So I moved all my stuff from my computer to my external HD, and my clumsy roommate kicked it one day by accident, and now it won't work.

My computer detects it, and it shows up under devices, but when I double click on it, it opens up the properties window... and when I try to get to it through windows explorer, it doesn't show up under my computer... the only place I can see it is under devices... is there a way to fix this? there's a lot of files on the HD that I really dont want to lose.

Hrm, I wonder if a chkdsk would work on an external hard drive. I've never tried. If you right-click the drive under properties, does it give you an option to do a disk check? If not, try going to Run... and then typing "cmd" (w/o quotations). Then use the following command:

chkdsk [drive:] [/r]

where [drive:] = the drive letter of the external hard drive.

ie., if the drive letter was E, then the command would be: chkdsk E: /r

A chkdsk will take a while and even longer if it actually has to repair something, so I'd do it before going to bed or something.

If that doesn't work, you may still be able to recover some of your data. Just use the command window again to check the files in the directory. So, at the "C:>" prompt:

C:> cd E:
E:>

If this is successful, you should then be able to see it's directory with:
E:> dir

You can then copy this information to a folder on your hard drive with something like:
E:> xcopy * "C:\My Documents" /e /c /i /f /h /r /k /y

The switches at the end will ensure that you can see what's being copied (and that it's doing something at all) and also makes sure that it keeps running even if it encounters errors and retains all file attributes.

Make sure you have enough Hard Drive space on your computer before you begin. Otherwise, you may have to transfer by file.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289483

If it doesn't show up in my computer it likely doesn't have a drive letter to run chkdsk on.

Spiral: does it appear in Device Manager as an actual hard drive? Or is it unknown or something?

Alco, he doesn't HAVE a drive letter, RTFP.

Go to Disk Management (right click Computer, Manage, go to Disk Management in there). Find the device on the bottom, right click the partition (the blue/white bit), click Change Drive Letters and Paths. Click Add, select the drive letter you want, click OK twice. Then you should be able to access it in Explorer.

Let us know of any problems. Possible ones I can think of:
- Drive doesn't say "Online" (on the left).
- Partition doesn't say "Healthy" (blue/white bit).
- For some reason assigning the drive letter causes an error.

If you run into one of those you might not want to go further (it probably won't let you but don't mess around with options as you could accidentally wipe everything out if you aren't careful).

Yep, misread it.

You should smack your roommate in the head with it.

After you've recovered your files, of course.

If your comfortable installing a hard drive into a computer you might want to consider this:

It's possible just the usb->sata (or IDE, if its older) circuitry is damaged or not properly connected to the drive, I would open it up and connect the drive directly to my desktop.
I have converted several external drives to internal ones, so far they have all been standard sata drives.

The only real problems I forsee might be:

-If it was a 2.5" laptop IDE drive, they dont use the standard 40pin cable.
-If the housing was not designed to be serviced, then it might not be possible to put back together again.

I was able to save an external hard drive by taking the drive out and putting it into the case / another external case. But that was because it fell into a fatal "sleep" mode thanks to the maxtor board.

it doesn't show up in disk management...
it shows up under Device Manager, under disk drives

Edit: I just got it to show up in Disk Management... not sure how.. it's labeled "Disk1 Unknown Not Initialized"
When I try to do anything with it, I get an error box that says "Incorrect Function"

Not a good thing. Your only real option is to dismantle the enclosure, take the HD out of it, and put it in your PC. Oh, and pray really really hard.

I hate when people break my stuff... Make the guy buy you a new drive.

Might be a long shot, but did you try another cable? I thought my external might be going out and a new USB cable fixed it. Nobody kicked it, though...

Did you reboot? Might fix it.

If not try booting a Linux LiveCD and seeing if it can find partitions. If not, try running a partition table rebuilding tool. I had to use one which worked perfectly but I forget the name of it.