External HDD Not recognised as the right thing

dimpalz · 01-06-2009, 08:28 AM

Hi

I had a laptop HDD that I took from an old laptop I had a few years back and put in a caddy, it's been happily working away in there for 2 and a half years (its an icy box case) until recently!

I plugged it into a vista machine to copy some photos onto it and it was discovered as a disk drive fine and I even managed to navigate it in my computer and create a new folder then someone picked up the laptop and my caddy did a little dangling dance (I realised this might be important to tell) and when it was put back down I tried to copy files and it gave me an error. So I plugged it out (I THINK i removed it safely, but I can't b sure, but I'm PRETTY sure) I plugged it in again and I got the "new hardware found" pop up. I don't usually get that, usually it's autorun on my xp machine or it's just in my computer. I then go to My Computer and it's not there. I gave up copying the files and figured it would be fine when I got it back to my laptop.

Back at my laptop: I plug it in and I get "new hardware found" only it's some random name like "[C27 ? ? 3 3 3 <brandname that i forgot> ?2" and then it finds a USB device, installs some drivers and I go looking in my computer. It wasn't there. In safely remove hardware I have a mass storage device, and I also have one in DEVICE manager partnered with the randomly named USB device - both working fine. In disk management it's not there, with or without a drive letter.

I think the good news is it isn't making any loud/evil/clicking/screeching noises, when I connect it it's little red busy light comes on and it whirs inside it's casing, then turns to green (it's power light), it connects by just a usb lead that does have an extension for 2 leads but I've always attached it to my laptop with just one. When I tried the extension lead just to see if it wanted more power the same thing happened only it was detected with a different wrong, crazy character name. I then removed it, gave it a little hug and hoped to God that would be enough. Oh also in the process I uninstalled SP3 cos it took away my address toolbar and I read somewhere that having SP3 might have messed it up - I don't think it's the case.

I'm working with a toshiba drive I think (I only saw it briefly from it's journey from my old laptop to it's caddy) and I've plugged the USB into other computers and gotten the same wrong hardware found.

I've read through all the threads and I know I should either attempt to put it into a pc or try it in a different caddy but I don't have it with me so I wont be doing it for now. I just want to know the likelyhood of it actually being the caddy.

Any takers? Also if there's anything else I should try I'd be willing. (Sorry for such a long post!)

Madcatz · 01-06-2009, 09:00 AM

Have you took apart the external and make sure the connection to the enclosure and the drive is still secure and not on half way?

dimpalz · 01-09-2009, 01:19 PM

Hello!

I did take it out and in fact it was only in half way. I pushed it back in fully and closed it but now I'm getting "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable" :(

What can I do to fix it? I've read that chkdsk thing isn't good and I should try datarecovery programs like this one - http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/d...ery-downloads/ can anyone confirm???

01-06-2009, 08:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
dimpalz Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 3 OS: XP SP2	External HDD Not recognised as the right thing Hi I had a laptop HDD that I took from an old laptop I had a few years back and put in a caddy, it's been happily working away in there for 2 and a half years (its an icy box case) until recently! I plugged it into a vista machine to copy some photos onto it and it was discovered as a disk drive fine and I even managed to navigate it in my computer and create a new folder then someone picked up the laptop and my caddy did a little dangling dance (I realised this might be important to tell) and when it was put back down I tried to copy files and it gave me an error. So I plugged it out (I THINK i removed it safely, but I can't b sure, but I'm PRETTY sure) I plugged it in again and I got the "new hardware found" pop up. I don't usually get that, usually it's autorun on my xp machine or it's just in my computer. I then go to My Computer and it's not there. I gave up copying the files and figured it would be fine when I got it back to my laptop. Back at my laptop: I plug it in and I get "new hardware found" only it's some random name like "[C27 ? ? 3 3 3 <brandname that i forgot> ?2" and then it finds a USB device, installs some drivers and I go looking in my computer. It wasn't there. In safely remove hardware I have a mass storage device, and I also have one in DEVICE manager partnered with the randomly named USB device - both working fine. In disk management it's not there, with or without a drive letter. I think the good news is it isn't making any loud/evil/clicking/screeching noises, when I connect it it's little red busy light comes on and it whirs inside it's casing, then turns to green (it's power light), it connects by just a usb lead that does have an extension for 2 leads but I've always attached it to my laptop with just one. When I tried the extension lead just to see if it wanted more power the same thing happened only it was detected with a different wrong, crazy character name. I then removed it, gave it a little hug and hoped to God that would be enough. Oh also in the process I uninstalled SP3 cos it took away my address toolbar and I read somewhere that having SP3 might have messed it up - I don't think it's the case. I'm working with a toshiba drive I think (I only saw it briefly from it's journey from my old laptop to it's caddy) and I've plugged the USB into other computers and gotten the same wrong hardware found. I've read through all the threads and I know I should either attempt to put it into a pc or try it in a different caddy but I don't have it with me so I wont be doing it for now. I just want to know the likelyhood of it actually being the caddy. Any takers? Also if there's anything else I should try I'd be willing. (Sorry for such a long post!)

01-06-2009, 09:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
Madcatz Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 1,420 OS: XP/7/Server 2008 My System	Re: External HDD Not recognised as the right thing Have you took apart the external and make sure the connection to the enclosure and the drive is still secure and not on half way?

01-09-2009, 01:19 PM	#3 (permalink)
dimpalz Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 3 OS: XP SP2	Re: External HDD Not recognised as the right thing Hello! I did take it out and in fact it was only in half way. I pushed it back in fully and closed it but now I'm getting "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable" :( What can I do to fix it? I've read that chkdsk thing isn't good and I should try datarecovery programs like this one - http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/d...ery-downloads/ can anyone confirm???