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Testdisk doesn't recognize external hard drive

12K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Substance59 
#1 ·
So I have a 300GB Seagate external hard drive and it used to work fine but once I got to college it won't detect it. When I plug it into my computer and turn it on I hear the little sound that the computer makes when something is plugged into the USB, but it doesn't show up under My Computer anymore. I tried lurking around and I tried a couple tutorials with TestDisk but the only hard drive it recognized was my internal hard drive and not my external. My hard drive turns on fine and I can hear/feel it running, but for some reason it isn't detected. I've been searching google for solutions for a couple weeks but none of the problems I've found seem to be exactly like mine. Any ideas?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Windows has most likely failed to give it a drive-letter, without which Windows Explorer cannot show it.
This is not uncommon with external drives, but easy to rectify.

Connect the drive and make sure it's switched on if it's a mains powered model.
Go into Control Panel > Admin Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management

In the bottom right section, look for the horizontal ribbon which reletes to that drive (it will probably say "Raw" in the ribbon).

Right-click that ribbon and choose "Change drive letter and paths"
Click the "Add" button.
Choose a drive-letter from the drop-down menu or leave it at the default.
Click "OK"

After a few seconds the drive should be visible in Windows Explorer.
 
#3 ·
From what I've read before, it's supposed to be under "Disk 1" and under that there's a red arrow pointing down that overlaps the drive icon, and it says "unknown" and "Not initialized". When I started Disk Management, it wanted me to initialize it, but it keeps saying that the device is not ready. I've tried uninstalling the device under device manager and Disk Management and it says it installs fine and is ready for use but for some reason I still can't see it under My Computer.
 

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