My Western Digital external hard drive fell off a desk when I moved my computer. It's had a couple shorter falls before but recovered fine. This time, the ring around the power button lights up when I plug it in to the power source but my computer won't recognize it. When it turns on it hums for a second and then, very quietly, squeaks like an old hinge. A moment after that it stops making any noise or vibrations, but the light remains on. It used to take a moment to show up in My Computer but now it doesn't display at all.
Sounds like the end. One thing I've tried, with some limited success, is to put the drive in a freezer for several hours. I've had the drives work for a little while; longer if I wrapped them in ice packs. This worked on drives that were working and stopped; I don't know about one that was dropped. Doesn't cost anything; worth a try. One thing; if it does work, get the files off right away. It never works for long.
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