Technology Forum

okay...i have looked everywhere for a solution to this problem but have not found one.i have an external HDD that i have been using for a year or so, and today it decided to stop working.i have had HDD's break before, and usually they make weird clicking or beeping noises when turned on. this one makes no strange noises at all, just powers up as it always does and stays running until i turn it off.the problem is, it is no longer acknowledged by my PC. when i plug it in or turn it on, nothing happens. nothing pops up, no "new hardware detected," no sounds, not even a "device unrecognized" or a message telling me the disk is corrupt or damaged. just nothing. the disk is nowhere to be found in my computer, device manager or disk management. no sign of anything anywhere.the only time the disk shows any sign of being plugged in is when i plug it into my mac mini. when i plug it into one of the back usb ports, the keyboard and mouse stop working. when i plug into one of the usb ports on the keyboard, i get a message saying something like "the device is drawing too much power."i went back to my PC and tried plugging it into all the different USB ports, even the back ones... nothing. i have no idea what else to do.losing the data on this drive is not an option... this is all stuff that can't be replaced or re-installed, like photos, home videos, saved messages... i am in a band that has been working on our newest album for two years and are so close to completion... i can't afford to lose all of the recorded files, artwork, lyrics, mastered songs, and things of that nature.if the problem is impossible to fix, does anyone know of a way i can salvage the files on the disk? since the disk is not recognized anywhere, file salvaging programs do not see that there is a disk plugged in and therefore can not salvage any files. is there anywhere i can possibly send the disk for my files to be salvaged in any way? i am willing to pay some decent cash to get my files back.much thanks in advance,-Joe