fixing "hidden" external harddrive

[dark159123]

im trying to fix my friends external harddrive (medion drive-n-go 500GB, uses 2x usb to power it, can run on one though, i can provide further information if needed, not the exact harddrive though), which he (as far as i know) accidently unplugged it while it was transferring something and know it messes up. when trying to boot up while its plugged in (havent tried on linux, windows only) the boot process freezes.
and when simply pluggin it in nothing happens, no pop up messages saying youve plugged it in, and you cant see it in the drive section/thingy.

so my question is: do you think the ehdd is completely dead or do you know a way to make it magically show up?

[insomaniacal]

Since he randomly unplugged it while it was transferring stuff, there's a virtually unlimited number of problems that could have caused.

I suggest reformatting the drive (a low level format would probably be best). If that doesn't help, then there's probably not much you can do.

[dark159123]

i know a format is preferable, but i can't find the drive so it's hard to format it... that's why im asking for a way to find it as iv'e already tried everything i know about

[insomaniacal]

Windows tends to totally ignore a device if it's damaged past a few errors. Try to boot into Linux and see if a program like parted or gparted acknowledges the existence of the device.

[dark159123]

i have (ofcourse) tried to find it it linux ( i was talking about the computer possibly not being able to boot into linux, not that i didnt try and see it there, but i definetly forgot to say that), but i have only tried the standard file explorer (whats that kind of program called in general?) in ubuntu, i will try those programs the next time i boot into ubuntu, thanks