Let us know the model number and size of your External HD, it might help us offer more specific advice.
If the drive is mechanically or electrically failing, it might not be coincidental that you've have problems as the weather grows colder.
First things first, have a new spare HD on hand, because if you do something to actually get your old HD working it might not ever happen again, so you need to be ready to transfer off whatever you want straight away.
1/ Try gently warming the old drive up before you plug it in, just a little like sitting it on a warm(not hot) hot water bottle for a while. 40° ~ 50°C is more than hot enough, so do not boil the kettle!
2/ fwiw, the exact opposite. I've also heard of people having success with the reverse, placing the drive in a good quality sealed zip-lok bag with desiccant crystals and leaving it in the fridge for a while, you must use the crystals to keep it all dry inside the bag. Don't leave it in there too long, you do not want it to get so cold that it develops condensation when you bring it out.
Both the above techniques tend to affect the device power supply circuit more than the actual HD, when External HDs fail it's often the PSU part of the device and not the HD.
Another thing, plug it in and leave it on for an extended period, like overnight. If the problem is a failing PSU capacitor they can start working after they have warmed up. They'll stop working again when they cool so the bit in bold above applies. The voltage regulation becomes unstable and the device hangs. After sometime left on to warm up unplug wait 10s to 15s then reconnect.
Repeating these warming / cooling steps too much is a bad, you eventually cause the device to stop altogether.
Check the various connectors, you'd be surprised how frequently a USB device stops working because something is stuck in the connector socket, fluff, a bug, food crumbs, pet hair, or that one of the pins has become damaged. A small magnifier and good light source will help you inspect the pins.
Some devices are USB powered, others have mains sockets or external plug pack PSU. If it's the plug pack type PSU it's worth trying a replacement plug pack. These little plug packs go bad after a few years due to failing capacitors and the usual DC output becomes a square or sine wave.
If it's a mains powered device, the HD sits inside the box with a PSU, you can remove the drive and put it into a new external case to test the result, those cases start at about $30 at a company like Scorptec. There are different types so you need to know what you are replacing.
If the drive is mechanically or electrically failing, it might not be coincidental that you've have problems as the weather grows colder.
First things first, have a new spare HD on hand, because if you do something to actually get your old HD working it might not ever happen again, so you need to be ready to transfer off whatever you want straight away.
1/ Try gently warming the old drive up before you plug it in, just a little like sitting it on a warm(not hot) hot water bottle for a while. 40° ~ 50°C is more than hot enough, so do not boil the kettle!
2/ fwiw, the exact opposite. I've also heard of people having success with the reverse, placing the drive in a good quality sealed zip-lok bag with desiccant crystals and leaving it in the fridge for a while, you must use the crystals to keep it all dry inside the bag. Don't leave it in there too long, you do not want it to get so cold that it develops condensation when you bring it out.
Both the above techniques tend to affect the device power supply circuit more than the actual HD, when External HDs fail it's often the PSU part of the device and not the HD.
Another thing, plug it in and leave it on for an extended period, like overnight. If the problem is a failing PSU capacitor they can start working after they have warmed up. They'll stop working again when they cool so the bit in bold above applies. The voltage regulation becomes unstable and the device hangs. After sometime left on to warm up unplug wait 10s to 15s then reconnect.
Repeating these warming / cooling steps too much is a bad, you eventually cause the device to stop altogether.
Check the various connectors, you'd be surprised how frequently a USB device stops working because something is stuck in the connector socket, fluff, a bug, food crumbs, pet hair, or that one of the pins has become damaged. A small magnifier and good light source will help you inspect the pins.
Some devices are USB powered, others have mains sockets or external plug pack PSU. If it's the plug pack type PSU it's worth trying a replacement plug pack. These little plug packs go bad after a few years due to failing capacitors and the usual DC output becomes a square or sine wave.
If it's a mains powered device, the HD sits inside the box with a PSU, you can remove the drive and put it into a new external case to test the result, those cases start at about $30 at a company like Scorptec. There are different types so you need to know what you are replacing.
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