[barolu]

I have Window XP but one day I decided to put my 80GB Western Digital External hard drive into a friend's Windows Vista laptop. It took a long time to load and then it said "not responding" so I decided to close it, I think I might've just plugged it out without safely removing it.

Right after I tried putting it into a Windows XP, the only thing that came up was the easily remove hardware option. Options to how I'd like to open/view the files it usually does didn't come up. When I go to My Computer, the drive doesn't even show up, as if I never plugged it into the computer. The drive is connected and the light signifying it's on glows yet the files don't open.

I've been trying different ways continuously and I've contacted WD who isn't much help, they just sent me a Y cable thinking that would resolve the issue, but it didn't.

Please help ASAP!!
Any tips? ideas on what's going on?

 

[Deleted090308]

Hi.

Can you see the drive in Disk Management? (Right click "My computer" > choose "Manage" > Disk Management.)

If so - please read this: http://www.techsupportforum.com/f16...rtition-or-files-in-your-computer-194492.html

 

[barolu]

yes, ive tried that but it doesnt come up. really?? wow great, thanks! i wont lose anything and it'll find my files even though the drive doesnt show up anymore?

 

[Deleted090308]

Can you see the drive in Disk management and/or Device manager?

If not - try another USB cable, check the connections inside the HDD enclosure.

If you can see the drive in Disk management - follow the instructions above. Please keep us updated.

 

[barolu]

thank you so much for responding.
yes, ive tried it on disk management- it doesn't show up.
WD sent me a Y cable that's supposed to be stronger and it didn't work. Sorry to sound rather un "techy" but what is HDD?

 

[Deleted090308]

HDD = hard disk drive.

Does anything happen when you connect the HDD to the computer? A green icon should appear next to the clock.

Have a look in Device manager. Can you see the drive there? Any yellow/red "marks"?

 

[barolu]

whenever i plug the HDD into the computer the only thing that opens is the easily remove hardware option next to the clock

i did try looking in the disk manager but the HDD did not come up, only my C drive is shown.

 

[Deleted090308]

If you can't see the drive in disk management there's something wrong with the connection.

Try different USB plugs and another USB cable.

 

[barolu]

i did try a new plug, they sent me a "Y" plug because they thought there wasn't enough power.

im going to try to print screen what it looks like in disk management whenever i plug in the hard drive

 

[jaggerwild]

Make sure you have USB drivers loaded, also that the usb is turned on in the BIOS too.

 

[barolu]

i have updates.
i recently bought a new laptop with windows vista. i tried putting in the WD hard drive, it said it was installing the program needed for it and that i could easily remove hardware. however, nothing opened.

any ideas?
please help!

 

[maz057]

I am having a similar problem. I have a 120gb western digital HD. I have used Mac Leopard's disk utility to format it to FAT. It shows up fine on my mac desktop but when I boot in Windows XP it doesnt show up on the desktop or in the "my computer" page. I can see the device in my device manager but I dont see how it could be corrupt if leopard reads it just fine. I have not tried the above listed stepd because I dont think it is the problem but if a should try those steps please let me know. Anybody who can help would be much appriciated.:grin:

 

[Deleted090308]

@maz057: Please try the link in post #2 - and create a thread of your own.

 

[Deleted090308]

i have updates.
i recently bought a new laptop with windows vista. i tried putting in the WD hard drive, it said it was installing the program needed for it and that i could easily remove hardware. however, nothing opened.

any ideas?
please help!

Please explain - nothing happened?
When you wanted to read the files on the drive?

 

[barolu]

Sorry for taking too long to respond. Well, whenever I plug in the WD external drive the option to "safely remove hardware". When I said "nothing happened" I mean that it never reacted as in no option for it to open using windows explorer etc came up. It doesn't even come up on My Computer or any other visible way. The warranty for the hard drive ends on Jan 27th so I only have a few days to try to get my documents on my drive before returning it.
Thank you for your help.
If you have any better suggestions or idea, please email it to me at *****.

 

[Deleted090308]

Can you see the drive in Disk Management?

If so - follow these steps again: http://www.techsupportforum.com/f16...rtition-or-files-in-your-computer-194492.html

 

[barolu]

No, I don't believe so. This is what I see:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/Barolu/compmanagement-1.jpg

 

[Deleted090308]

What is disk 3 in the screenshot?

Can you see the drive in Device manager?

 

[barolu]

Here's another screenshot where I scrolled down so you could see disk 3.
No don't think so, those are are the drives I see.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y22/Barolu/screenshot2.jpg

 

[Deleted090308]

I can see an unallocated drive - that should be "fixable".
But - the screenshot is very blurry.