Topic: External HD shows up in Device Manager but not Win explorer... Help!

[Swampy]

So my friends gave me a HD (a Western Digital) they can't get to work on their computer. I plug it in in my computer and it comes up in the Device Manager as "USB mass storage device" and says that it is functioning properly, but I still can not get it to show up in Win explorer, thus I can not get to the data on the drive. Has anyone experienced this before, or know what the problem may be? I'd be very grateful if anyone could help me out. thanks!

[areno]

Sounds like the drive needs to be formated.

[Swampy]

Does that mean that I'm not going to be able to get the data on the drive? Sorry for my computer stupidity...

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

Try turning off the pc, turning on the HDD and then starting the pc?   Worth a shot.  It's happened to me on my work pc once.  It only recognized 1 partition when plugged in and turned it on but when I did the above all 3 would come up.

[attheshow]

Try Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management

See of it shows up in the list down the bottom. It could be as simple as having to assign it a drive letter. If it needs formating, then any data that was on the drive will be lost. Good Luck!

[Swampy]

Try Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management

See of it shows up in the list down the bottom. It could be as simple as having to assign it a drive letter. If it needs formating, then any data that was on the drive will be lost. Good Luck!

Okay, so once I'm in disc management and it shows the drive, the only option when I right click it is "new partition" does that mean that the drive needs to be reformatted (ie. hosed)? Thanks for the help thus far!

[sygdwm]

can you possibly daisy-chain w/ another external and then backup? i know i can with my 2 seagates w/ no computer needed. but if you have to format all data will be gone.

[kskreider]

It sounds to me like the drive letter that is normally associated with this drive has taken by another device.  While in you Disk Mgt. window do you see the drive pictured in the bottom window?  If you do and you still do not see it in explorer then right click it and change the drive path.  I would only try this if it is not C:\.  I have this occur from time to time and when I changed it I do so to X Y or Z.  Something that would be unlikely to get hijacked by a new drive down the road.

[Swampy]

right click it and change the drive path.

It doesn't give me the option to change the drive path... only to make a new partition on it. I guess this means its gone?

[kskreider]

right click it and change the drive path.

It doesn't give me the option to change the drive path... only to make a new partition on it. I guess this means its gone?

DO NOT take my word as bond, but I dont even see that as an option for me so I am going to assume that is correct.  I am running Windows XP.  Hopefully someone else chimes in...

[Brian Skalinder]

It doesn't give me the option to change the drive path... only to make a new partition on it. I guess this means its gone?

Create a new partition, spanning the full size of the HDD.  Doing so may provide you with an option to format the partition, or not.  Obviously, you do NOT want to format the partition.  If creating a new partition will destroy all the data, Win will typically warn you and require confirmation that's what you'd like to do.  So try it, but cancel if Win insists on formatting.  If you're able to create a partition without formatting, once there's an active partition, you should be able to assign a drive letter.  No idea if this will work or not, just a quick thought.

[attheshow]

I think that the OP has some data on the drive that they wish to recover. Partoitioning or formatting will destroy this data. It is a last resort, only to make the drive usable, writing off the data that's on it.

If the drive is coming up in the bottom part of the screen (under Disk 0...Disk 1...) then you want to right-click in on (or near) the word disk. You should get a menu that says:

Change Drive Letter and Paths
Eject
Properties
Help

If this comes up, and Change Drive Letter and Paths comes up dark (not greyed out) then left click on this option and pick a drive letter that is not already in use on your system.

If the menu comes up, but you can't change drive letter, click "properties" and tell us what info you get.

[Brian Skalinder]

Partoitioning or formatting will destroy this data. It is a last resort, only to make the drive usable, writing off the data that's on it.

I vaguely recall creating partitions in the past without formatting, i.e. maintaining the data on the drive.  But...it's only that, a vague recollection.

[flipp]

Are you attempting to access this drive on the computer you have that is running a university copy of XP? If so, try booting from your CD/DVD drive with a retail version of XP. It may allow you to see options that the university's custom version does not provide.

Another alternative is to boot from a live Linux disc and see if the drive is recognized then. If it is, transfer the data to a different drive or burn a copy to removable media and transfer it that way.

[kskreider]

Before running any kind of partitioning I would HIGHLY recommend trying to rescue your data first.  Try an Ubuntu live CD or other Linux-based live CD.  I recently did this on my PC which was split into to partitions.  30GB and 160GB.  The 30 had my OS and the 160 had music data.  I reformatted and re-installed on the 30GB without any problem and still had access to all of the 160GB partition afterward.  I used Ubuntu, which is TOTALLY GUI friendly, to FTP my needed files offsite prior to doing my reformat.

Good luck.