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  • HELP!

    I just tried to open a Word document I was working on earlier. My computer says it can't be found. I opened the "Computer" option and clicked on the disk drive (which, by the way, is external).

    My computer says the disk drive is empty.

    My computer also says the disk drive has roughly 25% memory left on it - a pretty nifty trick for a drive that's supposed to be empty.

    What the hell happened, and more importantly, what the hell do I do now?

  • #2
    External drives can be a problem, they're more likely to get bumped and are more susceptible to vibration.

    1. "Did you turn it off and on?" (Shut down and restart.)

    2. Right-click, select Properties, Tools tab, and under "Error checking" click "Check now".

    3. If the above fails take the drive to a computer shop.

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    • #3
      Word also likes to hide its documents in its own folder, away from your regular documents. At least, on a Mac it does.
      “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
      One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
      The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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      • #4
        Other than the drive getting a little corruption going, all I can think of is hidden directories. Windows is fond of those, and it gets to be more fun with every version to convince Windows to let the user actually see what's there.

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        • #5
          I turned off the computer, unplugged the drive, then plugged it in another drive and started the computer. The drive began to whirr, and I was able to access it.

          Today? It's "empty" again.

          Computer shop?

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          • #6
            It might not be that the HDD is failing, but the control board in the housing.

            If you're able, you might want to remove it from the housing and connect it internally into your system and see if it's stable. If so, then it's just the control unit in the housing that's the problem and you can replace that easily enough.
            I AM the evil bastard!
            A+ Certified IT Technician

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            • #7
              It might not be that the HDD is failing, but the control board in the housing.

              If you're able, you might want to remove it from the housing and connect it internally into your system and see if it's stable. If so, then it's just the control unit in the housing that's the problem and you can replace that easily enough.


              Ah, this is where it gets confusing for me. Where would I connect the drive? And what does the control unit look like, and where is it?

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              • #8
                External hard drives are exactly the same as drives as you'd put into your computer or laptop (depending on size), just stored in a box that makes it easy to plug into your PC and carry around
                The drives themselves have a board on that that controls the drive itself and how the data is stored and transferred to the drive and the box (or caddy) has a small control board to change the output of the drive from a SATA connector to USB.

                If you're able to open the box (try IFixit if you're not sure) you should be able to unplug the hard drive and add it to your system, either with a USB to SATA adaptor (check your favoured tat vendor) or add it straight to your system with SATA connectors (here) - since this is not a permanent affair skip the bits with brackets n' stuff, just place on a flat surface in the case.

                If it all works fine then, yes it's probably the board in the box, you can either mount it permanently in the case or buy an external caddy (see favourite tat vendor again). If it doesn't then it may be the drive itself, grab as much as possible from it and look at replacement, anecdotally I've never had a drive fail gracefully but YMMV

                If you don't have a SATA connector I'd suggest getting as much data off as possible and, due to the age of the drive, get a replacement anyway (you can buy a PATA to USB adaptor or a combo PATA\SATA to USB). I don't remember the last time I saw a non-SATA drive, in a non-commercial setting, and just the age of it would make me wary of anything but non-critical backups, which is kind of redundant.
                Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Dr Cox - Scrubs

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                • #9
                  I may just end up buying a new one. The only thing that I know that works is to unplug the drive after I shut down the computer, then plug it in once the computer is up and running. I forgot to mention, this is by no means a new computer. And the drive itself is, oh, about three years old.

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                  • #10
                    3 years old... it's probably a nice little SATA drive, which are a whole lot easier to deal with than the old IDE drives. If you decide you want to integrate the drive into your desktop, you'll need a new cable, at most. ($5 or less at Newegg)
                    Depending on the physical size of the drive, a new casing is also available through them. I've got a very cheap one that's just a soft plastic housing and plugs into a USB port. (Great for the smaller SSD and laptop drives)

                    Depending on your size needs, you might get a USB jump drive (thumb drive, etc) or two. They're cheap-ish at the Mart of Wal, and damned cheap on Newegg.

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                    • #11
                      I live in Europe now, so the Mart of Wal is out. I was looking at cloud storage earlier, but a year's worth of storage would cost about the same as one new drive. Any suggestions on what brand to get?

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                      • #12
                        I recommend you get a 256 GB flash drive rather than an external hard drive. You'd be able to get one in the US for $40-50; don't know what they run for in the Old Country.

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                        • #13
                          I have a lot more than 256 GB on this drive. More than twice as much, as a matter of fact. I'm taking a look at drives available here.

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                          • #14
                            Solid State Drives (SSD) are pretty small, forgiving of many a bump and vibration (no moving parts) and can fit in a fairly cheap enclosure. The physical size is usually 2.5" wide, usable in laptops. The downside is that they do ...wear out with repeated writes (saves). If you're just hauling around data and doing a bit of writing, it'll last for ages.
                            The price on SSD capacity is going down, while the sizes keep rising. (They have 100TB [yes, Terabyte] drives out, but the price is likewise huge)

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                            • #15
                              For storage, I'd skip SSDs unless you have large amounts of cash spare. Here in the UK £90-£100 gets you a 500Gb SSD or a 4TB 'normal' drive, you can even get an external 4TB for sub £100.

                              It's also worth thinking, do you need an external drive or is this just some holdover from an old setup? As Buzzard mentioned external drives may be subject to more inadvertent stresses & knocks
                              Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Dr Cox - Scrubs

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