Reformatted Computer can't find External HDD

trevor_schmidt · 11-06-2009, 10:04 PM

Hi, I recently had my computer (Windows XP) reformatted with all of the original content backed up onto my brand new 500 GB Seagate external hard drive. The external hard drive worked perfectly well on my computer before I had it reformatted. After receiving my computer back from the repair center, I plugged in the external hard drive and everything still worked fine and I was able to copy information (music, pictures,etc) from my external hdd onto the newly reformatted drive. After shutting down the computer for the first time then restarting it the next morning, I was and have since been unable to locate the Seagate hard drive (Drive F:) in My Computer. Along with not being present in My Computer, it is also NOT located in Disk Management, but it IS located in Device Manager. In Device Manager, Along with Disk Drives, I am also able to find it in the "power" tab in the properties of the last USB ROOT HUB. It shows itself in the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon at the system tray, but there is no message that says "found new hardware" when I reboot my computer. Mildly flustered, I took the hard drive upstairs, plugged it into my desktop computer (also windows xp), and the drive works perfectly fine on it. I used TestDisk as described at: Have you "lost" a hard drive, partition or files in your computer?

After I had the program analyze the disk, I received this message:

Disk /dev/sdb - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 60801 255 63

Warning: the current number of heads per cylinder is 255
but the correct value may be 128.
You can use the Geometry menu to change this value.
It's something to try if
- some partitions are not found by TestDisk
- or the partition table can not be written because partitions overlaps.

After I rebooted my laptop some "found new hardware" messages popped up. I believe they were USB Mass Storage Device, and then Unknown Device. This was still something new anyways, so I checked out My Computer and Disk Management with my fingers crossed, but to no avail.

Could this "heads / cylinder" issue be the reason why my newly reformatted laptop can't find the external hard drive, while my ancient desktop upstairs can? It seems that the problem is more likely to do with some reset settings on my laptop than the drive itself because the drive works fine on my desktop upstairs.

I'm really hoping that you can help me out to solve this issue. Thanks a lot for your help.

Trevor

Dogg · 11-07-2009, 10:59 AM

You may need to ensure you have the correct USB drivers installed or try reinstalling the USB drivers. You should be able to get all of the drivers from the laptop manufacturers website. Since you stated the external HDD works fine on another computer, I wouldn't suspect an issue with the external drive.

trevor_schmidt · 11-09-2009, 03:50 PM

Thanks for the help, Dogg. I do not believe the drivers are the problem, because they are fully up to date. I am completely dumb-founded by this issue. You would think that somewhere out there somebody has had the same problem as me, but after literally 15+ hours of searching forums and following all of the advice given, I've gotten absolutely nowhere. I even got in contact with the creator of TestDisk, hoping that he would be able to help me out on this issue, but to no avail.

I mean, it's got to be a simple fix, but it's making me lose my mind.

I hooked up the hdd to my computer upstairs, which recognizes the disk, and tried to do disk correction, but it hangs up at Phase 4 when I have the "automatically fix errors" box checked.

trevor_schmidt · 11-10-2009, 01:27 AM

Ok, I finally managed to figure it out.

It seems like you're fairly well versed on this forum, Dogg, so you may want to post what I am about to say in a sticky, because I think it will solve a lot of issues that people have with their external hdd's mysteriously going AWOL...

I was tearing my hair out at the disk management screen because my drive was just not showing up. Then I went to device manager, and completely uninstalled ALL USB related drivers as well as the Storage drivers and then restarted. This did nothing, so I was mighty pissed off again. Then I remembered how much trouble I had years back trying to get my printer to work and how I eventually fixed it (turned out that the printer spool service was stopped), so I opened up the services program, enabled all disabled services I could see and then started them all up as well. Now, I'm not exactly sure which one ended up doing the trick, but long story short, it fixed the problem and my External Hard Drive is working properly now.

Dogg · 11-11-2009, 07:57 AM

Thanks for the update.

11-06-2009, 10:04 PM	#1 (permalink)
trevor_schmidt Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 3 OS: XP SP3	Reformatted Computer can't find External HDD Hi, I recently had my computer (Windows XP) reformatted with all of the original content backed up onto my brand new 500 GB Seagate external hard drive. The external hard drive worked perfectly well on my computer before I had it reformatted. After receiving my computer back from the repair center, I plugged in the external hard drive and everything still worked fine and I was able to copy information (music, pictures,etc) from my external hdd onto the newly reformatted drive. After shutting down the computer for the first time then restarting it the next morning, I was and have since been unable to locate the Seagate hard drive (Drive F:) in My Computer. Along with not being present in My Computer, it is also NOT located in Disk Management, but it IS located in Device Manager. In Device Manager, Along with Disk Drives, I am also able to find it in the "power" tab in the properties of the last USB ROOT HUB. It shows itself in the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon at the system tray, but there is no message that says "found new hardware" when I reboot my computer. Mildly flustered, I took the hard drive upstairs, plugged it into my desktop computer (also windows xp), and the drive works perfectly fine on it. I used TestDisk as described at: Have you "lost" a hard drive, partition or files in your computer? After I had the program analyze the disk, I received this message: Disk /dev/sdb - 500 GB / 465 GiB - CHS 60801 255 63 Warning: the current number of heads per cylinder is 255 but the correct value may be 128. You can use the Geometry menu to change this value. It's something to try if - some partitions are not found by TestDisk - or the partition table can not be written because partitions overlaps. After I rebooted my laptop some "found new hardware" messages popped up. I believe they were USB Mass Storage Device, and then Unknown Device. This was still something new anyways, so I checked out My Computer and Disk Management with my fingers crossed, but to no avail. Could this "heads / cylinder" issue be the reason why my newly reformatted laptop can't find the external hard drive, while my ancient desktop upstairs can? It seems that the problem is more likely to do with some reset settings on my laptop than the drive itself because the drive works fine on my desktop upstairs. I'm really hoping that you can help me out to solve this issue. Thanks a lot for your help. Trevor

11-07-2009, 10:59 AM	#2 (permalink)
Dogg Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: St Louis, MO Posts: 1,965 OS: XP sp3	Re: Reformatted Computer can't find External HDD You may need to ensure you have the correct USB drivers installed or try reinstalling the USB drivers. You should be able to get all of the drivers from the laptop manufacturers website. Since you stated the external HDD works fine on another computer, I wouldn't suspect an issue with the external drive. __________________ Google is your friend !

11-09-2009, 03:50 PM	#3 (permalink)
trevor_schmidt Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 3 OS: XP SP3	Re: Reformatted Computer can't find External HDD Thanks for the help, Dogg. I do not believe the drivers are the problem, because they are fully up to date. I am completely dumb-founded by this issue. You would think that somewhere out there somebody has had the same problem as me, but after literally 15+ hours of searching forums and following all of the advice given, I've gotten absolutely nowhere. I even got in contact with the creator of TestDisk, hoping that he would be able to help me out on this issue, but to no avail. I mean, it's got to be a simple fix, but it's making me lose my mind. I hooked up the hdd to my computer upstairs, which recognizes the disk, and tried to do disk correction, but it hangs up at Phase 4 when I have the "automatically fix errors" box checked.

11-10-2009, 01:27 AM	#4 (permalink)
trevor_schmidt Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 3 OS: XP SP3	Re: Reformatted Computer can't find External HDD Ok, I finally managed to figure it out. It seems like you're fairly well versed on this forum, Dogg, so you may want to post what I am about to say in a sticky, because I think it will solve a lot of issues that people have with their external hdd's mysteriously going AWOL... I was tearing my hair out at the disk management screen because my drive was just not showing up. Then I went to device manager, and completely uninstalled ALL USB related drivers as well as the Storage drivers and then restarted. This did nothing, so I was mighty pissed off again. Then I remembered how much trouble I had years back trying to get my printer to work and how I eventually fixed it (turned out that the printer spool service was stopped), so I opened up the services program, enabled all disabled services I could see and then started them all up as well. Now, I'm not exactly sure which one ended up doing the trick, but long story short, it fixed the problem and my External Hard Drive is working properly now.

11-11-2009, 07:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
Dogg Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: St Louis, MO Posts: 1,965 OS: XP sp3	Re: Reformatted Computer can't find External HDD Thanks for the update. __________________ Google is your friend !