External hard drive shows as unallocated

[Domino Quartz]

This post is in the "Grumpy Technology" category (with emphasis on grumpy)
So, I have an external hard drive connected to my computer by way of a USB 3.0 cable. I used to be able to access it just fine, but after I accidentally knocked it off the top of my computer (where it was sitting), it has stopped appearing in "My Computer" and when I look at it with things like "EaseUS Partition Master" it shows up as unallocated. This is extremely annoying, because I have a lot of files on there that I would really like not to lose. Even when I try to use the "Partition Recovery" wizard, I can't do anything because it can't find any partition to recover. Can someone please help me? Thanks.

[factotum]

I think you should remove the hard drive from the enclosure and plug it into one of the motherboard SATA ports on your computer--that would at least confirm that the problem is the drive itself, not the USB interface in the caddy. If it works, you need to get a new external USB caddy and install the hard drive into it. If it doesn't, you're really going to have to use the services of a professional data recovery company, which is going to cost.

Then, after you've done all that, get some sort of backup solution set up, because the rule is simple: if you're not backing it up, you don't care if you lose it.

[snowblizz]

factotum got the right idea. If you are lucky it's a malfuntion of the "shell". If you are unlucky (less likely in a ssd, more likely in a hdd) you have damaged the drive itself by knocking it over.

[Domino Quartz]

Well, I tried to do some data recovery on it. I left it running overnight, but no progress was made (it kept saying that there were 4782 hours remaining). It looks like my hard drive is screwed. Aagh. :smallmad: It's a good thing the files I had on there aren't too difficult to replace - they were just a bunch of files that I had downloaded from the internet. It won't be difficult to replace them, but it will take a long time (which is why I was trying to recover them). Thanks for your advice anyway.

[Kibabii]

Elimination method will work out for you best. Why? Since it will enable you to eliminate the possible problem instead of generalization. Like suggested, trying using another USB if you have or just connect the drive to the SATA and see how t behaves. From that point you will be able to tell where the problem is.