Hello all, Just finished a build and I was beginning the process of transferring all my files via my Western Digital external hard drive. The problem (which only got worse) was that windows 7 (64) wouldn't recognize the hard drive. The light was on and the disc was spinning but still nothing in windows 7 including disk management. So I decided to give my 8gb flash drive a try. Nothing. Next I tried both the flash drive and the external in the rear USB ports. Still nothing, of course, but this time when I pulled the flash drive out after only a few moments it was extremely hot to the touch. And also the external hard drive was pretty warm. Quickly I realized that I most likely(or my motherboard teamed up with and adolescent windows 7 most likely) destroyed both drives. So I plugged the flash drive into my laptop running xp sp3 to test this sad story. The flash drive again heated up extremely fast and was not recognized. Next I decided to test the fate of the external hard drive. The usb light on the hard drive flashed and it sounded as if it was trying to spin when windows xp gave the error message "usb power surge". So now neither computer will recognized either storage device and I've most likely lost all those files. I feel certain the flash drive is down for the count because it is/was extremely hot. Any ideas about salvaging either or the files they contain? Also I'd like to resolve this so that future mass storage devices don't get baked. Anyone have any clue what just happened to me? Because I'm confused and have a burnt index finger. Any thoughts would be appreciated. ~J-bone Deviant system of concern contains: Amd phenom II quad core Asus M4A78T-E AM3 Motherboard (aka slayer of thumb drives) Windows 7 pro
Welcome to HWF The symptoms you describe are caused by an overload of electricity, which is most likely to be caused by your power supply. Do you have any measurement equipment like a voltage meter?
I think I've more or less solved this mystery. In a stroke of genius I had the front usb terminals hooked up to the internal firewire. So when I plugged the usb device into the firewire(now shaped like usb) it did something to them which would make them overheat when plugged into the actual usb. I corrected this and tried an old flash drive which was immediately recognized by windows in both the front and rear usb hook-ups. The flash drive is literally melted. However I'm working on fixing the external drive. I took to 2.5 inch sata drive out of the western digital my passport enclosure and threw it in an enclosure i had sitting around. I'm hoping the sata to usb circuitry is the only thing damaged. Still waiting on a male to male usb cable to try this out. Looks like the only party to blame is yours truly.
