portable usb 2.0 hdd not showing up in my computer - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: sony mavica
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 10:41:07 am
content: hi was given a 1tb portable hdd today from my sister to back it up to her 4tb hdd and then i could keep it as she would no longer need it she told me it works fine on her laptop but when i connected it to my computer it installed the driver but when i go to my computer it does not show upbut if i go to device manger it will show up under disk drives and it also shows up in devices and printers as USB to Serial-ATA bridgeanybody know what could be the problem the data is important on the hdd

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 10:57:25 am
content: Go to Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) and look for the drive and see if it's been assigned a drive letter (if it hasn't, then assign one). If you find the drive and it says that the file system is RAW, then you have problems (corruption?).If the drive doesn't show up at all, have you might have a dead drive. Have you tried using it in different USB ports/computer?

author: sony mavica
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 11:01:47 am
content: Quote from: crispy_tofu on October 21, 2015, 10:57:25 amthat is what shows up in diskmgmt.msc yes i tried other usb ports i don't have another computer to test it with but i tried plugging it into my tv but it just said usb error

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 11:11:09 am
content: So something's probably wrong with the drive. What model is the drive?

author: sony mavica
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 12:13:25 pm
content: Quote from: crispy_tofu on October 21, 2015, 11:11:09 amits a Samsung hd103si

author: crispy_tofu
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 12:40:47 pm
content: Okay, try running Seagate SeaTools (http://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/item/seatools-win-master/) and do a basic test.(I'm not sure if you can see the drive, though)After that, try CrystalDiskInfo (http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html) and check the SMART data, and do a sector scan to check if there's any bad sectors.(also not sure if you can see a drive)Hope this helps! It's just a simple diagnostic to see what's wrong with the drive and then (hopefully) how to fix it.

author: wblock
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 01:41:27 pm
content: Quote from: sony mavica on October 21, 2015, 12:13:25 pmWeb searches show that is a bare 3.5-inch SATA drive. If the enclosure is USB 3, it would need a separate power adapter to work on a USB 2 port. Or the filesystem or partitioning on the drive might be from a Mac or anything else that costs extra to read on Windows. gparted (gparted.org) might be able to copy it. Do not mess with Windows programs to "fix" the disk until that disk is copied. Then give the copy to your sister and ask her why she only has one copy of her important 1TB of data.

author: bktemp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 02:08:05 pm
content: Try Testdisk:http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDiskIt should detect the filesystem format used or tell you what is wrong.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2015, 02:50:47 pm
content: Can you read the SMARTs?Also, GetDataBack from runtime has worked for me several times. But a disk that is failing in ATA-crc's will not recover.

author: sony mavica
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2015, 07:14:03 am
content: thanks guysill give these a go now