Unusual External Hard Drive Issue.....Help!

When I plug my external Hard drive in my computer recognizes it but won't assign a drive letter too it (neither will another cpu I tried).
It used to though. When I right click on my computer and go to manage it won't let me assign the drive letter either. I think I know what is wrong but have no clue how to fix it.
It says EISA configuration on it. Ive noticed that the hidden partion on my internal hard drive that has windows says the same thing and of course it can't be assigned a drive letter.
How do I fix this?? I have 50gb files I don't want to lose!
Thanks for any help.

is it a full size hard drive in an enclosure? if so, and it's an ide, i'd check the jumpers on it. also i'd try to installing it as a slave to get the info off.

how do you do either one of those things?

Both involve taking the drive out of the enclosure. When you take it out there should be a diagram on the drive that tells you what each jumper position does. To install it as a slave just set the jumper accordingly and plug it into the other connector on the cable your current hard drive is on.

Back up data IMMEDIATELY!



Theres a chance that your HDD is failing......

oh this is a laptop.....so i need to find a desktop to do this on?

You dont need to set any jumpers. Use 'Cable Select' or 'master'. (an enclosure doesnt need jumpers)

Generally if you have a drive set to slave in an enclosure it doesn't work.Yes you will need a PC if you want to install it as slave.

i cant back up the data immediatly because i cant get to the data.

If I dont need to set the jumpers then what do I do to get it working again or atleast get my data off of it? Will taking it out of the enclosure and putting it in a desktop work? It does have jumper settings on it.....slave, master w/ slave, and single or master. Its a western digital WD1600.

Is it set to master now? If not set it that way and try plugging it in again.