External Hard Drive not powering up

What is the make and model# of the USB HDD?
Have you tried in on another computer? How old is it? It may still be under warranty if it is less then a year.
There are ways to open them if you go to Youtube type in your make and model # and say disassemble. It's not easy.
But once you remove the HDD withing, you may find that there is priority USB connector soldered onto the circuit board of the HDD and you can't access it without replacing the board.

raith7062 said:

I've an EHD that does not turn on when plugged into the Windows laptop. It was working fine until I unplugged it. The little light that came on is no longer turning on, and my laptop is acting like it isn't even plugged in. The drive in question is quite literally a brick and doesn't seem to have a way to open it up to see the insides. I've tried two different USB ports and nothing worked so far

It may not be the drive, it may be the cable. If you have another drive that has the same cable, try swapping cables. Typically most external HDDs use a USB 3.0 micro-B connector at the HDD. If you do not have one spare (and unless you have another external HDD you're unlikely to) then you may have a cable with a USB micro-B connector, these are commonly used for connecting and charging phones and other devices. That too would work with an external HDD, but only at USB 2 speeds. The connections 6-10 in the second smaller section are the data connections required for USB3, connections 1-5 provide power and USB2 data.


USB hardware - Wikipedia

Try a different cable else open the enclosure and check the internal drive connections.