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Community Newsletter: Q&A: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC
- 7/13/06 6:16 PM
USB driver
by mark_devlin - 7/14/06 7:30 AM In reply to: USB driver is not installed by default by hifly.liuI've intermittently had a similar problem with an external tv card. After cleaning up the hd and defragmenting it, the tv-card isn't recognised the next time I use it. The problem is solved by re-installing the USB 2.0 driver. I'm just guessing that if a device is not used for a while and maybe the pc is turned off when the device is turned off, windows does some spring cleaning of it's own and deletes or compacts and stores away what it thinks are unused drivers. When I install the driver I get a message that it's not on Microsofts list certified hardware so maybe that's the punishment.
Simple Fix to External Drive Issue?
by ex_f15_ais - 7/14/06 5:51 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Although each manufacturer touts how their OS will automatically perform the automatic recognition and installation of new hardware function--this is not always the case. I have an Athalon-based 1gig PC with 1 gig DDR RAM using Windows XP Pro SP2 (and all the fixin's) that would not recognize or detect the USB-ported Fantom 37 Gig external drive (nor my Cannon digital camera for that matter--USB scanner is fine). The simple fix was to install two pieces of software--USB 2.0 driver and the Fantom driver (both from their own CDs). I then assigned an upper drive letter (W, X, Y, Z) to the drive so that my other networked drives could connect at the lower end of the scale (currently have drives C-M and W assigend on network). My Fantom drive works on any of the XP Pro machine (four different machines) I use when the drivers are installed.
As in the other postings--never use as a primary data source; purely as a temporary backup or as a large capacity transfer medium between unconnected PCs (home and work).
Gerry
Another option: USB 2.0 controller card
by bonbon53 - 7/15/06 4:32 PM In reply to: Simple Fix to External Drive Issue? by ex_f15_aisAnother option is to install a USB 2.0 controller card. I have one in my older, backup system, which has only USB 1.1 ports on the motherboard.
I back up my primary system to an external USB 2.0 drive. When I need to copy files to the backup system, I move the USB cable to a port on the controller card. It works just fine.
I prefer SIIG controller cards. They work right out of the box each time, assuming that you follow the simple directions.
Hi there , this is what fixed my problem one time.
by philliprowland - 7/14/06 6:25 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I bought an External Drive from Best Buy one day and when I plugged it in the device was not recognized by Windows. I tried another USB Cord and the problem was solved. The USB Cord was bad. So try replacing the cord before you rule anything out.
external drive not recognized by PC... try a Mac
by xtwtfz - 7/14/06 6:39 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
We've run into this problem a time or two at work, and each time we were able to recover the data by connecting the drive to a Macintosh, so if you have access to a Mac give it a shot.
Sufferin' external drives!
by rfriendship - 7/14/06 7:11 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
As a follow-up, I commend Dana's response to this query. I had a similar problem develope with an external 250 gig Iomega drive. It was 11 months old when the USB interface failed. The symptoms were much as described - the power light was on and the drive was spinning but no recognition.
I debated as to what to do. I didn't want the drive out of my site since it held "My Documents" on it. I also had an image of the drive, courtesy of Acronis True Image.
I took the drive out of its case, re-set the jumper and put it in a spare slot in my PC. Voila! all up and running.
Incidently, although the manufacturers don't advise it, I have reformatted this drive and a small Western Digital Mini drive (also USB2) as NTFS. It makes life easier when storing Image bakups of the drives, since you aren't stuck with the 4 gig limit on FAT 32 platform.
Going back to Dana's answer, yes , Back Up and have a couple of good quality reliable drives to random save your data to, if this is possible for you.
ATB,
Bob Friendship.
External hard drive
by mnew461 - 7/14/06 7:34 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I ran into this same situation once, and discovered the external hard drive had been password protected using the external hard drive installation / set-up software. Once I reinstalled it, I was prompted for a password, entered it, and bingo the drive appeared. Not sure if this is what your situation is, but it is possible.
Maybe an easy answer
by CATBERT - 7/14/06 7:37 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Are you hard connected to your external drive? or wirelessly? I have a similar data storage setup with my photo data and music on an external drive. And a wireless connection to another desktop with the printer and scanner. Norton Firewall was my unwitting problem. Everything was fine til the last Norton Firewall update and I couldn't see any wireless connection. I worked with the Dell Techs over an hour before I suggested turning off the firewall. And everything came "back"
Also try openeing "My Computer" to look for an unnamed drive
by sobhijo - 7/14/06 8:07 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Your solution #2 "Double check disk manager to see if the drive is being seen, sometimes you may have to reassign it a different logical drive letter. Click on START > CONTROL PANEL > ADMINISTATIVE TOOLS > COMPUTER MANAGEMENT > DISK MANAGEMENT" is probably the the most common solution to the problem. External drives can lose their drive designation and not be visible through Windows Explorer.
You can also open "My Computer" and if there is a drive with no name and if there is then the sabove solution would resolve that problem.
External Hard Drive must be "initialized"
by norfer - 7/14/06 8:09 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Its funny that this problem happend, because I just encountered the same thing this week. I upgraded my XP from Home Edition to Pro, and my external HDD was no longer recognised. I fixed it by going into Admin Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management and locating the drive and marking the "partition" as active. I was up and running in seconds! This is a normal step whenever adding an external HDD to any windows-based computer for the first time.
This is what I posted six hours ago. Partition Magic
by dhrwfan - 7/14/06 12:25 PM In reply to: External Hard Drive must be "initialized" by norferrecognizes the External Hard Drive even though the computer doesn't..
Primary, Logical, Hidden, Active...features will solve his problem in about three minutes of manipulations.
Not visible under disk managment
by JimBC - 7/16/06 4:54 PM In reply to: External Hard Drive must be "initialized" by norferAnd what as in my case the external HD is NOT visible under disk managment; allthough correctly connected to the USB2.0 port, the disk running but not recognised when plugged in the USB socket ?
thank you so much
by tola5 - 9/27/06 7:38 PM In reply to: External Hard Drive must be "initialized" by norferi read through most of the posts here, when I finally came across yours. Did as you suggested and it worked. Thanks my hard drive is now recognized. I was about to return it but save myself a lot of hassle
thanks
Disappearing LaCie drive
by Piddlekin - 7/14/06 8:10 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If what you're describing is what I think, it's a piece o' cake to fix.
- power off the drive
- remove ALL cables from the back of the external drive
- connect the power cable
- turn on the drive
- connect the USB connector
Alternately, you could it could be trying to use the same drive letter as one of your other devices. If you right click on My Computer, and select Manager, does your drive show up when you select Drive Management?
What's other ways to back up- how are memory keys?
by newbiez - 7/14/06 8:17 AM In reply to: 7/14/06 Help, my external hard drive is not recognized by my PC by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi,
So I have a question concerning this. Whats another more permanent method of back-up, besides floppys. I have my important files backed-up on CD, but well one scratch and you know how that goes...so what about that? How are memory keys? Or do you recommend Zip Drives? What is the most reliable.
Thanks,
Stacey
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