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How-To Geek Forums / Windows Vista

(Solved) - my desk top has stopped recognising my external HD

(13 posts)
  • Started 4 months ago by Leasholm
  • Latest reply from Leasholm
  • Topic Viewed 469 times

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Leasholm
Posts: 68

I have read other posts on this whilst some were too complicated for me to follow with my pea brain I have done some things like try using new cables and update the drivers but still no icon appears on the computer page for me to click on. It is recognised in the device manager and also the other external HD that I keep photos on is working fine?? any suggestions would be welcome so long as they are explained without any short hand :) By the way it was working ok until yesterday, and I have not made any changes such as updates etc.

Posted 4 months ago #
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G41M
Posts: 902

Have you tried plugging the external hd into another computer? If yes, is it recognized?

Posted 4 months ago #
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Leasholm
Posts: 68

Yes, I have a lap top and it is not recognised when plugged in either

Posted 4 months ago #
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G41M
Posts: 902

If that is the case, the external hd probably has failed - either the hard drive inside or the controller circuitry has gone bad. What is the model of the external hd?

Posted 4 months ago #
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Leasholm
Posts: 68

It is a freecom 250gb. I have found the software disc and tried to reinstalled it with out any success......any ideas before I consign it to the bin?

Posted 4 months ago #
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germ-x
germ-x
Posts: 5310

Does your drive have a letter assigned to it? If not assign a letter through disk management

Posted 4 months ago #
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Leasholm
Posts: 68

I would be happy to try that if you could guide me through it.

Posted 4 months ago #
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Xhi
Xhi
Posts: 6298

With disk plugged in. Go to start. Type in: Manage. Click in Windows Disk Management. Wait patiently. If the disk is listed there, does it have a drive letter? If not right click on it and select "Change DSrive Letter and Paths. Assign it a letter.

Posted 4 months ago #
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Leasholm
Posts: 68

I have looked in device manager under disc drives and it has 'samsung SP2415N USB device' without any drive letter and when i right click the menu list is Disable,scan for hardware changes, update drivers, properties uninstall but no 'Change DSrive Letter and Paths' The properties list is huge but again i could find nothing with your suggestion ?? what now if anything?

Posted 4 months ago #
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Xhi
Xhi
Posts: 6298

Not Device Manager... Disk Management

Posted 4 months ago #
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Leasholm
Posts: 68

Whoops, sorry about the misunderstanding....did as you suggested but the device is not shown in the list despite being plugged in and switched on/

Posted 4 months ago #
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Xhi
Xhi
Posts: 6298

Then Im afraid it is Kaput!. I guess the only other thing to try would be a Ubuntu stand alone disk and/or Partition Magic to see if it is recognizable any other way. But, I'm afraid it is gone.

My only other idea would be to remove it from the external enclosure and try to hook it up either directly or with a USB-SATA/IDE cable. This would eliminate the enclosure hardware as the problem.

Whether or not you want to go to all that trouble would depend on whether or not the data on it is important.

Accepted Answer · Posted 4 months ago #
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Leasholm
Posts: 68

OK thanks very much for your help and patience, I might take it to a local PC repair shop and see if they can recover the data.

Posted 4 months ago #
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