Fault find first! Check first that it isn't a power cable that is faulty. They are made of very low quality materials usually and the wires can pull out of the connectors. Also make sure the connector is on properly, try others, push them on hard! Does it work in another machine (more fault finding)? Is the drive warm?
Several things can occur... Non mechanical faults involve the drives integrated electronics, some can be fixed, it costs more to do than a new drive usually. Mechanical faults usually involve bearing failure or stepper motor failure. Most data can be recovered but it is very expensive process done by specialist companies (the data needs to be very valuable to be worth it). If u can "write off" the data, buy a new drive (they are soo cheap £50 gets you 300GB at RLSupplies.co.uk). Then get Norton Ghost or a DVD writer and back up your drive regularly. Norton can automate the process even.
mart9012, June 2007
