External usb hard drive issues

I have an external USB hard drive adapter where you plug an internal hard drive into the adapter casing and it creates a USB external hard drive. It had been working fine for over a year, but recently when I turn it on and plug it into my computer, I am able to access the hard drive for about ten seconds before it locks up.

I've done some basic diagnostics and tests, like check the connections in the adapter and check for updated drivers, and everything seems fine. I want to check to see if it's the hard drive or the adapter that's having issues at this point, and I'd rather not take apart the external hard drive to plug the hard drive into the bus on my desktop to see how it behaves, which is the only other test I can think of at this point.

Does anyone know of any software that I can use to try and diagnose what the problem is?

Simple really, get a multimeter, a couple pin connectors and check the pins on the power input cable. It should show what it says on the converter. If it doesn't, get a new cable.

You can also resistance check the USB cable, in case something goes wrong there.

If it does it again with a new cable, it has shorted.

You could also listen for the ventilation. It sounds like a overheating problem to me.