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I have a 5-year-old external Maxtor 1TB mains-powered hard drive. It was about 60% full. Connected via USB. Macbook Pro 2011, Snow Leopard 10.6.8 .
I normally eject the Maxtor before powering-off but, in the past, if I didn't do this I merely got a warning note or mounted it manually with Disk Utility.
Today, for the first time, the Maxtor doesn't show up on the Desktop or Disk Utility. Its green light is on but it cycles continuously without mounting. I've tried re-booting the whole system several times without improvement.
Has the external hard drive :
a) Just worn out though age?
b) Become damaged through not being ejected properly?
c) Suffered a combination of both a) and b)?
Any remedy to try before seeking professional data recovery?
1) A judicial tap?
2) Cooling it in the freezer (an old hard-drive trick)?
3) Any user-serviceable parts to access?
This must be quite a common problem, especially for data-recovery technicians. Any initial advice? Thanks.
I normally eject the Maxtor before powering-off but, in the past, if I didn't do this I merely got a warning note or mounted it manually with Disk Utility.
Today, for the first time, the Maxtor doesn't show up on the Desktop or Disk Utility. Its green light is on but it cycles continuously without mounting. I've tried re-booting the whole system several times without improvement.
Has the external hard drive :
a) Just worn out though age?
b) Become damaged through not being ejected properly?
c) Suffered a combination of both a) and b)?
Any remedy to try before seeking professional data recovery?
1) A judicial tap?
2) Cooling it in the freezer (an old hard-drive trick)?
3) Any user-serviceable parts to access?
This must be quite a common problem, especially for data-recovery technicians. Any initial advice? Thanks.