Canon Vixia wont access video on Hard drive "Reading the HDD" message

[Captdanno]

I cant get to my movies.. I turn on the camera like I normally do and set dial to access the movies and I see "Reading the HDD" it does not change and my joystick seems useless too!  Not happy about this as we have some family movies on HDD.  

Any ideas here?

[Mykolas]

Hi Captdanno!

Thank you for posting.

What specific model VIXIA are you using?

If this is a time sensitive-matter, additional support options are available at Contact Us.

[Captdanno]

This is the Vixia HG21 camcorder, that would be great to get service options as I heard canon no longer supports this camcorder. Which number should I use for support?

[Mykolas]

Captdanno,

It is true that the HG21 is no longer in service life.  It is no longer possible to service the HG21.  However, perhaps it will not need to be repaired.

It is possible the hard drive has become corrupted.  The only way to be certain is to try initializing the hard drive from the menu.  The drawback to this is any data on the hard drive will be lost.

1. Have you tried initializing the hard drive?
2. Do you receive the error when you try to initialize?

If this is a time sensitive-matter, additional support options are available at Contact Us.  Information for calling us, if you would prefer to call, can be found using the same Contact Us link.

[Captdanno]

Thanks for the help, being that I want the videos and now understand this is a hard drive like any laptop I shall try Geek Squad and go from there.