This hard drive was hooked up to my Sony desktop via the supplied USB cable... I then wished to unplug the hard drive but it said it could not shut down the hard drive so instead of just unplugging it I reached down and pressed in on the desktop power button and turned off my desktop first before I unplugged my hard drive.. When I had restarted the desktop I also needed to again view items which were on the seagate 320 external hard drive... BUt when I plugged it in my computer told me that the drive would have to be reformatted before I could use it... It only showed as a lettered drive but never came up with the Freeagent name as it has always done before... I need to be able to retrieve the info on this drive.... is there any way to do this ?? Has anyone heard of others having problems with the Seagate 320 Freeagent external hard drives ???

Can you navigate to the external drive via Windows Explorer?
Did you try restarting your computer? Unplug the external completely, then reconnect it?

Hi Eva!


If your desktop is crashed, then you will need to verify if its internal hard drive is still working, and then conect it using an USB/SATA/IDE adapter to your Laptop. This is one: http://www.sataadapter.com/SATA-IDE-ATA-66-ATA-100-ATA-133-COMBO-ADAPTER/sata-ide-adapter-usb-hard-drive-sata-drive.html

If the problem with your desktop is with its hard drive, then... you need to take your computer to its manufacturer technnical service center.

Just take the hard drive out of your old computer and hook it up to another computer via a usb port with a device like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

Then when you have it hooked up to your new computer via the usb port just transfer the files you need from the old computers hard drive to the new computers hard drive in windows explorer..

Just take the hard drive out of your old computer and hook it up to another computer via a usb port with a device like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

Then when you have it hooked up to your new computer via the usb port just transfer the files you need from the old computers hard drive to the new computers hard drive in windows explorer.

Well- depending on the age of the hard drive it is either an IDE/EIDE or S-ATA or they also have firewire and USB.

Go to Amazon or Google USB to IDE/SATA converter cable.

This is a kit that has a power supply and different connector types. So--if you get your drive from your laptop you can connect it with this kit to your desktop computer via usb. It will appear just like C: in my computer and will act like an external hard drive.

I hope this Helps!

The external storage device has several major components:
* USB cable
* external power-supply
* disk-drive inside the enclosure
* USB-to-disk-drive adapter inside the enclosure.
Try a different USB cable.
Try a different USB port on your computer.
Try a USB port on a different computer.
Take a multi-meter, and measure the output voltage/amperage of the power-supply,
and compare with the specifications on the label of the power-supply.
Open the enclosure, and remove the disk-drive, and attach it as a "slave" drive in a desktop computer, to see if bypassing the USB-to-disk-drive adapter bypasses the problem.
Look at the label on the disk-drive, for manufacturer, product-number, serial-number, and manufacture date. Access the manufacturer's web-site, and use "check warranty status" to see if the warranty still is valid. If so, the drive can be replaced, at minimal cost to you.
Buy a new, compatible, disk-drive, and install it in the enclosure, to "revive" your external storage device.
Search online for a professional "data recovery service". For a significant fee, they can repair your disk-drive, just long-enough to copy your files to a new disk-drive.

The external storage device has several major components:
* USB cable
* external power-supply
* disk-drive inside the enclosure
* USB-to-disk-drive adapter inside the enclosure.
Try a different USB cable.
Try a different USB port on your computer.
Try a USB port on a different computer.
Take a multi-meter, and measure the output voltage/amperage of the power-supply,
and compare with the specifications on the label of the power-supply.
Open the enclosure, and remove the disk-drive, and attach it as a "slave" drive in a desktop computer, to see if bypassing the USB-to-disk-drive adapter bypasses the problem.
Look at the label on the disk-drive, for manufacturer, product-number, serial-number, and manufacture date. Access the manufacturer's web-site, and use "check warranty status" to see if the warranty still is valid. If so, the drive can be replaced, at minimal cost to you.
Buy a new, compatible, disk-drive, and install it in the enclosure, to "revive" your external storage device.
Search online for a professional "data recovery service". For a significant fee, they can repair your disk-drive, just long-enough to copy your files to a new disk-drive.

Please visit www.ebay.com

Cheers

u can get a usb adaptor for your hard drive.

I've had this problem before.

I tried a different cord and it started working again. Additionally i've had this work for me (see below)

Try This:

1. Unplug all USB devices
2. Turn off Ext Hard drive
3. Shut down computer
4. Power on ext hard drive (then wait like 1 min)
5. Turn on computer
6. Wait for windows to finish loading
7. Plug in the USB cord from the ext hard drive to your computer (may take up to a minute for computer to recognize it)
8. If it doesn't recognize it then keep trying it in different USB ports

If it still won't recognize get all the latest windows update and reboot. If that doesn't solve your issue try your external hard drive on some other computers, check to see if drive needs special drivers installed (which most don't).

From SimpleTech's website: "1) I have the drive plugged in but I cannot find the drive in "My Computer", why?
The most likely cause would be not enough power provided by a single USB port on your computer. Unplug the portable drive from the cable and unplug the cable from the computer. Now, plug the cable into 2 USB ports directly on your computer. (If you have a desktop, you should plug the USB cable directly into the USB ports on the back of the computer. If this is a laptop, you should plug directly into a USB ports on the computer. Do not plug into a USB hub or docking station). Then plug the drive into the cable. In a few seconds you should see the drive listed in the "My Computer" window as a SimpleDrivePS."

If all that fails you need to RMA (Return to Manufacturer) your external hard drive. Most hard drives have a pretty decent warranty on them. Your simpletech 250GB has a 3 year warranty on it. Info on the warranty can be found at http://www.simpletech.com/support/warranty/. If you want to RMA it, click the "Technical Support / RMA Request" on the left hand side of that page.