First of all I want to say hi to everybody, I'm new to this forum I have a problem with an external HDD, it is a Western Digital. The problem is that I dropped it when I was taking it out of my backpack and now the HDD is not recognized by Windows. I have done some data recoveries before, but I'm still a newbie compared to you guys, so I took the HDD out of the plastic enclosure and connected it directly to the SATA port on my PC. Here is where the problem begins, as soon as I connect this HDD to a sata port in my computer, all the other HDDs stop being recognized by the BIOS and I'm unable to boot and get into windows to run any data recovery programs. What can I do here? what exactly is happening? If I remove the damaged HDD everything gets back to normal and I can boot to windows.

Thanks in advance for your help!

If you need your data, STOP messing with it, you'll make it worse.

As you've dropped it, the problem will be physical and no amount of DIY will make it better.

Take it to a pro before your data disappears forever.

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

Thanks for the advice, but actually I don't care too much for the data and I want to learn, if there is a possible way to get the hdd working. Is there anything that can be done for the hdd?

I am afraid there isn't a feasible cost effective method/approach in which you can learn and get the drive to work. Any attempt will cost at least a couple of hundred dollars with no significant learning results and with the likelihood of a more questioning outcome with regard why this behavior or that behavior? Did I do something wrong? Or is it because of compatibility? Etc.

It will drive you nuts, "I guarantee it"... Men's warehouse style.

_________________
Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Best possible cost effective option so far would be to probably replace the HDD with a brand new one.