Post #3 in http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7588_102-0.html?threadID=354911 gives a useful list of DIY data recovery tools.
However, the disk should be alive to a certain extent for them to work. I assume you already tried to access it on another PC (just in case your USB is broken). That leaves the 2 essential components of the disk:
1. The electronics in the enclosure.
2. The disc with its SATA or IDE connection.
If #1 is broken, #2 will work in a new enclosure, or connected via a USB to SATA/IDE-cable.
If #2 is broken, however, you'll need a professional data recovery company and a lot of $$$. Try drivesavers.com or krollontrack.com.
Only trying will tell how bad your situation is.
One other point: an external drive is unreliable. Much more so than an internal drive. You really need to be prepared for its failure. And then its not dramatic at all. All you've got to do: order a new one and get the data back from the backup you made. Not making a backup on another medium means the data that you are accepting the possible loss.
Kees
My out of warranty Western Digital Corp. 'My Book Essential 500GB USB2.0 is in I.C.U.
Their technician declared the disk dead during a telephone support session. They wont help any further cause computer manager wont let me initialize it. To them that is the "sign of death". I have about half the disk full with 1/2 of that half worth of Data which i would like to recover and willing to do some personal work on it, if i could get smart coaching (point blank steps 1... 2.. 3 etc); my level of PC savvy is about 4 out of 10. WD disk is listed in the "devices and printers" window. Im running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit version now. Disk was initialized orginally with a XP Home edition 32 bit. I think that the issue is immaterial to the recovery but just in case it completes the panorama of how dramatic my predicament appears to be (at least to me it does!)
I am interested in at some point become free from Microsoft stuff so have started to read about Linux Ubuntu, and got from them the CD for one of their latest versions, which I havent done anything with it yet. Is that what Rob Proffitt calls a "boot disk"?
So which steps could i try on my own to see if i could get the PC to access the External Hard Drive?
Reading about other people with similar data recovery problems i read about using "enclosures"(whatever that is). Could anyone point to me where I could learn more about solving my problem, or if anyone wkons hot to do it please explain it to me in layman terms as i am not computer savvy.
Whatever help i could get would be invaluable.
Thank you kindly

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