PROBLEM:
I haven’t totally written it off as dead, but my back-up external drive that holds 500gigs won’t power on now.  I made a back-up of all the data maybe a month ago, but there are some things I must have missed.  In case I can’t power it on, is there a way to read it if I take it apart, or something?  The brand is probably Western Digital, since it has WD on it.
– Doug

SOLUTION:
If it’s worth the expense, you might send it to http://www.gillware.com/, a company I’ve used successfully in the past.
I don’t know what those WD drives look like on the inside, but you might be able to use something that I use.  It’s a USB2.0 to IDE & SATA cable by Cables Unlimited.  I just depends what sort of connections that drive has available once you pry the cover off.
If/when you recover your most precious files, try this:  Online backup system called Nordic Backup.

I’m trying out this online backup system called Nordic Backup.  So far, so good.  Click here to try it yourself free for 30 days.

Copy and save the following as NewRestorePoint.vbs:

‘ begin code
CONST DEVICE_DRIVER_INSTALL = 10
CONST BEGIN_SYSTEM_CHANGE = 100
strComputer = “.”
Set objWMIService = GetObject(“winmgmts:\\” & strComputer & “\root\default”)
Set objItem = objWMIService.Get(“SystemRestore”)
Set objShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)
set objEnv = objShell.Environment(“PROCESS”)
objEnv(“SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS”) = 1
errResults = objItem.CreateRestorePoint _
    (“hepya.com restore point”, DEVICE_DRIVER_INSTALL, BEGIN_SYSTEM_CHANGE)
objEnv.Remove(“SEE_MASK_NOZONECHECKS”)
‘ end of code

• Now edit your Startup group (right click Start, choose Open All Users, double click Programs then Startup)
• Copy or move the NewRestorePoint.vbs file above into that Startup folder

Voila!  From now on, every time your computer starts up, you’ll have a new System Restore Point, which is VERY useful if your computer starts acting up at any point after that!