Author Topic: External Hard Drive help  (Read 2051 times)

So, I bought a external HDD case to go with my old lappy hard drive, but when I plug it in, it does not show up on the list of removable media. It has drivers that it installed and windows recognizes it, but it does not show up.

I do know that more than likely it is completely blank and has not been formatted, but I do not know how/where I could do this.

Help?
please?

Does the drive show any signs that it is powered on?

Does the drive show any signs that it is powered on?
Yes, I can feel the discs spinning and a little green indicator light is on.

Also, it is USB 3.0 going into a 2.0 port but that shouldn't be an issue as it is backwards compatible.

open the start menu

right click computer.

click manage

look on the left side of the window, under storage there's disk management, click that.

Yes, I can feel the discs spinning and a little green indicator light is on.

Also, it is USB 3.0 going into a 2.0 port but that shouldn't be an issue as it is backwards compatible.
Hmm. Try using different USB ports. That's usually worked for my devices.

open the start menu

right click computer.

click manage

look on the left side of the window, under storage there's disk management, click that.
I only see the Disc Drive and the internal HDD and its partitions.

Hmm. Try using different USB ports. That's usually worked for my devices.
I've tried both the front ports and the back ports (directly to motherboard), no dice.

I am fairly certain the HDD isn't damaged, however, I haven't tried it on a different HDD yet, mainly because I haven't found it yet.
« Last Edit: April 27, 2013, 08:34:13 PM by dorkdotdan »

does the drive appear under device manager?


help guise

Actually I have a sata disc drive that I am going to try with it to see if it works.

Yes, I can feel the discs spinning and a little green indicator light is on.

Also, it is USB 3.0 going into a 2.0 port but that shouldn't be an issue as it is backwards compatible.

I had a USB driver issue where it would install the device's drivers but not recognize the whole device as plugged in. But it was 3.0 ports and the drivers were old. 2.0 doesn't need drivers.

Do you have any other computers in your house you can try to plug it in to see if it opens up?

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Try going to Start; right click on Computer; click on Manage; click on Disk Management under Storage on the left and your drive should show up with a blue line. Right click on the blue line and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. This will allow you to choose a drive letter and the external HDD should then show up in Windows Explorer.
Found that. Sounds about right.

What model is the External HDD