Solved invisible external hdd

my external hdd is no longer being seen by my machine - is it dead? what can be done?
ozd

Open Disk Management:
Win+X->Disk Management
Do you see your HD in there without a letter assigned to it ?

it has a drive letter but nothing happens when i try to open it

ozd said:

it has a drive letter but nothing happens when i try to open it

Click to expand...

When you connect the drive to your PC, does it make a sound indicating it is connected ?
Can you post a screen shot ?

no sound it now says the dive (J is not accessible. The parameter is incorrect

that should read drive not dive and J:

sorry misunderstood hang 5

It must have connected to your PC, otherwise you will not see it in Disk Management. If Disk Mangement see the drive and it could not acces then the drive might be defected.

Please download: CrystalDiskInfo6_3_2.zip - CrystalDiskInfo
Unzip and run to see if the drive is in good health.

ok i dont know how to use disk management - this is best i get

no i stand corrected -this is what i get:

Sorry being late getting back to you. From what I saw, Windows does recognize the HD but cannot determine the file system and usually caused by corrupted MFT table or the disk might be defected. Sometimes the enclosure that has the USB interface board is defected and can cause the same result.

Here's the link that might help:
» UPDATED How To Fix: External Disk Drive Suddenly Became RAW

No worries. The drive is dead i have just discovered that the owner was unaware that drives have moving parts and dont respond well to being treated like a puck. Women! sigh