Old pata hdd. The HDD still powers on and spins. There's no clicking noise. The computer recognizes the HDD, it just wont mount. This is in both OSX and windows. Im hoping it's not a physical issue since there's no odd noises. Any nifty software programs that someone could recommend? Is the software route a dead end if the HDD isn't mounting? I'm a data recovery nub and would appreciate any advice/suggestions.

On a side note, a lot of my old earth stuff that's on this HDD I'm pretty sure I gave to Bug at some point. I've lost my old messengers, so, if anyone still keeps in touch with him, please show him this. Thanks.

Double side note! I forgot my boxcar password again.. i thought we just named is slip so this fluff would stop happening :(

tilt the entire machine to one side 20-40 degrees and then try start it up again - if it starts up, it will not last long before KIA, so get your info off - IF - it starts up that is

hope it works for you mate - its worked for me a couple of times

take hdd out of box and attach it directly to comp (if possible, otherwise you need adapter) and run chkdsk/r on it and after that try to get access on it, if don't get access then you could try under linux (live-dvd) to see if it can access to that hdd, if not then it gets complicated (no software help since no access), there are some options but all those are either expensive (data restoring company) or difficultish (replace bottom of hdd with working hdd's bottom and try to get datas off from there).

I like Seagate.

Look up EASEUS Data Recovery... worked for my 500GB

Can try the freezer trick, Wrap it appropriatley - throw it in the freeze for 12ish hours boot it up get your stuff off it and then get your fluff off it and throw it away!

plug into a different usb port. could try mounting while in a linux livecd too.

Unlike Requiem, I like Western Digital, I haven't had any issues with one of their drives yet.

This. But make sure you ziplock it in properly, in an air-tight container so that when you take it out from the freezer, water condensation doesn't immediately kill its internals (otherwise it can make it worse). Applicable to humid countries.

Nightshade is absolutely correct, Western Digital is the bomb. I have never had a Western Digital drive fail.

I wouldn't recommend the old ice box trick myself. Demounting the drive from the external box and attempting a direct connection is probably your best bet. If you can get it to spin up and initialize that way, there's a better opportunity to gain at least hardware access to the drive. If you can do that using either the OS or a specialty software package, typically available from the manufacturer, you might be able to fix the boot record and mount the drive that's there.

I MISS YOU SO MUCH IT HURTS SLIP