StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Last week, I was using my external hard drive, when it suddenly gave me a "path not found" error (or something similiar). After that, when I reconnected the drive, I got the sound indicating something was conencted to the USB port but no drive letter appeared. At first, I wasn't too worried, since the computer I was using has a history of USB problems, but when I tried to connect it to another computer, the same thing happened (no drive letter assigned).

I then tried to remove the drive from its casing and conenct it directly to my computer through the IDE cable. No luck - the BIOS does not seem to recognize it.

While I don't have any critical information on the drive, I do have a lot of stuff which will take me quite a while to replace. Does anyone have a suggestion how I can recover information from the drive (if I can just get the drive recognized, I can use File Scavanger or a similiar utility to rescue the information even if the FAT is corrupted), or is it beyond hope (abrring a professional data recovery service, which is too expensive given that there's nothing critical on it)?

It sounds pretty dead to me. The only things I can think of at this point (besides trying it in someone else's computer via IDE to be sure it's the drive) would be to find an identical-model drive and swap the circuit boards, or to stick it in a freezer for a few hours and then take it directly to your computer.

Linux Live CD (distro of your choice), but it sounds pretty dead to me as well.

If the BIOS itself doesn't recognize the drive after hooking it up directly, you're more or less fucked. Double-check the jumpers before you write it off entirely, but...yeah.

Well, I tried the freezer trick - no luck

Details on the time and location of the memorial service will be forthcoming