<p>I think my external HDD (Western Digital Elements 500GB) might be busted from unplugging it improperly while my computer was still on :/ The light won't turn on and no computer will even recognize that it's plug in. Is there anyway I can get access to all my files on it? I have four years worth of high school work, college essays, and college prep materials? Who should I take this to or what can I do at home to remedy the situation? I could really use some advice or direction. I'm really worried that I'm stuck with an $100 paperweight.</p>
<p>what have you tried at home to fix it?</p>
<p>Put the drive in a large ziplock bag, then put it in the freezer for about a day. You might be able to get 10 minutes to a half hour out of it that way.</p>
<p>^Woah, really? I want to try that with some of my old drives that died. There’s nothing important on it, so it doesn’t matter if I lose it, but that’s a cool thing to learn if it works.</p>
<p>Yeah, whether it’ll work or not depends on what killed the drive in the first place, but it will work sometimes, especially on external harddrives (since it won’t have to boot the operating system from the drive.) I was able to get my music off of a HD based mp3 player using the trick once.</p>
<p>bring it to a data recovery shop if you desperately need the data</p>
<p>I agree with siglio. Don’t trust anyone else with their methods. Put it in the freezer? Are you really going to follow his instructions? From some random guy on the internet?</p>
<p>Too big to risk. Take it to a recovery shop or call the manufacturer. I suggest calling the manufacturer FIRST out of all.</p>