Urgent help needed with old Mac hard drive

[disfasia]

Thanks so much for all your help. I called up Apple and the drive makes a ticking sound. I think it might be toast. I am rather upset but how on earth can a drive that once worked perfectly, lay in storage (ie not knocked at all) and suddenly not work. Does cold weather affect them? It was in storage in my house so not freezing, but chilly.

Thanks again all!

 

[Allen Davis]

For what it's worth, here's what I'd do…

You can buy a different external USB enclosure which has a provision for plugging in a power supply/adapter.

I happen to favor the Mercury On-The-Go enclosure that OWC sells. The USB 3-only enclosure is a little expensive at $37.95, but you can get an optional power supply so that it won't tax your USB port's voltage.

They also offer a more expensive option which has a USB 3 port and TWO FireWire 800 ports.

They're both the best-looking and probably the most rugged enclosures made with a generous warranty.