Hello,

I have a Maxtor 5000Le 80GB external unit. I am running Windows XP Pro. I've had this unit for years and it has been great. About a month ago my computer locked when booting and after checking out all my external hardware, I found out that this unit had caused the problem. It seemed that the usb port or the cable was the problem. When I unplugged the usb, plugged it into another port, and even replugged it into the original port all of a sudden it started working again. It has been working fine since then until today. . . Now the problem is: . . . . Windows boots just fine. . it just doesn't recognize this external hard drive at all. The hard drive is not making any noise at all, the green light on the unit is turned on showing that the unit is powered up. . .just no noise. I tried it with a new usb cord and still nothing. It's like an internal switch is out or maybe the internal usb connector on the unit is damaged or something. Please help. This unit has years and years of information in it and I really need to be able to get to it.

Thank you,

Did you try to open your external box with a drive, and connect your drive directly to your computer (slave it) if you'll see it in windows, that means problem with a box
if you still wont see drive in windows, that means problem with a drive.
Also, if you are saying drive isn't making any noise, make sure it’s spinning up
listen to the box when you press power button. And unfortunately if you still face problems then I guess you must contact a data recovery Lab. One I know is SAlvageData Recovery Lab INC, an ISO 9001 company and here is the address of the lab: -76 Progress Drive, Corporate Park, and Stamford, CT 06902. My friend has faced dangerous problems regarding data recovery and we have seen how this lab has given best result and recovered data. You can also. May be this will help.