Hi, i have a SimpleTech External Harddrive... and it won't open when i plug it into my computer - i have taken it to bestbuy where i had purchased it, and they tried to open it as well - they had no luck. They said that the only option would be to disassemble the harddrive in a dust-free environment by specialists and it would cost me $2K. Is that true?

Pull the harddrive out, install in an economical external enclosure.
The external enclosure has a USB cable.

Plug the USB cable into any available USB port, on a working computer.

Go to My Computer, or Computer; and double-click on the drive letter, that corresponds with the external enclosure.

(Actually with the harddrive in that external enclosure, it is now an external harddrive)

http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-home.pl?mdl=PCVR539DS&LOC=3#/howtoTab

It's an IDE harddrive. Also known as a PATA harddrive.

A harddrive is measured across it's width.
2-1/2 inches across is a laptop harddrive.
3.5 inches across is a desktop harddrive. (3-1/2 inches)

So you need a 3.5 IDE (PATA) external enclosure.
One example,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1733195&CatId=2779

Regards,
joecoolvette

Inside the LaCie D2 250GB (300770) external harddrive's case, is a 250GB IDE (PATA) harddrive that is 3.5 inches across in width.

A desktop computer sized harddrive. (May be a Western Digital WD25000JB)

The harddrive plugs into a small circuit board, (Bridge board), and the circuit board has a USB port on it.

Using this Western Digital Passport for an example,

http://www.xbitlabs.com/misc/picture/?src=/images/storage/wd-passport-250gb/p3.jpg&1=1

Scroll down to the second photo, and left-click on it. The case of the external harddrive is shown open.
Inside is a 2.5 inch laptop sized harddrive.
An aluminum tape strip covers the small circuit board, attached at the back of the harddrive.

The second photo down on this page, shows you the small interface circuit board, that the harddrive plugs into, with the aluminum tape removed.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/wd-passport-250gb_2.html

(Another design has wires coming from the small circuit board, to an interface the harddrive plugs into )

It is this small circuit board that goes bad in a LaCie. QUITE common.

Solution?

Simple.
1) Obtain a 3.5 inch IDE external enclosure
2) Remove the 3.5 IDE harddrive from the LaCie's case.
3) Install the harddrive out of the LaCie into the external 3.5 IDE enclosure.

An example of a 3.5 IDE (PATA) external enclosure,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1733195&CatId=2779

For additional questions please post in a Comment.
Regards,
joecoolvette

I found that often, external hard drives just don't have any active partitions and thus don't show up in Windows. Go into the control panel, administrative tools, computer management and then the disk manager and see if it has a partition. If it's just unallocated space, right click and make one.

If it is a new hard drive then it needs to be formatted. You can do this by going into your start menu - control panel - administrative tools - computer management - disc manager. I could be a little off on the wording as I don't have my computer handy, but in the disc management you should be able to right click on the drive in here and choose format. This will format the drive to be used. I hope this helps.

try to use other usb cable or try to plug it at the back of your computer.. if it still goes red, check the hdd inside the external hdd case if it connected or inserted properly..

Hi,

You usually get this cable from nearest Bestbuy, Staples or Walmart store.
You can take the SimpleTech SimpleDrive to the store and ask for the adapter and they should be able to supply it.

This way you wont have trouble of getting you wrong part shipped as well.

Thank you for contacting FixYa

It may require a driver from Simpletech to function.

SimpleTech SimpleDrive Pininfarina 320GB External
I need to replace my ac adapter what is the voltage
6 volts or 12 volts

First, u have to format your external harddrive, then just Copy and Past your desired forder from your computer to external hard drive.

Youve damadged the harddrive, is the harddrive spinning or making any noise?