USB drive recognized but not apearing

[meatymeal]

i just backed up my computer before reformating, now i can;t get anything off my ext HD. It doesn;t work on any computer i try, each one recognizes a ext HD been plugged in USB, but then no drive appears in my computer. Each computer WINXP and its a 250gb usb 2.0 drive.

 

[meatymeal]

i have all my music and years of photos on this can anyone help me get them off?

 

[Guest]

It could just be that the drive letter the external HDD wants is taken; I've had that happen with USB keys before.

With the drive connected, right-click My Computer, click Manage, and go to Disk Management. Your external drive should show up on the list. Right-click it and select Change Drive Letter and Paths... then pick a letter no other drive is using (Q or something. Your external drive should then show up properly in My Computer.

Hope that helps!

 

[meatymeal]

thanks but my drive didn't appear under manage anywhere.

 

[nukemaster]

go looking in the device manager to make sure its not unable to start for some reason?

 

[meatymeal]

in device manager it shows up like everything is fine

 

[nukemaster]

now that's odd......so the drive shows up as being there.....but no letter...and its not in disk management (start-> run -> diskmgmt.msc <enter>)

have you tried other devices on the usb port in question?

 

[meatymeal]

thats correct. the safely remove hardware is only thing that sees it.. says whole name without driveletter at end like other devices

 

[back_woodz]

Hey Meatymeal, try adding a jumper to the external HD to make it a Master, had the same problem and it worked for me.

 

[g-paw]

If all else fails, can take the drive out of the case and install it as internal hdd

 

[meatymeal]

was able to recover most of my data with getdatabackFAT my friend had, after going thru 4-5 other programs this was 1 of 2 that could even see my usb drive.

Now what could i do to save my ext hd?? should i try reformatting or do i ned to do something special since its a usb drive?

 

[g-paw]

If you have all your data, try formatting it. You should be able to just plug it into a USB port on any computer and have it recognized. It's possible it's a problem with the case if it's not recognized on other computers in which case you could buy another case or install it as an internal drive

 

[joewho]

Another issue I have seen with USB drives, is the USB port is under powered. I would try pluging into the back of the computer were the I/O Shield is. Yes you can just reformat the drive. You can also download a program like System Mechanic Pro from WWW.IOLO.COM for a free 30 day spin. It has a drive scrubber program as well as a program to check your drive.

 

[meatymeal]

taking me a while to gett all my files off. When i reformatt do i need to use windows;s cd or run a command prompt?(b/c i don't know who to search for drives with no letters assigned to them)

 

[g-paw]

You could try downloading and running the diagnostic/repair software from the hdd mfg website. Can you see it in Disk Manager- Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. If so, you could give it a Drive letter and format it.