freeze up after installing and using new external hard drive

I am not that savvy on computers but I attached an external hard drive to my laptop Acer Extensa to download a whole bunch of photos. It went fine but now all I get on my computer is my destop photo. No icons, no nothing. I press any key and nothing happens. What can I do? The external hard drive is still attached as I can't disconnect it without the toolbar.

 

Hi Jillany and welcome to WindowsBBS

Does Ctrl-Alt-Del bring up the task manager?

If so select Shut Down->Turn Off then disconnect your external drive.

Post back with results and we'll look at the cause of the problem.

 

No, nothing happens.

 

In that case I'm afraid you'll have to force a shutdown (this may cause data loss on the external drive).

Press and hold the laptops on/off switch until it shuts down then disconnect the external drive. Restart the laptop and let us know if it's working ok.

 

Whew!!. Yes it is still working and booted up fine. Now what do I do with the external hard drive to see if it is fine. When I turned the computer off it made a whirring noise.

 

I'm assuming the external case is a USB connection. Does it come with it's own power supply?

If so then connect it to the system you're on now (don't try to access it). Download install and run SIW to determine the make/model of the drive.

To determine the make/model of the drive once SIW has started look under Hardware->Storage Devices and look for the disk that matches the drive letter of your external HD. Post Manufacturer and model. If you're not sure post all manufacturer/models and what disk they are (eg Disk 0 Disk 1 etc).

 

I connected the external hd back up and the computer froze again. I turned it off but didn't unplug the hd. I turned the comp back on. This time I tried to view the photos. It showed me about 6 of them and it said the rest of the files were damaged and once again the computer froze. I turned if off once again and rebooted. I went back into the external hd and everything is working normally. I can view all files, nothing is corrupted. I can view the videos I had. I do not understand what happened.

 

?

Keep an eye on it for a while and don't rely on any data stored there in the meantime.

Keep us informed as to how things go.

 

Thank you so much and I am so glad I found this site. I only pasted the photos, and still have the originals on laptop hardrive. I really appreciate your prompt replies.