PC/External Hard Drive Problem

suj

suj

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Suraj
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Hey everyone

So I got a 1tb Seagate Expansion External Hard Drive

but when I plug it in, it makes the noise like you usually get from plugging it in, but does not find it.

I tried the HD on my sisters laptop, works fine, finds it etc

I don't understand why it doesn't work on my PC?

we both have XP, she has home, I have professional, both running SP3

tried everything I can, but still no joy (tried in all USB ports, tried googling, to not much joy)

it is quite an old PC, Dell Dimension 4600, but I use my USB Memory Stick, and others and it works/functions fine

any help would be great


also just found something out now, when I go to:
Control Panel>>Adminstrative Tools>>Computer Manager>>Disk Management

the HD appears, but has no drive letter, so I assigned it to a letter, and bingo it is found, but when I remove/reattach the HD it goes again

doing my head in now :(

Thanks in advance
 
oops thanks mods, forgot there was a computer section, *facepalm* lol
 
This sounds familiar....

Do you have some kind of USB or other card reader (built into printer)?

Im sure when there was a Multi card reader (Compact flash, SD, etc), the system would allocated drive letters to them and somehow would not show additional USB drives added in My Computer.

I can't rem if there was a workaround except disconnecting said Card Reader (usually inbuilt to a printer) ie unplug USB printer cable.

Try that and if it works, let me know and I'll look into the fix,



Andy:thumbs:
 
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Hi andy,

thanks for the reply, I do have a 4 in 1 memory card reader, but only used when taking data off memory cards

it's a wierd one, and doing my head in, I am gonna try in safe mode to see if it is something affecting it

thanks again

Suraj
 
Ok,

Well...maybe find out what drives (external and internal) you have shown in My Computer.


It maybe the case you need to reassign a drive letter, so that the USB drive slips in accordingly.

Let me know



Andy
 
Hi Suraj,

Option 1 (you've tried it already, but try it again and restart)

Go to My computer icon
Right click and click manage.
Click Disk Management and find the drive that hasn't got a Drive letter.
Right click on it and choose Change drive letter.
If it's a new drive than probably you need to format it as well.(If it is old, take a back up in your sister's laptop, before you try any formatting)
To do that right click on the drive and click Format.
Choose NTFS File System and select the Perform a Quick Format button to save some time, it will work perfectly


Option 2

Windows should detect an external HHD when it is plugged in automatically.
Check "Add new Hardware" in Control Panel.
If you are connected with Internet, The USB controllers should update on its own.
 
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