my external drive dead?

I need some Noobsters tech support.

I have a Western Digital 150Gb external drive that I've been using for about 6 months. I have been hot-swapping it back and forth between two PCs in order to transfer RapidShare files from my old computer to my new one.

As of this morning I've got serious problems with the drive. It says I have an "I:O error" and it cannot read from disk. Or it says, "The semaphore timeout period has expired". I get those interchanging messages when I hook it up to both PCs.

I've never had a problem with this drive before, ever.

I've tried changing cords to see if that would help and it did not. I've defragged both PCs and it didn't help. I turned the drive and the PCs on and off and still no luck. What else should I try?

Am I screwed? I've got 140Gb worth of stuff on that external drive. Any data rescue service would probably just rescue the component bits of the data on there and not the iso images themselves. It is iso images of games which I have on there for the most part - most of which are already installed on my PC. But that doesn't take the sting out of what just happened.

I wanted to have backup iso images and my backup device broke. Am I now out $120 bucks? It will take at least that to buy another drive plus at least $50 dollars to have the data reclamation service performed. Dammit! Anyone - give me some ideas...

stick it in the freezer for 20 mins...

sounds like a network timeout error......triple check cables and ports

Thanks guys - I'll try both suggestions.

Anyone else? Help, please.

Why don't you just share all the files on the network (assuming you hacve one) and transfer them that way?

If you've been trying with the drive still in the external case then just remove it and stick it into one of the spare IDE connections (or SATA) and treat it like a local. I'm assuming you haven't tried this as I haven't seen a comment about removing from external case. Just a comment about switching cables (which I'm assuming were either USB or SATA).

NB. If you're connecting via a SATA cable. Do you switch the external on after or before the PC boots up as I find my external SATA won't be recognized unless I've got it running before the OS boots up.

If you've been trying with the drive still in the external case then just remove it and stick it into one of the spare IDE connections (or SATA) and treat it like a local. I'm assuming you haven't tried this as I haven't seen a comment about removing from external case. Just a comment about switching cables (which I'm assuming were either USB or SATA).

NB. If you're connecting via a SATA cable. Do you switch the external on after or before the PC boots up as I find my external SATA won't be recognized unless I've got it running before the OS boots up.

You are obviously more technically proficient with PCs than I am. I'm not sure what your talking about exactly but I get the gist of it. I think it's time to take it to a PC-fixing service and see if they can access the drive after removing it from the external case.

Thanks all!

The more suggestions the better - please.

Sorry dude. Didn't mean to sound technical at all coz it's not really. If you've ever installed a new / replacement hard drive into your own PC then this isn't much of a stretch.

Most external hard drives are able to be opened quite easily and look exactly the same as an IDE/ SATA connected hard drive like in your PC. All you have to do is disconnect it from the external case and then connect up to an available IDE cable or SATA cable in your PC.

Just recommending this coz sometimes I've found that you can reach a hard drive if it's installed locally. That could indicate a problem with your hardware e.g. USB ports or cables. Check to ensure that you can run other USB devices off your USB ports. If you can't then look at reinstalling / updating your USB controller software as it may have become corrupted. (once again I'm assuming you're using a USB / USB 2.0 device).

If it's a SATA connected device then you may have been given a SATA faceplate connector (like a PCI card) which you can install inside your PC. You can connect one end onto an available SATA port on the motherboard and the faceplate will sit in a normal area at the back of a PC like the other PCI or PCI E slots.

Then refer to my earlier comments about ensuring the device is running before switching on the PC.

Finally a question? Was your external drive formatted on a Dell PC? As I've seen Hard drives crap out when they were formatted on a Dell as opposed to my other two PC's i.e. An IBM Netvista or Compaq.

Yes, the external drive was formtted on a Dell PC. Damn. That's all I've got - two Dells.

I will try to get it in to a PC Doctor-type place and see if they can access the external drive by popping the lid off the top. That's what you'd recommend, right? I'm too much of an amatuer to try it myself.

this has happened to me several times. no matter what mounting the drive in windows usuallly ended poorly, but i was able to use linux and get everything off the drive. everything. now i don't use external drives on more than one system.
get yourself a livecd and see if your lucky

Boy I wish you could figure out how to remove it from the external case, I think thats all you would have to do and then plug it into the inside of your dell. If the guys at the PC repair try and tell you you have to send it in to get a service to recover the data tell them to forget it and find some one that can put it into your PC and try that. It sounds like a conection problem not a HD problem, wind@ws will do shit like that for no reason. There are plenty of programs out that will recover the data. If you need one just ask. But you will still have to install the HD into your puter.

Thanks guys - I'm foolowing the gist of the thread better now and this sounds like good advice.

I don't think there is room inside my new Dell to fit the innards of the external drive but I will ask the guys at the PC repair place if it is possible. I also will ask them to look at it as a connection problem - not a hard drive problem. I agree. Thanks Noobsters!

Anyone else want to add something or weigh in with more advice please feel free. Thx.

I was gonna write out a list of instructions for you to follow if you were going to do this yourself but I found it was getting messy and you may get p1ssed off with the list of things to check for when changing drive settings etc. Therefore, agree with you to take it in to the PC repair shop. Good luck.