External drive not working, please help

[theroadrunner]

Hi,

I've got a removable hard drive I loaded at of my stuff onto. And after plugging it into my TV via the usb connection to watch a film from it (which worked briefly) Then after plugging it into my computer and I seem to remember at first I could open it, but I think it ran slowly/screwed up.

...And now it either isn't recognized or shows up, when I left it trying to open the drive (I double clicked H drive) It took like 10 minutes and then gave the following error:

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/9854/erroronhdrivesu2.th.jpg (http://img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=erroronhdrivesu2.jpg)http://img252.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

H is not accesible

The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.

It's the H drive as shown in the pic, any ideas I can try to get it to work would be greatly appreciated. But I need the files on the drive, so blanking it is off the menu.

Thanks,
Tom

[schorhr]

You could start off by taking it from the external case and putting it inside your computer. This has a few advantages:
-you can eliminate the possibility that the USB adapter case is broken
-you can use any software to check (and repair) the drive if possible (scandisc, for example some tool from http://www.all4you.dk/FreewareWorld/links.php?search=mbr&la=xx, or a live linux util cd specialised on restoring data etc such as knoppicillin or Trinity Rescue Kit)

Also, have you tried if it works on another computer? Different cable, different usb port and other standard things like that?

[Rockonmetal]

it could be that some stuff is in the drive... Like i know my last drive was invaded by the dreaded molecules called water... :P. To test for that, just shake it and if you hear swish or clunk then you know something is loose or in there...

[schorhr]

...which could be the drive heads smashing against the disk, headcrash=bad idea ;-)