I'm a weirdo and strange and unexplicable events are regurlarly happening in my house, The latest WTF? event is now occuring with my on/off button defective equipped HDD. I'm able to make it work by htting it violently (the metal case is really thick so I cannot kill it for good) and it start working and eventually stops.

But here's the strange part: now it began to start, stop by itself. So again, another WTF event happens. Maybe ypu can come with a logical explanation. If so, I'll be happy!

I never had one hallucination in my life. It is really happening.

Yea it is a SATA cable and then you plug in the power from the power supply. The usb is a powered plug. To fix it you are going to have to open the case. They really aren't that complicated. It is just a case with a built in adapter to switch the input from usb to SATA and a power plug. But if you're not comfortable doing that then take it to your local repair shop. Or you can always just buy another usb enclosure ant put the hard drive in it. They are pretty cheap on ebay and such.

The more you beat on it the more likely that you are going to damage one of those armatures or a solder some where and then it might not be repairable.

Sounds like a loose solder or loose wire.

It is truly funny how violently assaulting electrical equipment will often actually make it work.
However, in the long term, doing so may cause irreparable internal damage.

you can take it out of its casing. just be careful. dont be jumping up and down while you're taking it out that'll break it plus its hard to concentrate. jump up and down first and then take it out. seriously though u can take it out, its just connected with a SATA connection inside the case, take it outand directly connect it to your rig instead with a SATA cable. its better that way anyway coz there wont be a middle man when your drive is trying to get power

nothing a little water boarding won't fix

Definitely got a short circuit there. And since I'm no technical expert (as apparently you are not, also) - I would strongly suggest you take that to a tech wizard at a good shop. Yes it will cost you money. Yes you probably will have to replace it. But no, you won't lose ALL the data on it if you can get it properly handled by someone who knows a bit more than either you or I do.

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What Brand/Model is it? I Want One, er, a Bunch!! Around My House with My Wife and Kids, Seagates have a life-span of 3 to 6 Weeks, and WDs sometimes can make it 4 to 6 Months with the dropping, kicking and dragging! (Unless the USB port fall off and I Can't Unencrypt the Data I Didn't encrypt?) They even Killed a WD My Office. I Thought It was Indestructible. Since flashdrives have a lifespans of a few days to Maybe a Week, I broke down and bought a Survivor Stealth. I haven't let Them touch it yet, but, I'll let them at it soon to see if it's tough as advertised.

the hdd like to give you your daily WTF moments XD