Years ago I used floppy discs for backing up then later used CD's. As time passed by my CD's started to misbehave ending up not being able to read some of them at all. I mentioned this to a chum and he suggested the best method of backing up was to use an external hard drive; I bought a 1tb Iomega hard drive and sure enough it was much better; massive capacity and no playing around with floppies or CD's so I was well pleased. My Iomega is model; LDHD-UP
A couple of weeks ago the Iomega threw a tantrum displaying images which were breaking up however after switching it off then back on again it now was fine. Last weekend the Iomega couldn't be recognized by the computer; it's power was on and the LED was flashing but it wasn't emitting its usual sound? Everything I tried to get it working failed; I browsed the web and could spend money on "drivers" but I'm a bit more streetwise than to do that; all my computer drivers were up to date. I removed the unit from its case but all appeared to be in order from a visual inspection.
Yesterday morning the fun started. I asked Bron if she would like a trip out to the computer shop in Fartown and we arrived at 10 o'clock when the shop was to open; I stood on the pavement outside the shop holding the Iomega in my hand whilst masses of traffic passed me. Becoming fed up of being on stage I went back to the car and we then parked on the pavement directly outside the shop. Something sounded to land on the car but we thought it must be leaves with the passing traffic kicking up a strong breeze; 15 minutes later we drove a few yards to a second computer shop thinking if the first computer shop couldn't open on time then they don't want out business?
Aztech Computers was open and I was the only customer; I explained the problem and the guy asked if I had brought along the power lead because it was a special? No I hadn't but he could just test the hard drive for me so I agreed to this. I watched as he removed the hard drive from the case as I had done then new to me he removed the actual hard drive unit; taking it into the back of the shop he then returned to declare the hard drive was working OK. I hadn't realized this external hard drive was just a standard hard drive but with its own power supply and some extra electronics; I asked if the electronics could be repaired and he said he had in stock direct replacement cases with the required electronics at £20 each. I was happy to buy one of these so he opened the box and set about installing my hard drive into the new case and all went well it being a very easy job; he then hooked the hard drive up to a computer but once again the hard drive wasn't recognized; he then spent the best part of an hour trying assorted cables and hooking up to different computers; he opened a second box and tried yet another new case but I should have told him my name adding that my guardian angel passed away many years ago? He simply couldn't get it to work but during his attempts I was quietly watching and listening; he had told me that the hard drive could be directly installed into my computer tower no longer requiring the case and extra electronics. I said I would be more than happy to install it into my tower but for once the little light lit up between my ears "will I need extra cables" yes I would need two extra cables and this saved another trip to the computer shop. I asked how much I owed him and he replied just £5 for the two cables which I thought very decent indeed of him considering the amount of effort he had put in on my behalf so I gladly handed over the £5 and told him he had a new customer in future.
Walking back to the car I found out what had caused the noise we heard; a Pterodactyl passing overhead had deposited a huge amount of gifts all over the rear of the car; back home first job was to wash the car.
This morning I pulled the computer desk clear of the wall then removed the tower unit after disconnecting the leads. Removing four knurled screws I soon had the side panels removed but had to disconnect the fan lead in case it became damaged. Installing the Iomega hard drive was easy enough but care is needed to ensure the leads are correctly positioned in their slots; The guy in the store had correctly added the two new leads into the hard drive so all I needed to do was hook up to a spare power supply lead and I looked at where the original hard drive was hooked up to the motherboard then connected alongside. The fan was reconnected and the two side panels secured. With all the leads connected at last the Iomega hard drive was instantly recognized and is now fully installed and working much to my relief. I'm not bothered about the Iomega no longer being external in fact I'm pleased to get it off the desk top.
I'm no computer whiz kid and all you computer experts could well be laughing at this story but when the Iomega failed it worried me because I have hundreds of images stored on it which I cannot replace; this has been a warning to me so now I need to back up my back up and will look into what my choices are? I hope my long winded story is of use to others should a similar fault occur on their external hard drive.
Looking back I could have been silly enough to spend money on drivers which would not have cured this fault; for £5 and a car wash I'm now delighted to have full access to my backed up images and data.
Kind regards, Col.
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If gloom had a voice, it would be me.
I also zip up that info, Axcrypt it, and store it on Dropbox. 
