External drive problem

[oldchemist]

I have a Maxtor 1Tb USB external drive which I use as backup storage for relatively important stuff and sole storage for all the rest which I don't really want to get rid of. It has been fine for ages but today when I go to "my computer/E:drive" I get a message saying that the disc in E drive (the external drive) is not formatted - do I wish to format it? I suspect that if I format the disc I will lose all the stored files. Any ideas anyone?

I have tried everything I know to fix it - ie restarted the PC!

PC is a Dell Dimension running Windows XP.

We have had a mains power cut since I last accessed the drive, PC was in "standby" at the time.

[EDDIE]

Try the external hardrive in another computer to see if it works if u format it u will lose everthing the only thing i can think of is the file system in your externall harddrive and computer both the the same file system Eg ntfs or fat 32.
The reason im saying that is because i tried hooking my external hardrive up to the playstation to do a back up but the playstation is fat 32 and the hardrive was ntfs so the playstion didnt regonize the hardrive?

[M R]

Do not format it under any circumstances, unless you don't mind loosing everthing.

Wether the file system is the same or not should not matter in this case. Would still pick it up.

The fact it was working previous, and now it's not is more the issue.

Does the disk have an on / off switch ?
Try it with a different Sata ro Usb port
Try it on another pc


Hope you get some life out of it, if not dependant on the importance of the data on there, it's a specialist job to recover from a frazled hd and wont be cheap.


Good luck

[oldchemist]

Thanks people. I unplugged and reconnected the USB and power supply leads and now the thing is working OK. Possible one of the connections was mechanically loose? I think I will get a second back-up drive - I don't really trust them that much.