1 week back my 1TB Seagate Expansion external hard drive which I used for Time Machine backup fell on ground. I freaked out and immediately connected it back to Mac. and to my horror the drive didn’t showed up neither desktop nor on Disk utility. I checked it again and found that the light was still on. There were no sounds which indicate physical damage I mean clicking, buzzing, tickling or damaged component sound. I looked on the web to scan this hard drive with some software and found this link http://www.stellarinfo.com/support/kb/index.php/article/recover-mac-time-machine-drive but again the drive isn’t getting recognized by the software. Thisa drive is no longer in warranty. Could someone let me know how should I open the hard drive safely? What tools I might require? Will changing the enclosure bring back this drive? I still believe the hard drive might be OK since there is no signs of physical damaged and its light is still on. Please help ….
MacOS – My External hard drive fell and not showing up on Mac
hard drivemacos
Related Solutions
If your USB hard drive is the bus-powered variety (that is, you don't plug it into the wall for power), then it is possible that it is requiring too much startup current to run on one of your computers.
Some computers are pickier than others about how much current a device can draw, and over what period.
You might try a cable like this:
Basically, you can use power from two USB ports, instead of just one.
If your hard drive has a jack for a power adapter, use that instead.
Try resetting NVRAM just to be safe. I do this whenever I service a MacBook.
Resetting NVRAM / PRAM
1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.
You may also want to make sure your RAM chips didn't dislodge when you dropped it. Here's how to find your RAM bank.
Hope this helps!
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Best Answer
The drive enclosure may be broken, but it could also be the drive itself, being the logic board or head. It's more likely the drive is broken if it was powered on when it fell. Since it's your backup drive, you hopefully haven't lost anything critical. I'd start thinking about getting a second backup drive to reduce your exposure to loss.
Most USB externals are fairly easy to take apart with a screwdriver, and just have a standard SATA drive inside of them. If you have a SATA to USB adapter you can test it, or even better is to connect to an internal SATA to verify S.M.A.R.T. etc. However a 1TB drive is pretty cheap now, so you might just replace instead of trying to repair.