External hard drive not working properly

I have a western digital hard drive which i have had for 1 and a half years now. It has been working fine with no troubles up til now....now sometimes it wont even spin (the light goes on) and when i plugged it into the mac computer at my skool it said something about it couldn't perform disk repair. Also when i try to copy things off it (in windows), it gives me this error:
"Cannot copy 01 Track 1: Cannot find the specified file

Make sure you specify the correct path and file name."

This happens for every file i try and copy :S
If you can help i would really appreciate it (i have my YR.12 work on there).
Thanks in advance

 

Thanks for the reply ddp, so i open the case and slide it out (thats easy enough), and then how do i connect it internaly to the pc?...and i still have to use it at school for work so how do i do that???

Thanks again

 

Depends what type of HDD connection you have inside the comp either SATA or IDE =(PATA),IDE uses a wide 40 pin Ribbon, the plastic plug has 40pins top & bottom.SATA has a distinctive 20mm red cable with black ends

If you have IDE on the external & the comp then it's just a matter of setting that drive to slave or cs (cable select)by using a jumper pin,see manufacturers website or diagram on hdd,make the comps hdd is set to master of just set both hdd's to cs

SATA No issues here just hook em both up everythings automatic


If your hdd is different to what's inside the comp you'll need an adaptor


IDE DRIVE
looking at your computers original drive you'll notice a four wire plug that is white with coloured wiring on the outer edge of one side of the hdd,next to that is another bay but with only four pins top & bottom (or 3 top & bottom),these are your settings pins for master,slave or cable select,next to them is your 40pin plug for connection to the motherboard

EDIT: What DDP is getting at is seeing if the hdd can be read by the computer,if it can it means your external device is shot,however if you have the master/slave settings correct & the comp can't see the slave then you're out of luck & need to do a warranty claim,all hdd's these days come with a 3 year warranty even tho your external hdd housing may not

 

Thanks scorpNZ, ill give this a go and see what type of hdd connection i have and then ill get back to you.

EDIT: I opened my pc looked at all the connections took photos and everything, closed it all back up and reconnected everything. After doing all this i opened my external hard drive to see the connection in that. Then i noticed some screws on the top of the hard drive and when i went to see if they were tight they were very loose...once i plugged it into my pc (USB) it worked fine.

Thanks so much for both of your help but it seems that it is fine now... sort of pisses me off that 4 loose screws could have done all that but at least it works now.

Thanks again for all your help

 

Makes me wonder what holds the hdd in place inside the housing,the security screws on the top cover even tho loose i can't see it stopping the hdd working or read/writing ,think of it as a bonnet on your car,if it comes loose or off the car will still run & drive,what's happened here suggests to me that the hdd was'nt pushed all the way home or has managed to move away from the plugs,it would also pay to check the screws that hold the circuit board on the underside of the hdd

 

Opened the champagne too early, sorry...last night it was working perfectly, i even unplugged it and plugged it back it about 4 times just to see if it was fine and it worked every time. I woke up this morning (im in australia) and now it wont work anymore...i can take photo's of the hdd if you want me to??? or is it my pc???

Sorry for the troubles

 

it gets it's power through the usb ports (I can use the usb and a DC 5V which also goes to usb but this hasn't been making any difference ...i tried it on a new laptop which isn't mine and it didn't work there either...it just seems to work sometimes and not others

 

do you think that the case could be causing the problem??? i dont see how??? not trying to argue with you cos im a noob at this but the case doesn't look like it does anything except cover the insides??? I can show you a photo of it???

 

All my externals are powered by it's own power supply,if you have too many usb devices attached that are powered by the usb that could be why,if not then as ddp said another housing or if it's 3.5" hdd then install into computer.

Never used usb powered hdd's but if they're anything like mine they should contain a circuit board in them if that fails the case will be stuffed,but you still need to check the hdd still works

 

Ok, thanks guys for all your help...ill try and get the I.T staff at school to fix it as they are the ones who made it in the first place and then sold it to us...a rip off by the way (but thats a different story)

Thanks a heap