I think my ext hard drive is toast.

First it worked fine. Then, it worked sometimes. Now, when I plug it in, it makes an "ih, ih, ih, ih, ih ..." and so on sound. Is this thing toast? Can it be fixed? Can the data be saved?

Thanks.

sounds like it died. You could open up the case, and stick in a regular computer hard drive in there and it could save you a few bucks over getting a new external hard drive.

Okay, thanks for the tip. But what about getting the thing fixed? Seems to me, that since all the pieces are there, it's logical that it can be repaired. But I have heard otherwise...

Typically when a hard drive dies, it is usually not possible to fix it. However, if it is, it will be much more costly than to buy a new one. Hard drives usually only last a few years (less if external because of heat issues). When they do go, you just buy a new one and chuck the old. (Trust me, I replace about 5-6 hard drives a week.)

This could be a bad drive, defective AC power adapter, bad usb cables or there may not be enough power being supplied on the usb ports.

Naaah. Generally, the sound he described (called the click of death, FYI) signifies the death of a drive. Data recovery is an expensive proposition, with no guarantee as to how much of it can be recovered. You'll need to go for a new drive and replace from backups. (You did take backups, didn't you?)

like the first guy said, u need to open up the enclosure and take out the hard drive - then plug it into the computer as u would for an internal hard drive. This is the only chance u have to MAYBE save the hard drive. I did it and it worked for me.... but I was lucky. Be prepared to shell out some cash to buy a new hard drive though. good luck.