HDD shows as DVD-RW

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

Slidzz

Commendable
Sep 20, 2016
2
0
1,510
My computer died/my cpu or RAM was overburdened and Windows 10 could't fix it (weird autofix restart loop. Has happened to me before).

I removed my HDD drive as it contains important Word-documents i've spent alot of hours of work on but not backed up online.

The problem is: When i connect it via my USB to SATA cable to my laptop, it shows up as a DVD drive. When i try to format it, it asks me to insert a disc.

When I look into properties -> hardware, it shows 3 units: 1. DVD-RW drive 2. SATA USB 3. WDC drive.

How can I get access to my HDD's files?

Thanks
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Welcome to the TH Community, @Slidzz!

Is this a 3.5" desktop drive that you are trying to connect to the laptop via a SATA-to-USB cable? Do you have an additional power supply as well? I'm afraid that the SATA-to-USB cable alone is not enough to supply a desktop HDD with power in order for your laptop to recognize it properly. However, if that is not the case, I'd suggest checking Disk Management in Windows to see how the drive is recognized there. Posting some screenshots would be really helpful. I suspect that it might actually be present there, but unallocated/ not initialized. If this is true, you will need to initialize it and then partition & format it. Keep in mind that this procedure will erase all the data you have on that HDD, so make sure you do have a backup and/or there's nothing important on it.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting & let me know if you have any questions.
SuperSoph_WD
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Slidzz

Commendable
Sep 20, 2016
2
0
1,510
SuperSoph_WD thanks for your answer

My problem has changed since my original post. Turns out the documents i wanted was on my SSD as I had programmed it with the Windows OS, so it was my C-drive (desktop with the Word documents i wanted to extract to an external harddrive).

I went about it to a local technician who told me the files were impossible for him to reach. I would need a Samsung SSD 850 EVO specialist in order to get those files.

So I have decided to give up on saving the documents and wipe both my HDD and my SSD, so they are ready to integrate into a new PC i'm going to build.

My thoughts now ponder on how I will be able to install windows on the new PC without purchasing a new copy of Windows. I have a license for Windows 7 on my HDD.

But yeah... we should probably close this thread
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom