a good sign and I advise buying a new case. If the drive isn't visible in Windows and still makes bad noises then it's bit the dust.

Bob

I'm going to try this right now. I'll let you know if it worked.

I'm confused about the slave option, also I did connect it to the computer but the computer wouldn't start and would rry to start from the external hard drive (the one I connected) and it wouldnt work, do I need to set slave options (illiterate on the matter) and what about the pins on the hard drive? Thanks in advance!

There's a white thing (i dont know what its called) and it has a red, two black and one yellow wire coming from it, do I need to hook this up to the computer ? (inside of the computer I mean) and how do I connect it? Thanks in advance!

I did the first. I had removed my DVD drive and hooked the external hard drive where the DVD drive was, I booted up and nothing happened, but I was confused because my computer still showed my DVD drive as connected, and I knew it wasn't, I clicked explore but the error "Please insert disk into drive" came up. That's why I was asking if I needed to change the pins or anything on it, and if I did anything else wrong. Thanks in advance!

Or try the other connection on that IDE cable. For most the setting of MASTER will be fine for the END IDE connection even when the jumper is on CS or Master.

You may need to tell if the drive spun up or made noises (bad or good?) There was also a power connector you move from the DVD as well as the wide flat IDE...

Bob

I connected it to the DVD IDE cable and power supply, it still makes the noises when the computer starts up but stops after a short period. It doesn't show up in disk management or in the explorer window. Also, my usb mass storage device, the one that I was connecting it to ( when it was in casing ) no longer shows up in device manager, is that good or bad? Thanks in advance!

Windows does that with the DVD drive so don't fret about that.

Since the drive looks dead and the case took a bounce I would not chance it that the case still works. BUT IF I EVER FOUND AN OLD IDE DRIVE IT MAY BE WORTH A TRY.

Did the BIOS show the drive?

Bob

I didn't check that, I'll try that lastly. If it does recognize it, what would I do then? Thanks in advance!

We now step up the tools one notch (as we move forward, our skill levels do go up.)

For me I unplug the hard disk that I must not touch (safety first) and boot up DBAN (see http://dban.sourceforge.net/ ) I want to wipe the drive and see if DBAN (a) sees the drive and possible (b) wipe the drive so Windows has a clean run at using it again. Item b is up to you.

Item a is the most important step since that fails the drive is truly gone.

Bob