External HD powers on but is not recognized by computer(no errors)

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J

jwut

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Jan 20, 2012
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18,510
Hello,

I have an Iomega external hard drive that I am trying to back up the data from to move it to a new external drive. The HD powers on, indicated by the light, and I can hear it starting up, however it is not being recognized by my computer. By this, I mean there is not even an error message indicating that it cant be recognized or anything, It simply does nothing.

I've tried multiple usb cords, multiple ports, restarting both the drive and computer on multiple occasions, however I get nothing. I'm not very familiar with external drives and how they act so I decided to post here.

Thank You,
 
Solution
M
Hi

Sometimes plugging in a new sata hard drive makes the BIOS decide to change which is the boot disk.
With only one hard disk there is only one choice, with two or more there is more choice.

Sometimes boot order is determined by which sata port you connect drives to
with lowest number being boot drive

You need to get into bios after connecting the previously usb drive to sata but before allowing Windows to start
then ensure the existing hard drive is the boot drive

Without knowing a lot about your PC & its BIOS I cant guide you through this

Is your PC modern enough to have a uefi bios ?
(You can use a mouse to select options, supports boot hard drives over 2 TB and windows 8 secure boot)

There is no master slave jumper on SATA...
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M

mbarnes86

Splendid
Sep 16, 2010
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Hi

Did this USB hard disk ever work on your PC?
Is this a windows PC or Mac ?
If a windows PC
Device manager should show a USB to sata bridge chip or something similar
If the hard disk is working it will also show the hard disk

Disk management will show a working hard disk even if formatted for Mac or Unix which windows can not read without special drivers

external USB drives can sometimes be rescued by removing the case and putting into a new case

Or putting into a desktop PC
However some recent drives can not be transferred as the USB to sata bridge chip is on the hard disk circuit board and there is no sata connector
Sata connectors are same for 2.5" & 3.5" hard disks

Also most 2.5" USB drives do not need a power supply
But all 3.5" drives need a power supply usually 12 Volts , sometimes 12& 5 volts

Regards
Mike Barnes
 
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J

jwut

Distinguished
Jan 20, 2012
23
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18,510


I've tried that, no errors or anything. same thing as my desktop.

I'm actually backing this drive up for a client of mine, and he said that he last used it a few weeks ago and it was working fine.

I'm connecting it to a windows machine, and hack checked disk management to make sure it wasnt formatted for mac(sorry should have included that in the OP).

Guess ill just try and open the case and see if i can connect it directly to the sata and see whats up. If anyone can think of anything else please let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for your help so far!
 
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J

jwut

Distinguished
Jan 20, 2012
23
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18,510
Hey guys back again.

So due to my extreme lack of knowledge when it comes to external drives, I've got a couple of questions. When i plug the drive into the sata cable, do i need to do anything in bios? I ask because when i plugged it in yesterday windows would not load, almost as the computer was thinking that the external was the master drive. The HD has no pin selection in it to switch between slave and master like other hard drives do, so i assume this is something i must do in the bios?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mbarnes86

Splendid
Sep 16, 2010
3,839
7
26,965
Hi

Sometimes plugging in a new sata hard drive makes the BIOS decide to change which is the boot disk.
With only one hard disk there is only one choice, with two or more there is more choice.

Sometimes boot order is determined by which sata port you connect drives to
with lowest number being boot drive

You need to get into bios after connecting the previously usb drive to sata but before allowing Windows to start
then ensure the existing hard drive is the boot drive

Without knowing a lot about your PC & its BIOS I cant guide you through this

Is your PC modern enough to have a uefi bios ?
(You can use a mouse to select options, supports boot hard drives over 2 TB and windows 8 secure boot)

There is no master slave jumper on SATA hard disks

regards
Mike Barnes
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
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