WD 500gb Hard drive is not being recognised by computer

Deansaroop · 08-27-2009, 01:42 PM

Hi

I got a WD HDD in January of 2009. In June of 2009 the computer was telling me that the WD HDD needed to be formatted, then all together stopped recognizing the drive. I can still see it on remove hardware safely, and also if I go to my C drive, right click go to properties and then hardware I can see the drive there. I tried using testdisk but test disk also doesn't see the drive. Also tried using Tweak UI to assign a drive to the disk but again that didn't work. I need some of these files for school, but don't have the $ to pay 600 to recover the files. Any help would be appreciated.

Edit
I am using XP SP2 on an IBM R50e (1.6ghz and 2gb RAM, Laptop)

gcavan · 08-27-2009, 02:48 PM

Run the chkdsk utility in windows or in DOS. Read this page.
http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/chkdsk.htm

Get Seatools from the Seagate site. Can be run from Windows or a bootable floppy or CD
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...loads/seatools

And look at this page for some help on recovering your data
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1139

Deansaroop · 08-29-2009, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gcavan

Run the chkdsk utility in windows or in DOS. Read this page.
http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/chkdsk.htm

Get Seatools from the Seagate site. Can be run from Windows or a bootable floppy or CD
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...loads/seatools

And look at this page for some help on recovering your data
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1139

There is nothing in my computer to run check disk on, I can only see it by going through the properties part of disk C. The Seagate tools app didn't find the drive either, and I never built a partition (mostly because I don't know how) and from what I understood thats what the PC Stats article was about.

dreux89 · 08-29-2009, 11:43 PM

You can buy a USB sata/ide adapter to get your files off that drive that is if the drive runs. Cheaper then paying 600 dollars.

**raptor_pa** · 08-30-2009, 07:02 AM

You had a partition - all drives have at loeast one partition when they are formatted. Is this an external or internal drive. If external remove it from the USB enclosure and connect it directly to the ports of a desktop and see if it is recognized in BIOS. Can you feel the drive spin up when it is powered on?

Deansaroop · 08-31-2009, 10:11 PM

I can feel the drive spin up, and I can uninstall and reinstall the drivers on it. I can see it in safely remove hardware and everything seems normal until I go looking for it.

**raptor_pa** · 08-31-2009, 10:16 PM

You're going to have to get it out of the USB enclosure and connected to a desktop directly to be able to correctly diagnose the issues.

08-27-2009, 01:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
Deansaroop Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 4 OS: XP SP2	WD 500gb Hard drive is not being recognised by computer Hi I got a WD HDD in January of 2009. In June of 2009 the computer was telling me that the WD HDD needed to be formatted, then all together stopped recognizing the drive. I can still see it on remove hardware safely, and also if I go to my C drive, right click go to properties and then hardware I can see the drive there. I tried using testdisk but test disk also doesn't see the drive. Also tried using Tweak UI to assign a drive to the disk but again that didn't work. I need some of these files for school, but don't have the $ to pay 600 to recover the files. Any help would be appreciated. Edit I am using XP SP2 on an IBM R50e (1.6ghz and 2gb RAM, Laptop)

08-27-2009, 02:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
gcavan Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Nova Scotia, Canada Posts: 300 OS: Win XP, Vista 64, "Intrepid" Ubuntu My System	Re: WD 500gb Hard drive is not being recognised by computer Run the chkdsk utility in windows or in DOS. Read this page. http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/chkdsk.htm Get Seatools from the Seagate site. Can be run from Windows or a bootable floppy or CD http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...loads/seatools And look at this page for some help on recovering your data http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1139

08-29-2009, 11:43 PM	#4 (permalink)
dreux89 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 8 OS: Windows xp	Re: WD 500gb Hard drive is not being recognised by computer You can buy a USB sata/ide adapter to get your files off that drive that is if the drive runs. Cheaper then paying 600 dollars.

08-30-2009, 07:02 AM	#5 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,863 OS: XP	Re: WD 500gb Hard drive is not being recognised by computer You had a partition - all drives have at loeast one partition when they are formatted. Is this an external or internal drive. If external remove it from the USB enclosure and connect it directly to the ports of a desktop and see if it is recognized in BIOS. Can you feel the drive spin up when it is powered on? __________________

08-31-2009, 10:11 PM	#6 (permalink)
Deansaroop Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 4 OS: XP SP2	Re: WD 500gb Hard drive is not being recognised by computer I can feel the drive spin up, and I can uninstall and reinstall the drivers on it. I can see it in safely remove hardware and everything seems normal until I go looking for it.

08-31-2009, 10:16 PM	#7 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,863 OS: XP	Re: WD 500gb Hard drive is not being recognised by computer You're going to have to get it out of the USB enclosure and connected to a desktop directly to be able to correctly diagnose the issues. __________________