External Hard Drive Won't Open

[MsLolita]

I have an external hard drive that is only a few months old and now it doesn't seem to open, or allow access for me to open.  I keep receiving an error msg that reads "E:\ is not accessible.  The semaphore timeout period has expired."  I am trying to figure out if its a problem with my laptop or my external hard drive.  Please advise.  Thank you.

[Mister2]

Hi MsLolita,

There are several things we can check out but this type of error often points to a hard drive failure.  Bearing in mind that the drive is still under warranty I will be conservative in my advice here.

First, a few things I need to know:

• What make and model is the external drive?
• Is it connected to your computer using a USB cable?
• Do you hear the drive spin up and/or see an indicator light when you try to access it through Windows?

In the meantime, try the following:

• Connect the drive to a different computer and see if you can access it.
• Shut your computer down, disconnect the drive and boot up again.  When the computer has finished booting up, shut down, connect the drive again, make sure the power supply to the drive is connected and switched on, then boot up again.  Windows should recognise the drive as a new device.
• If the drive is connected by a USB cable, try a different USB port, preferably one on the back panel of your computer.  Also try a different cable.  Make sure the cable is less than 2 metres long as this can sometimes have an adverse effect on a peripheral.

Let me know how that goes, and also the answers to my first questions.

[MsLolita]

What make and model is the external drive?
maxtor personal storage 3200

Is it connected to your computer using a USB cable?
yes

Do you hear the drive spin up and/or see an indicator light when you try to access it through Windows?
yes/yes

ok i will try your suggestions

[MsLolita]

Connect the drive to a different computer and see if you can access it.
NO, didn't work.  Connected it to another laptop and my computer didnt recognize that I had anything attached.

Shut your computer down, disconnect the drive and boot up again.  When the computer has finished booting up, shut down, connect the drive again, make sure the power supply to the drive is connected and switched on, then boot up again.  Windows should recognise the drive as a new device.
Will try this one after I post this message.

If the drive is connected by a USB cable, try a different USB port, preferably one on the back panel of your computer.  Also try a different cable.  Make sure the cable is less than 2 metres long as this can sometimes have an adverse effect on a peripheral.
Tried to a different cable, computer still didn't recognize it.

[Mister2]

Given the fact that the laptop didn't recognise the drive then I'm inclined to think the drive or the electronics in the enclosure are faulty.  Let me know about the reboot thing.

As the drive is still under warranty I think your best course of action would be to return the unit for replacement - if you open it up to check anything then the warranty will become  invalid.  There is little you could do anyway apart from checking the connections.