external hard drive not being detected / working

GhostTheSlayer

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Jun 10, 2015
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I got a case for a hdd today so that i can use it as an external drive. But when i try pluggin in the drive it says windows has to reformat the drive or it pops up for 1 second that dissapears in my computer. But the LED shows that its connected. Also i tried reformating the disk but it says windows could format the drive. It dosent show the disk in the disk manager and in the device manager it says USB Storage device i tried updating the driver and uninstalling it but nothing worked. The drive worked once for like 5 min when i had tried something with MSi Supercharge but the drive has its own power suply. I have tried all my usb ports. The drive worked when i tried pluging it in old desktop pc. The drive im using is from an old pc that I trew away, before i used the drive i formated it.

I use a MSi gaming motherborad and win7 unltimate. If anyone has any idea how to fix this pls tell me :D Thanks! Also sorry for my spelling xD
 
Solution
That's a bit odd, especially having in mind it's a new external case and detected by the Windows 7 Home Premium computer, but not the Windows 7 Ultimate one. Perhaps there's some sort of weird incompatibility issue. Either way, you'd probably have to get another one if you need to use it with the newer computer if enclosure is not recognized by it. :(
Hey there, GhostTheSlayer.

Well, you did quite alright when it comes to troubleshooting. At least it seems like the drive is not the cause for the issue. Just to be sure, I'd suggest that you download the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic tool on that old desktop PC and connect the drive again, so that you can test it, just to double-check. Another thing which you could try (if possible), is to test the external enclosure with a different HDD, to see if the same thing happens.
When you say that you've connected the HDD to the old computer, do you mean externally with the enclosure or internally via a SATA connection?

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD
 

GhostTheSlayer

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Hey,

Thanks for the answer. I connected the hdd to my old pc with the sata cable directly to the mother board and externally and it worked in both cases with no problems what so ever. I will do the disk diagnostic later today. I also forgot to mention that the hdd that i use in the external case is about 9 years old if that is important.

Thank you for all the help!
 
It's not like it matters how old it is, although it is very possible that the drive might have accumulated bad sectors over the years. But that would pop-up during the tests I guess. If it works on your old desktop PC without any issues then it must be something with the your new computer. Have you tried different USB ports? Or reinstalling/updating the USB drivers?
 

GhostTheSlayer

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Jun 10, 2015
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Tried the diagnostic is showed that it fixed something then i tried pluggin it in my pc and it popped up for 5 sec then the windows windows says needs to be reformated and poped on again and then spammed about 15 windows about needing a format. I have tried all the usb ports. I just remmembered i might know what a problem is. I used to have a usb that dint work tried fixing it with some command and reformating. Could that cause that my usb ports dont work? But the old usb sticks work fine on my pc and no problem with the keyboard and mouse usb. If i cant fix this ill just reformat / reintall my windows.

*Update*
Reinstalled/updated the usb drivers it dint work the dick popped up again for a few sec then dissapeard and the format windows spammed again.
 
The command you've used doesn't have any impact on the USB port/s. I understand that this must be really frustrating. You could try using a diagnostic tool which supports low level format (aka - write zeros) and format it on the computer that is working. After that you should go to Disk Management and you'll be prompted to initialize, partition and format the HDD as if it is a brand new internal drive. Hopefully it is recognized properly afterwords. Although it sounds to me like the computer might have an issue with the external enclosure somehow. Are both computers using the same OS?
 

GhostTheSlayer

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Both PC's are windows 7 the only difference this one is Win 7 ultimate and the other is Win 7 Home Premium.
Also now i have a yellow triangle and ! in it by the usb in device manager.
 

GhostTheSlayer

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Jun 10, 2015
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I did the low format as you suggested and got it to work on 1 usb port in the front but it still dosent show up.
But it does in the device manager as unknown device and it reports that win has stopped that device code 43.
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
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Just want to check your power methods. A USB port has very limited power it can supply to an external device, and usually it is NOT enough to run a "normal" HDD, or an older design one. Thus, although you can use as USB2 or USB3 port to connect the HDD in its external enclosure for data transfer, you ALSO need to connect to the enclosure its own additional power supply, usually in the form of a "wall wart" or "power brick" that came with the enclosure. Do you have one of those? Are you using it? One common symptom of a USB-connected HDD with inadequate power is intermittent and unreliable operation generating lots of errors or apparent total failure.
 

GhostTheSlayer

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Jun 10, 2015
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Thanks for all the help. But i just talked with the guy who sold me and i asked him what os it support he dint mention win 7 :/ It only works on my home premium pc. Ill ask a friend with same windows to try it out if thats the case and ill also try borowing a friends external drive to see that m usb ports work.
 
That's a bit odd, especially having in mind it's a new external case and detected by the Windows 7 Home Premium computer, but not the Windows 7 Ultimate one. Perhaps there's some sort of weird incompatibility issue. Either way, you'd probably have to get another one if you need to use it with the newer computer if enclosure is not recognized by it. :(
 
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