Need help, external hard drive problems.

[maj. tom]

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprohardware/thread/dd9cd509-f9ac-4295-a75b-863f92f5595f

The resolution in that thread was to:

1.Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive
2.Right mouse click on My Computer
3.Left click on Manage
4.Left click on Device Manager
5.Expand the USB list
6.Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive (in my case it was the one that had no description)
7.Right mouse click - Uninstall
8.Turn off the external USB hard drive
9.Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver

[stretch]

thankks maj.tom, tried it but still same. going through the arconis now but still aint seeing the drive there.
I give up, plan on dropping it off somewhere to see what can b done or found.
I just wish i can find out what the laptop is doing to the hard drives to make them stop working, as i need a hard drive for my work.
Thnx again

[skylinechild]

^^^ awaiting your pm....

[pseudorandom]

If I understand the problem properly, I think see something like this happen already multiple times. The drive appears to be recognized, shows up in Device Manager, but not showing up in Windows Explorer or My Computer. This is when the computer does not automatically assign a drive letter to the drive.

To fix this go to Start -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Then on the left pane, go to disk management. On the right pane, you should see all your disks and partitions listed, including your USB disk. Right click the partition of your USB disk and "Change Drive Letter and Paths" then click Add, then assign a drive letter and OK to all prompts. The drive should show up now. If it does not, depending on what error you get, that will help track down what the real problem is.

[maj. tom]

^ that suggestion/solution was also posted in the Microsoft help thread above, if he had bothered to read it at all...

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprohardware/thread/dd9cd509-f9ac-4295-a75b-863f92f5595f

[stretch]

Didnt read on the microsoft help thread, when i get home will check this option out. hopefully it works.

[stretch]

tried the disk management. changed the drive letter.

here is a pic
as u can see it says please insert a disk but at the same time you can eject in bottom right corner.

[skylinechild]

the only time it comes up like that is when it's a new hard drive and it will then ask you to format it in order to access it.

what your pic shows is that windows detected the hard drive assigned a letter to it and in order to use it you hav to format it....which i dont recommend as you have data on it- formatting erases everything.

the only other way it will come up like that is if the data on it is badly corrupted and windows cant make heads or tails of it and just sees it as empty space...

what is the brand / model of external hard drive youre using ..?? a pic would suffice if u unsure...

[stretch]

Its a WD, right clicked on it to get the option to format. but when i clicked to format it says there is no disk in this drive.
info on back of hard drive : P/N WDBBEP0010BBK-01................S/N WXW1CB1X0155
other info on it is as follows: 4312B R/N C6B AAABEA

UPDATE, my android phone that i have been using for last 2 years, when plugged in gives you an option to charge or use as a hard drive. this morning it didnt ask it only charges now, went in to settings of phone to manually put it to use as hard drive and nothing comes up in my computer.

[maj. tom]

lol everything you plug into that computer f*cking up. Virus. throw it away.

[stretch]

lol thats d best answer i could come up with too lol. but there must be a way, laptop good still.

[skylinechild]

lol thats d best answer i could come up with too lol. but there must be a way, laptop good still.

if you suspect a virus,
save your important info to a FLASH drive and wipe and reload OS..install a GOOD antivirus on your pc then plug in the flash drive and remove any viruses from it and restore your data.

then plug in your external drive and do a full format- not quick format.

should resolve your virus issue.

[pyung99]

[stretch]

Might as well do that but i aint plugging any more usb devices that could be destroyed. may have to burn my info off and then reinstall windows.

[skylinechild]

Might as well do that but i aint plugging any more usb devices that could be destroyed. may have to burn my info off and then reinstall windows.

dont burn...use a flash drive if possible. if you burn you could be burning the virus off onto the disc. and when you finish reinstall the OS and time to copy back the data from the disc onto the pc you may not be able to as your virus software will detect the disc as infected - and unable to clean it - it will just deny you access to your data.

[stretch]

hope another flash drive doesnt go in the process, well will let you know what happens. gotta download a copy of win7 tho, so it could possibly take a while.

[pyung99]

not sure if you tried a mac yet, but if it is a virus, the mac would be unaffected, and read the drive and allow you to pull the contents and format.

[stretch]

no didnt check mac, really dont care much for the files as its all movies which can be downloaded again. just dont want another hard drive being attacked by alien/virus again.

[stretch]

no didnt check mac, really dont care much for the files as its all movies which can be downloaded again. just dont want another hard drive being attacked by alien/virus again.

[stretch]

no didnt check mac, really dont care much for the files as its all movies which can be downloaded again. just dont want another hard drive being attacked by alien/virus again.