External HDD not working...please urgent help!

[namita_ruhela25]

External HDD: TrekStor maxi. mu - 500 GB - purchased from Future Shop on Boxing Day 2007. Never given me any problems before this.
My laptop: Windows Vista SP1 64-bit. purchased 1 year ago.

A few weeks ago, the drive was not even recognized by the computer when I plugged it in. Now, the letter shows up in 'My Computer', but when I click it, I get the message: "Please insert a disk into Removable Disk (F." I cannot get it to work even after several tries.

What is there that I can do to get it to work and access my files? I need to fix this quick because I am home for christmas vacation and I need to backup my computer files before sending in into the HP Service Depot. I need to send the laptop in before returning to school in January! Prompt guidance would really be appreciated.

More: I did open the enclosure to see if any connections were lose inside, but having never built my own drive, I can't seem to figure it out! Everything seems to be in place, and inside, it turns out that it's a Western Digital WD5000AAVS, Caviar SE (I was happy to see this).

I can't hear it work either...are there any HDD troubleshooting programs that can help me run tests on the drive to see what's wrong?

Please help!!

[ApPy10]

I am having the same problem i tried lots of thing but nothing work. Finally i have formatted and its started working but i have lost all the data from the External Hard drive. You can also try to connect your HDD to the USB port which is given back side of the CPU because sometime front USB unable to detect the HDD. All the best. Thanks

[deoWo]

If the hard drive is externally powered then check the power adaptor. If the hard drive is powered by USB, then there is a high possibility that the port is not able to supply enough power to the hard drive. Change the connecting cord and check if the hard drive works. As it is a Western Digital hard drive you can use WD diagnostic tools on the hard drive to check the hard drive for any errors.

[Hardwareman]

Well check your usb port. It could be faulty and leading to this issue. Try and plug your external hard drive on another computer to see if it behaves the same way. If not then it is a problem with your usb port. Use TweakUI to see if drive letters are a problem in your case. This is known to happen many times. You can use the following links as well to see if any of those match your problem and got a solution,
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-har...ces/897183.htm
External hard drive not recognized in computer management
USB External Hard Drive Not Detected

[Killen]

Try changing the drive letter. Right-click Computer > Manage > Disk Management.One of the most possible cause of this issue when you have a removable drive which try to get a drive letter which is already reserved. See what is says in Disk Management.