ext hdd not being recognised

[ajmmac]

i have a toshiba 320gb usb ext hdd--less then 1yr old--been working fine until last wk my pc froze and the only way to get it going again was to switch off completely--when i switched on again my ext hdd icon just disappeared and nothing i have tried will get it back--it is just not being recognised--i have tried it on 3 different computers with as many diff usb cables--i have even done a complete recovery on one of the machines but no luck--i have checked the drive's power pack with a meter and it is giving out the right power--there is no direct link between the power pack and the pc--only thru the drive and the usb cable--could my switching off of the pc have caused some kind of kick-back thru the usb cable which damaged the drive--all 3 machines run xp, 1-- sp1 and the others sp2--anybody any ideas please--thank you all

[peanut]

Put your ear up to it can you hear it running or is it dead all together?

[ajmmac]

so kind and so quick peanut--i can hear faint clicks-- if u think of morse code dot dot dot dash dot dot dot dash over and over--sounds like it is trying to spin but somehow just stuck--thanks

[ACtheTROLL]

if it doesn't show on yours ... and won't show on others .... it's probably not there.

one of the symptoms of a faulty drive is that the PC freezes when it goes missing.

the only good news is ... if it's less than a year old ... take it back

[ajmmac]

thanks ACtheTROLL--thought that might be the case--yeah i'll take it back--cheers--not having much luck with these--thats 2 have gone down in 6 months--the toshiba and a lacie 500gig--it was even newer than the toshiba--:(