Windws 7 Wont Read SB HDD

[Megalin]

Hi

Windows 7 wont read 2 of my USB HDDs. It wants me to format it. BUt if Plug it into an XP machine, the HDD works fine. I also tried it on a Windows 7 home edition and it works fine.

I am running W7 Professional on a Dell Latitude E6220.

Any help will be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[mercurial]

Can you see the drives in Device Manager?

 

[Megalin]

I can see it in DM, but it comes up as RAW and wont let me format of change drive letter.

 

[mercurial]

See if this helps you - http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/22251/find-your-missing-usb-drive-in-windows-7-vista/

 

[Pellito]

I have a similar issue with my external on the home pc (win7).
Turns out, the drive needs to spin up before it picks it up correctly.

Either plug it in, wait for it to spin up, then unplug & reconnect it, or plug the little extra-power-usb-cable-thing in first.

HTH

 

[howardb]

+1 for trying the extra power cable - in many instances, the USB ports don't give enough power for the drive to spin up correctly.