Seagate external drives not recognized

[cajunfries]

I have 3 Seagate external hard drives of various sizes, plus one Iomega 300GB HDD all of which have been working perfectly for a long time. All are passed through a D-Link USB hub to my laptop.

Recently I had to clear out the space they're sitting on, so I unplugged all the drives and laptop and put everything in a box on a shelf for about a week before putting everything back together.

When everything was plugged back in, none of the Seagates were recognized by the laptop, but the Iomega is still working fine, recognized and is accessible. Also, any of my flash drives I plug into the hub is recognized and works OK.

Neither Device Manager nor Disk Manager show the Seagates, but they do show the Iomega.
I've tried most of the suggestions I've found on the Internet including new drivers, unplugging the power cord, bypassing the hub, etc.
I plugged one of them into my office HP laptop and it doesn't recognize the Seagate either.

So, my thoughts are that the hub is fine, the laptop's fine, there's just something wrong with the Seagates, yet it's odd that they all failed at the same time because I stored them away for a while.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Specs:
For the Seagate HDD's, model number I have is ST3200823A, which is 200GB, ST3250623A, 250GB, and a 350GB(?), all "Push Button", USB 2.0.
Laptop is an eMachines M5405, Windows XP SP2, AMD 1.6GHz, 704MB RAM.

 

[gavinseabrook]

When you plug in the Seagates (one by one), put them up to your ear and make sure they are spinning up properly. If you here any clicking then it might be the drive. Also, hold the drive horizontally in your hands and move it in a circular motion. If you feel a cyntripical force, then the platters are spinning. Seagate has been know to have faulty external drives. Let us know what you find out.

 

[cajunfries]

Thanks for the reply.
When I boot them up, I hear the platters spinning and a couple of single clicks (which I assume is the read arm), but nothing really out of the ordinary that I didn't hear back when they were working. I agree the drives must be faulty, but it's hard to believe all three went out at the same time, you know?