saumathur
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Install SP2, now can't see my externam HDD
I purchased an external HDD, 40GB Western Digital essentially which was a laptop drive, in a case and plugged to the back of my laptop using a USB cable.
My laptop doesn't have USB 2.0, so it was still using the slower 1.2 or watver it is. It had been working fine till last week when I installed SP2 on the XP Pro I am using on the machine.
Since then, whenever I plug the drive, the light turns on the drive, Windows tells me that a USB 2.0 device found but will run slow because it isnt a USB 2.0 port (as before), then tells me that it found a new hard ware ( Disk Drive ) and say my newly installed hardware is ready for use.
All this was as before, but when I open My Computer, I cant see the external drive there.
In Device Manager, under Disk Drives, I can see the Generic USB Disk USB Device right beside my internal HDD, and when i double click that, it says the device is functioning properly, but when I go to the Volume tab and click Populate, it says Disk Type : Unknown, Status: Unreadable, Partition Style:Not Applicable.
Under the Disk Management, I cant see this drive at all..its just my CD Drive and the internal HDD.
Can anyone help and tell me how I can bring the drive back?
The USB Port is working fine since I can connect my digital camera and d/l pics from that no worries.
Thanks a ton.
My laptop doesn't have USB 2.0, so it was still using the slower 1.2 or watver it is. It had been working fine till last week when I installed SP2 on the XP Pro I am using on the machine.
Since then, whenever I plug the drive, the light turns on the drive, Windows tells me that a USB 2.0 device found but will run slow because it isnt a USB 2.0 port (as before), then tells me that it found a new hard ware ( Disk Drive ) and say my newly installed hardware is ready for use.
All this was as before, but when I open My Computer, I cant see the external drive there.
In Device Manager, under Disk Drives, I can see the Generic USB Disk USB Device right beside my internal HDD, and when i double click that, it says the device is functioning properly, but when I go to the Volume tab and click Populate, it says Disk Type : Unknown, Status: Unreadable, Partition Style:Not Applicable.
Under the Disk Management, I cant see this drive at all..its just my CD Drive and the internal HDD.
Can anyone help and tell me how I can bring the drive back?
The USB Port is working fine since I can connect my digital camera and d/l pics from that no worries.
Thanks a ton.
Did you recieve a CD with the drive? It could be you need to install drivers.
ASKER
I re-inserted while in disk management, and clicked rescan disks -> no recognition.
My laptop is a few years old Dell Inspiron 4150, so I only have the one USB slot at the back of the machine, and that is the one which I use.
GWNet-working, I did receive a CD with the drive, but it says for XP, just plug and play; which is what was happening till I installed SP2. Do you think that has anything to do with it?
My laptop is a few years old Dell Inspiron 4150, so I only have the one USB slot at the back of the machine, and that is the one which I use.
GWNet-working, I did receive a CD with the drive, but it says for XP, just plug and play; which is what was happening till I installed SP2. Do you think that has anything to do with it?
Try deleting all the usb devices from device manager and restarting machine. Let windows reinstall all the drivers and try again.
Have you confirmed the drive still works by plugging into another machine?
Have you tried another cable?
Have you confirmed the drive still works by plugging into another machine?
Have you tried another cable?
Hmmm, I suggest trying to install from teh CD, or downloading drivers from the manufacturers site. Just in case. From first glance upon the manufacturers site, i see no driver downloads.
could just have been a bad install of SP2 then, try reinstalling it. you obviously can't get it thru windows update now but you can download it here - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en
http://support.wdc.com/techinfo/installation.asp you can download drivers here.
ASKER
Thanks for the link, I will try and see what happens and post my results.
ASKER
Sorry I am late in the reply, was out of station for the week.
Anyway, I opened up my HDD, it is a Western Digital WD400VE Scorpio.
I wasn't able to check any drivers for this on that site you recommended.
Will search for some more.
In the meantime, if any other suggestions, please go ahead. I am shot for ideas.
Anyway, I opened up my HDD, it is a Western Digital WD400VE Scorpio.
I wasn't able to check any drivers for this on that site you recommended.
Will search for some more.
In the meantime, if any other suggestions, please go ahead. I am shot for ideas.
ASKER
By the way, I took the drive to work today and tried to use it on my desktop machine there, and I am getting the same response. i.e. no response, or recognition. So i guess the SP2 installation being stuffed idea is out the window.
have you managed to get into it from any PC?
ASKER
Not as yet, no !
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ASKER
Hmm...fair enough!!
It doesn't make any unusual noises, no.
I guess I have to take it to the data recovery people or something. Bugger..!!!!
It doesn't make any unusual noises, no.
I guess I have to take it to the data recovery people or something. Bugger..!!!!
i take it you are plugging the HDD into one of the front USB slots? in my experience HDD's are 50/50 on being recognised in the front ports (i have absolutely no idea why), have you tried it on a USB port in the back of the PC?