Weird External HDD problem

H

hashbrown99

Expert Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2006
Messages
3,114
Reaction score
735
Location
East Rand
I have a 1.5Tb external HDD (a/c powered)

When it is plugged into my desktop (dual boot XP and Windows 7 Ultimate) it doesn't see the drive in either OS but my other USB devices are visible including another external HDD :confused:. I have tried using disk management but no go. Device manager doesn't report any errors



When plugged into my laptop (running Vista Home Premium) it is picked up immediately. I have formatted the drive, scanned for errors but am officially stumped :(

Please help!!!
 
Last edited:
Could be a drive letter clash.
But then it should have shown up in the disk management console.
You sure it hasn't been assigned the same drive letter as one of your drives or a flash drive?
 
TheRift said:
Could be a drive letter clash.
But then it should have shown up in the disk management console.
You sure it hasn't been assigned the same drive letter as one of your drives or a flash drive?
Click to expand...

Pardon my ignorance :o but how would I check that? Or fix it

Could be; I use 3 flash drives, two externals ans an iPod :o
 
Some drives have been assigned a drive letter (F: or E: or something like that). On your laptop under what letter does the drive show up in Explorer?

Plug it into the laptop, then right-click on "My Computer" and select "Manage". Look for section called "Storage" and then "Disk Management". You should see all physical drives attached. See if you can find the 1.5TB in there, then right-click and select "Change drive letter and paths".

On there will can just remove the assigned drive letter and then plug it back into the other PC and see what happens.

This is ofcourse just one option to look at. It might not be a drive letter clash, but worth looking into.
 
Does it see the physical disk, or is it just the volume that is missing?
 
it has something to do with the fact that you have it plugged in before you power on.

If you powered either OS and then plugged it in, then the device manager would detect it and assign it a drive letter.

could be a driver issue with the chipset or some setting about USB devices somewhere. Google is your friend.
 
Why would having it plugged in before powering on be an issue? The OS would enumerate USB devices anyway.

Does sound perhaps like chipset or BIOS setting.

Might sound silly, but have you tried all the USB ports?
 
Check your BIOS settings re: USB. Then also check the boot order ('Boot device priority' etc) settings with your drive plugged in from powerup. It should show you a hardware string identifying your devices, e.g. 'USB HDD' will read 'USB HDD: Storejet Transcend' if the BIOS picks an attached Transcend USB HDD. Compare with your USB Flashsticks that work (they will also usually come up as USB HDDs). This depends on the BIOS you're running and how up to date it is.
 
i don't know!!! but it happens to me and it's the only logical answer.

obvisoulsy when you plug it in, certain tasks are kicked off. i have the same issue with my 3G USB card, plug it in when the OS is up and it installs the software and connects to VC, but reboot and leave the device plugged in, on OS startup no device exists and the software does not find the device. Needs to be kick started to have the device noticed.
 
PallBearer said:
it has something to do with the fact that you have it plugged in before you power on.

If you powered either OS and then plugged it in, then the device manager would detect it and assign it a drive letter.

could be a driver issue with the chipset or some setting about USB devices somewhere. Google is your friend.
Click to expand...

Normally yes but no help in this instance :confused:
 
I had the same thing happen and an IT bud told me it's because I had too many USB devices plugged in ..... unplugged another USB drive and booya, there was the missing one.
 
Rudimental said:
Check your BIOS settings re: USB. Then also check the boot order ('Boot device priority' etc) settings with your drive plugged in from powerup. It should show you a hardware string identifying your devices, e.g. 'USB HDD' will read 'USB HDD: Storejet Transcend' if the BIOS picks an attached Transcend USB HDD. Compare with your USB Flashsticks that work (they will also usually come up as USB HDDs). This depends on the BIOS you're running and how up to date it is.
Click to expand...

The drive does show in BIOS. Now what?
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
I had the same thing happen and an IT bud told me it's because I had too many USB devices plugged in ..... unplugged another USB drive and booya, there was the missing one.
Click to expand...

I have a mouse, the controller for my wireless keyboard and this pesky external plugged in at the moment.

Starting to think that the issue is with Windows XP and 7 but confused as to why because the drive worked perfectly earlier this week :mad:

The drive spins up when it is plugged in but windows does not see it
 
Last edited:
Mephisto_Helix said:
I had the same thing happen and an IT bud told me it's because I had too many USB devices plugged in ..... unplugged another USB drive and booya, there was the missing one.
Click to expand...

You know that's weird since you can have up to 128 devices on usb.
 
hashbrown99 said:
I have a mouse, the controller for my wireless keyboard and this pesky external plugged in at the moment.

Starting to think that the issue is with Windows XP and 7 but confused as to why because the drive worked perfectly earlier this week :mad:

The drive spins up when it is plugged in but windows does not see it
Click to expand...

I reckon this is getting to a point where you need up and take the machine and drive to someone who can run through all the possible causes otherwise you could be going forever tracking this down. Things like this can drive you insane very quickly. :D Only so much online remote assistance can be done, I reckon.

Anyone near hashbrown99 who could maybe give him a hand with this?
 
Thanks for all the advice but basically I'm left with these choices as far as I can see

* Re-install both OS :sick:
* Break open the casing and install as internal SATA drive :wtf:
* throw PC off a cliff :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X