[ss2]

I have a western digital 160gb drive that I had removed from another computer a year or so ago. I couldn't recall why I had originally removed it, but I thought I would try using it as a spare - connected thru a USb port.

It worked fine for a while when I wasn't having power issues with the USB port.

However, it seems to have failed again. I hear a "click" click" when I plug it in and the computer recognizes it, but it doesn't seem to spin up.

Whether or not this is power related I have no way of knowing.

I thought I had recently read a post that said if you hook up a drive directly to the computer (standard install - power plug and IDE connected - that sometimes that will enable a faulty drive to work.

I just need it to work long enough to get my stuff off of it - then I'm going to toss it to prevent this in the future.

THEN - I need a recommendation for a HD to be used in this fashion. One that will be fairly reliable.

Could the loss of USB power have created this problem or made it worse?

thanks,
Susie