External drive faulty after an incomplete refrag

Hi all,

I recently backed up data on an external drive as I'm getting a new pc.

Defrag'd the external only to have it crap out part way through the process. Since then it still powers up etc but when connected (usb) to another pc it won't connect, the pc will recognise that something has been plugged in but it times out trying to access the external (ties explorer up).

Have googled for solutions and found a potential one -opening up the drive and slaving it to a pc to access it... but it appears this is 50/50 in terms of actually being able to recover the data though as doing this might force a reformat!

any suggestions would be appreciated!

sigh - why did I defrag!? Why!!

A defrag shouldn't break the integrity data on a drive, as it doesn't delete data until it's written it elsewhere.

Yup connect it to the computer directly - if you know how. I don't think it can format unless you actually okay it.

There are some free data recover programmes about, but being at work, I can't find out what they are 'cos they are on the computer at home.

Sit on the problem for the meantime.

defragging can sometimes push a nearly broken drive over the limit especially if it gets hot in a external case with no fan.

plug it in directly, but dont 'fix' anything, if you cant get it working immediately then turn it off straight away. If the data is important then give it to an expert.

cheers guys

I've bribed the tech guy at work with lunch and he'll give me a hand adding it to my pc as a secondary drive. Hopefully that will sort out the issue.

much appreciated.

Quite possibly is just a usb related issue as its not uncommon.

I was asking the same question too