External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management

acexnyc · 04-13-2009, 08:36 PM

I recently purchased a 640gb WD HD.
Worked fine, until after I transferred some stuff to two different computers.
After, when I plugged it into my original laptop (vista), it would not come up on the My Computer.
So when I checked Disk Management, it shows up like this:

Then After looking around the web, they tell me to right click and try variety of stuff, which none of them works because they aren't there as you can see:

When I click Properties, I get this, which says all is A OKAY:

So when I try to 'Initialize' I get this:

Then when I proceed, I get this error for both options:

Before, I was getting an error that said 'Wrong Function' or something to that degree...

IS MY EXTERNAL HD DONE FOR?!?!!
I just bought it. I am so sad. Is there ANY WAY TO SOLVE THIS?
I tried to visualize my question to the best of my abilities..
Thanks in advance...

**raptor_pa** · 04-13-2009, 08:48 PM

OK so the good news is it didn't let you init the disk. Start by trying test disk as in this sticky Have you "lost" a hard drive, partition or files in your computer? see if you can recover the MBR and Partition table. Was this disk formatted on XP or Vista, and what OS did you copy the files to?

acexnyc · 04-13-2009, 09:06 PM

This Disk was formatted NTFS on this laptop which runs with vista.
And I don't know what you mean by which OS I copied my files to. Sorry..
I tried the whole thing on the link you gave me but when I get to step two, I only see my original built in hard drive (the one with 120gb) and not the external.
I am just confused because shouldn't I do analyze the external not my original?
Here is the pic of the step that I am confused with

**raptor_pa** · 04-13-2009, 09:10 PM

Yeah you should see it, the disk isn't reporting correctly - some USB enclosures don't play well with test_disk. When you formatted the disk under Vista did you select a GUID partition or MBR partition? The GUID partition isn't recognized by XP correctly, so MBR is the better choice. Anyway, next step is to remove the hard drive from teh USB enclosure and connect it to the internal ports of a desktop and make sure it is found in BIOS correctly. If it is found in BIOS by model then try test_disk again while it is mounted internally.

acexnyc · 04-13-2009, 09:16 PM

Sorry but what do you mean by connecting it internally?
So I unplug from my laptop usb and plug it into a desktop usb...?
Then run the test_disk on the desktop and see if it shows up there?
Am I getting it right? Again, sorry I'm not really good with computers

**raptor_pa** · 04-13-2009, 09:21 PM

No, take the disk out of the USB enclosure and connect it to the SATA port of a desktop like an internal drive. As they say on cops "Step away from the USB " :)

acexnyc · 04-13-2009, 09:24 PM

Ah...
So I have to open the hard drive...
Should I just return the thing since I still do have the 30 day warranty instead of doing that? If that is the only way to fix/find out how to fix the damned thing?
Thanks for the quick replies by the way

**raptor_pa** · 04-13-2009, 09:38 PM

If the data is not an issue then yes, that is what I would do, better than voiding the warranty if you don't need the data off the disk...

04-13-2009, 08:36 PM	#1 (permalink)
acexnyc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 4 OS: WINDOWS VISTA	External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management I recently purchased a 640gb WD HD. Worked fine, until after I transferred some stuff to two different computers. After, when I plugged it into my original laptop (vista), it would not come up on the My Computer. So when I checked Disk Management, it shows up like this: Then After looking around the web, they tell me to right click and try variety of stuff, which none of them works because they aren't there as you can see: When I click Properties, I get this, which says all is A OKAY: So when I try to 'Initialize' I get this: Then when I proceed, I get this error for both options: Before, I was getting an error that said 'Wrong Function' or something to that degree... IS MY EXTERNAL HD DONE FOR?!?!! I just bought it. I am so sad. Is there ANY WAY TO SOLVE THIS? I tried to visualize my question to the best of my abilities.. Thanks in advance...

04-13-2009, 08:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,905 OS: XP	Re: External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management OK so the good news is it didn't let you init the disk. Start by trying test disk as in this sticky Have you "lost" a hard drive, partition or files in your computer? see if you can recover the MBR and Partition table. Was this disk formatted on XP or Vista, and what OS did you copy the files to? __________________

04-13-2009, 09:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
acexnyc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 4 OS: WINDOWS VISTA	Re: External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management This Disk was formatted NTFS on this laptop which runs with vista. And I don't know what you mean by which OS I copied my files to. Sorry.. I tried the whole thing on the link you gave me but when I get to step two, I only see my original built in hard drive (the one with 120gb) and not the external. I am just confused because shouldn't I do analyze the external not my original? Here is the pic of the step that I am confused with Last edited by acexnyc; 04-13-2009 at 09:07 PM.

04-13-2009, 09:10 PM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,905 OS: XP	Re: External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management Yeah you should see it, the disk isn't reporting correctly - some USB enclosures don't play well with test_disk. When you formatted the disk under Vista did you select a GUID partition or MBR partition? The GUID partition isn't recognized by XP correctly, so MBR is the better choice. Anyway, next step is to remove the hard drive from teh USB enclosure and connect it to the internal ports of a desktop and make sure it is found in BIOS correctly. If it is found in BIOS by model then try test_disk again while it is mounted internally. __________________

04-13-2009, 09:16 PM	#5 (permalink)
acexnyc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 4 OS: WINDOWS VISTA	Re: External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management Sorry but what do you mean by connecting it internally? So I unplug from my laptop usb and plug it into a desktop usb...? Then run the test_disk on the desktop and see if it shows up there? Am I getting it right? Again, sorry I'm not really good with computers

04-13-2009, 09:21 PM	#6 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,905 OS: XP	Re: External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management No, take the disk out of the USB enclosure and connect it to the SATA port of a desktop like an internal drive. As they say on cops "Step away from the USB " :) __________________

04-13-2009, 09:24 PM	#7 (permalink)
acexnyc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 4 OS: WINDOWS VISTA	Re: External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management Ah... So I have to open the hard drive... Should I just return the thing since I still do have the 30 day warranty instead of doing that? If that is the only way to fix/find out how to fix the damned thing? Thanks for the quick replies by the way

04-13-2009, 09:38 PM	#8 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,905 OS: XP	Re: External HD 'Unknown' in Disk Management If the data is not an issue then yes, that is what I would do, better than voiding the warranty if you don't need the data off the disk... __________________