Hello! so, I purchased an external hard drive case to use this hard drive from my other computer but after a few months it stopped working. At first it seemed to be the external hard drive case that was malfunctioning since I had to turn it off and on several times before windows could automatically detect the hard drive. Now it does not detect anything, I tried connecting it directly to the motherboard using the IDE cable but it's not being detected by windows. When I go to my Bios settings the hard drive does not appear there. Is there something I could do to at least backup my data? is my hard drive dead or why is it not being detected :?

Is it connected alone on the cable? If not try that. A drive might not show up in the bios if it's plugged (master/slave) the same as the other drive on the cable.

Well, the operating system is installed on a SATA hard drive. I have other hard drive connected with an IDE cable because I am using it just to store data. So, there is one IDE cable that connects my DVD rom and another IDE cable connecting thE hard drive. I tried using another Hard Drive but it's still not detecting it.

You cannot connect your IDE HD with your ROM drive. If your motherboard has 2 sections for ribbons which some SATA motherboards do, you should be using the other section. So here is what you need to look for. There should be 2 sections where the ribbons go. One for the ROM drives and one that would normally go to your HD. Does your motherboard have a place for 2 different IDE ribbons? Its like your other computer. 1 SCSI and 2 IDE ribbon connectors. Let me know!

Yeap! Well, there are two IDE connectors, one is used for the DVD drive and the other one for the Hard drive. SATA is used for the primary hard drive with the OS installed. I have no problem with the DVD drive it's just the Hard drive that is not being detected at all :S

Maybe im not understanding you correctly, so you are saying that the HD has its own ribbon? Or is it sharing a ribbon with the ROM drive? Keep in mind if it is sharing a ribbon with the ROM drive it will not read! The HD needs its own ribbon, and it should have 2 different connectors on the motherboard, again do not share! Let me know because im glad to help!

yes the hard drive has it's own ribbon ... i hope this hard drive is not dead :| i don't know what to do now. I tried replacing the data cable and still nothing :S