How do I retrieve stuff off of a broken external hard drive?

yes their is : all you have to do is buy another HD enclosure for about 15 dollars and insert your old hard drive in the HD enclosure. Taking out the HD from the old one is fairly easy : you remove the screws, open the case/enclosure push out the HD and you are done. Btw make sure you get an enclosure that has the right pin-set as your current hard drive

Also just as an FYI, if it's really just toast, and there's no way to get it actually working again, the data can still be removed. It's worth it to think about how important the data on there is to you, though, because it can be expensive sometimes to get the data off the HD after it's broken. But it's important to know that the option is there.. even if you were to drop your HD in a toilette, lots of the time much of the data can still be retrieved. It'll just cost a pretty penny. :)

The clunking noise on hard drives are often a bad sign that it is damaged. Old techie secret is to freeze the drive and sometimes it works long enough for me to get the important data off.

Put it in a bag (preferably an anti static bag) and put it in your freezer for three hours. Then try it again. If it fires up for you. Get the files off it ASAP.

that's an awesomely ingenious idea... i will definitely have to try that next time.. :)

I find that it helps if you jump on it

I have lost pictures on my cd they will not download probably lost. . I have them on my c: drive on my window vista computer how can I retrive them ?