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External Hard Drive does not appear when plugged in

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#1 ·
Hi,

I have a Seagate 500GB external hard drive that just won't work.

IT stopped working about a week ago, and I've since been trying all the basic thing to get it working.

The problem is, When I plug it in, On the outside it seems fine- The HD's light goes on, I can hear it humming- so its obviously receiving power, but my computer does not acknowledge that any device has been plugged in, no 'unrecognized hardware', just absolutely nothing. I've double checked device manager to see if it appears there- but it does not. :mad:

I've run out of ideas, and I would greatly appreciate any help anyone can give me. (My computer runs windows vista, as as far as I know, does not have any hardware problems)

Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
Check the Disk Management console:
Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management

If you see a ribbon at bottom right which relates to the external drive in terms of capacity but without a name except for the word "Raw", it probably just needs a drive letter manually assigning to it:

Right-click that ribbon and choose "Change Drive Letter & Paths"
Click "Add", choose a letter from the drop-down menu, click 'OK'

With external drives, it's not unusual for Windows to fail to assign a drive letter automatically.
 
#3 ·
At this point you need to remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it direct to the computer assuming its a 3.5" drive with a sata port. Since no model was given I don't know for sure what you have. This will void the warranty so the choice is yours I can't tell you if doing this will result in any success it just depends on if the problem is the drive or the usb adapter inside the enclosure. If the drive is bad it may not be recoverable with DIY steps.
 
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