My computer cannot read my ext harddisk

jasmine17 SG

when i plug in the ext harddisk via usb, the drive does not appear in my computer.

but when i go control panel, system, device manager, it appears under harddrive.

How to solve this problem

OS: Win XP pro/ Vista home premium

allentyb_v2.01 SG

Maybe something wrong with your USB cable, i have this problem also but somehow after a while, it will be able to read the portable hard disk already

CyanSupra SG

I'm not sure abt vista.
But for xp , did u format the drive?

Can u see ur drive in disk mangement?

manyu882 SG

the one u see in your device manager is the USB to IDE bridge for hard drive. even if you dont have hdd, but u plugin an empty case, it will still show there.

thoreldan SG

yeah...pls check in disk management

i got a feeling that the USB is not drawing enough power from the motherboard to power up the HDD

have you tried the HDD in other PCs or other USB ports in the same PC?

jasmine17 SG

what is disk management? my lappie and desktop both cannot read the drive.
I used low level format to format the HDD

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Despite all the warnings not to do low level format without guidance, people still do it.

Low level format can damage a hard disk if not done properly. If that's the case, pray hard that it's still workable.

As for accessing Disk Management, do this

XP

Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management

Vista

Classic Start Menu

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management

Vista Start Menu

Start > Search for Control Panel

Double click on Administrative Tools > Computer Management

ismail SG

Check whether your USB cable is inserted properly into the hard drive slot.
Exclamation

twiggies SG

switch on the power for your ext hdd

kenn3th SG

make sure that the usb cables are properly and firmly connected.
then pluck into a new usb port.

if there's a pop up saying it could not install hdd then it would mean that the drivers are not properly installed thus it could not be read.

jasmine17 SG

yes and i just formatted it

jasmine17 SG

it used to be 40 GB now it is only 18 GB

jasmine17 SG

anyone can help? my current ext harddisk shows 18 GB instead of 40 GB. I remember i got around 22 GB of data.

How come like this? is the data locked some where in the hard disk?

any way to retrieve?

caleb_chiang SG

hmmm… never heard of such things before. you sure you formatted or partition’ed?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

You didn't format correctly. Or rather, you didn't partition correctly.

1. Delete partition

2. Create partition

3. Format partition

Doing just Steps 2 and 3 will result in loss of hard disk space which you are experiencing.

Open Disk Management and assign a drive letter to the old partition to see your data.