We cannot access our or external HD. We need to

What OS are you using? If this is a Windows system (or non-Apple, at any rate), what does the BIOS say about the HD size?

Something has become corrupt. You might not make it out "alive".

Click start control panel scroll to folder options view place a tick in show hidden files folders and drives
this may vary depending on your operating system

Clicking sound on an external hard drive is an indication that it's quiting to work. You mentioned that it's just stopped working, you may need to check the Disk Management of your computer to see if you could still reformat it. To do this, please follow the steps below:

FOR WINDOWS XP AND VISTA:

1. Make sure that the HD is properly connected to the computer.
2. Right-click 'My Computer' or 'Computer' folder and then go to "Manage".
3. Locate and click Disk Management.
4. Then, take note of the drive letters that will appear on the screen.
5. While the Disk Management window is opened, unplug the HD and check which drive letter will disappear.
6. If a drive letter disappears, then that is your external 250GB HD. You may reformat it to make it work again.

NOTE: Reformatting the HD will erase all the files saved in it. You may want to bring your HD in any data recovery center to retrieve the important files. If the HD didn't show up under your Disk Management, then there's nothing that we could do but to bring your HD in to the Data Recovery to save the files.

FOR MACINTOSH OSX:

1. Connect your HD to the computer.
2. Click 'Go' (located near the Apple icon, Finder, File, Edit and View).
3. Select Utilities and then click the Disk Utility Icon.
4. Take note the drive letters and then unplug the HD.

If a drive letter disappears, that's your HD. If nothing disappears, then the computer no longer detecting the HD.

Good luck!

Source

Kevin, Yes you will loose al data if you format it.DO NOT FORMAT as you have your data on it. What I suggest is to get the motherboard of same old model that you replaced. Sometimes the motherboards do not play up with all the hardware. Get the same model motherboard that you replaced. Once that works, copy all data to some other HDD. Or better still send the data in bits by email to yourself. The data would be safe on the email server. And can be retrieved later when all is well. OR attach the drive to some other computer where it works and send emails to yourself. Long and tedious job, but will save your data. And when the drive has started working with your new computer after formatting or otherwise, you can retrieve all the data. and delete the emails from the server.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but from the sound of it you can't. At least not cheaply. The drive must be rebuilt to save the data. Your only option is to bring the drive to a HDD Recovery service for a Clean Lab Recovery. Expect to spend 600-1000.

Sorry Again :-(

I would attempt to connect the drive after the system has booted up. If the external drive is found and accessible copy the data to another drive. If the external refuses to be recognized, allow the drive to cool completely 2-3 hrs, place the unit in a freezer for 2-3 hrs and then try the procedure again. Often times when the drive units or platters within the HD begin to fail you get symptoms as you have described. Super cooling the drive sometimes allows you to remove the data. If not and the data contained within the drive is valuable to you there are software solutions as well as companies that specialize in the data recovery field.

Greetings
use the cd installer that comes with "Master Cooler"
after successful installation, u can now use the Hard drive.

If the data were important, email [email protected]

or visit this site by clicking here, Data Recovery Worldwide

you send them the broken hard drive, and they send back CDs with all data.

Is the power supply internal or external? If external, then just find a similiar or identical unit. If internal, then you could try removing the hard drive and installing it temporarily in a desktop system. Obviously, interfaces must match (SATA, IDE). You could then see if it is accessible, and get any files.

The harddrive itself has gone bad, only solution would be to replace the HDD inside the enclosure :-( sorry.