external harddrive not working

  • Thread starter Thread starter isaac_2004
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isaac_2004

hi i recently bought an external hard drive to put my media like movies
on, it was working fine but then it just stopped working, i restarted
my pc to test and no drive in my computers, i tried uninstalling the
usb drivers but that didnt work either, could it be a cd drive took the
letter it was using. if this is not the problem is there anything that
i can do so i wont lose my data. thank you

isaac
 
| hi i recently bought an external hard drive to put my media like movies
| on, it was working fine but then it just stopped working, i restarted
| my pc to test and no drive in my computers, i tried uninstalling the
| usb drivers but that didnt work either, could it be a cd drive took the
| letter it was using. if this is not the problem is there anything that
| i can do so i wont lose my data. thank you
|
| isaac


I wouldn't trust USB 2.0 for anything much anymore with Windows XP around.
 
Cymbal said:
| hi i recently bought an external hard drive to put my media like movies
| on, it was working fine but then it just stopped working, i restarted
| my pc to test and no drive in my computers, i tried uninstalling the
| usb drivers but that didnt work either, could it be a cd drive took the
| letter it was using. if this is not the problem is there anything that
| i can do so i wont lose my data. thank you
|
| isaac


I wouldn't trust USB 2.0 for anything much anymore with Windows XP around.
Click to expand...

do you have any suggestions so i dont have to reformat and lose my data
 
|
| Cymbal Man Freq. wrote:
| > | > | hi i recently bought an external hard drive to put my media like movies
| > | on, it was working fine but then it just stopped working, i restarted
| > | my pc to test and no drive in my computers, i tried uninstalling the
| > | usb drivers but that didnt work either, could it be a cd drive took the
| > | letter it was using. if this is not the problem is there anything that
| > | i can do so i wont lose my data. thank you
| > |
| > | isaac
| >
| >
| > I wouldn't trust USB 2.0 for anything much anymore with Windows XP around.
|
| do you have any suggestions so i dont have to reformat and lose my data


Most I've heard is if it is an IDE drive in an enclosure, take the drive out and
put it in the computer as a 2nd hard drive. Watch out for static, wear a strap.

The way your machine is right now, you could very easily corrupt your external
drive because of Win XP trying to sense it. Then you may or may not be able to
reformat it. Getting stuck with a drive corrupted during reformatting is a total
loss of your drive, and this problem with the USB 2 can take you to that edge
and right over in less than an hour.

Try the drive on another computer that will recognize it without problem and
transfer data without delayed write failures, and burn the stuff to DVD.

I'm no Linux expert, whatsoever, but does Linux support USB 2 and DVD burning?

I betcha your drive would work on a Win 98SE machine that had a USB 2.0 PCI card
installed and functioning. Finding the right computer to reactivate your drive
is the problem now, since the machine your on has given up the ghost as far as
USB 2 is concerned.

Or put the drive on a shelf until you can deal with the problems when you find a
fix that works for others too. Nobody, or almost nobody, is getting this fixed
past one use of the drive.
 
Not working - is NOT very descriptive!

Does the power light even come on?

Does the drive access light blink as if the drive is trying to be accessed?

Have you changed out the connecting cable (USB)?

Have you looked at the drive in Disk Management (Start | right click "My
Computer" | Manage | Disk Management)? What information can you obtain about
the drive? What options are available if you right click on the drive?

A good question receives better answers!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
Richard said:
Not working - is NOT very descriptive!

Does the power light even come on?

Does the drive access light blink as if the drive is trying to be accessed?

Have you changed out the connecting cable (USB)?

Have you looked at the drive in Disk Management (Start | right click "My
Computer" | Manage | Disk Management)? What information can you obtain about
the drive? What options are available if you right click on the drive?

A good question receives better answers!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
Click to expand...
The light comes on the drive, when plugged in, the device is read and
then a message comes up saying found usb mass storage and then another
message saying an error occured and it was unable to be configured, the
drive is not in management and the usb mass storage driver has a yellow
bubble and a black ! meaning trouble, it is a driver error im pretty
sure thanks for the help
 
The light comes on the drive, when plugged in, the device is read and
then a message comes up saying found usb mass storage and then another
message saying an error occured and it was unable to be configured, the
drive is not in management and the usb mass storage driver has a yellow
bubble and a black ! meaning trouble, it is a driver error im pretty
sure thanks for the help
Click to expand...

it also doesnt work in other computers same error mesage ^@%#^ it im
going to try making it a internal to get the files
 
it also doesnt work in other computers same error mesage ^@%#^ it im
going to try making it a internal to get the files
Click to expand...

ok did the internal thng, gave me an errror message saying secondary
slave error and then booted windows read the drive and said drive is
fine, but drive is not in my computer or manager any help i dotn want
to lose my files.
 
|
| (e-mail address removed) wrote:
| > (e-mail address removed) wrote:
| > > Richard Urban wrote:
| > > > Not working - is NOT very descriptive!
| > > >
| > > > Does the power light even come on?
| > > >
| > > > Does the drive access light blink as if the drive is trying to be
accessed?
| > > >
| > > > Have you changed out the connecting cable (USB)?
| > > >
| > > > Have you looked at the drive in Disk Management (Start | right click "My
| > > > Computer" | Manage | Disk Management)? What information can you obtain
about
| > > > the drive? What options are available if you right click on the drive?
| > > >
| > > > A good question receives better answers!
| > > >
| > > > --
| > > > Regards,
| > > >
| > > > Richard Urban
| > > > Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
| > > > (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
| > > >
| > > > Quote from George Ankner:
| > > > If you knew as much as you think you know,
| > > > You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
| > > >
| > > >
| > > >
| > > > | > > > > hi i recently bought an external hard drive to put my media like
movies
| > > > > on, it was working fine but then it just stopped working, i restarted
| > > > > my pc to test and no drive in my computers, i tried uninstalling the
| > > > > usb drivers but that didnt work either, could it be a cd drive took
the
| > > > > letter it was using. if this is not the problem is there anything that
| > > > > i can do so i wont lose my data. thank you
| > > > >
| > > > > isaac
| > > > >
| > > The light comes on the drive, when plugged in, the device is read and
| > > then a message comes up saying found usb mass storage and then another
| > > message saying an error occured and it was unable to be configured, the
| > > drive is not in management and the usb mass storage driver has a yellow
| > > bubble and a black ! meaning trouble, it is a driver error im pretty
| > > sure thanks for the help
| >
| > it also doesnt work in other computers same error mesage ^@%#^ it im
| > going to try making it a internal to get the files
|
| ok did the internal thng, gave me an errror message saying secondary
| slave error and then booted windows read the drive and said drive is
| fine, but drive is not in my computer or manager any help i dotn want
| to lose my files.


WOW!

Don't be in a rush, this may take several weeks/months to figure this out.
 
Cymbal said:
|
| (e-mail address removed) wrote:
| > (e-mail address removed) wrote:
| > > Richard Urban wrote:
| > > > Not working - is NOT very descriptive!
| > > >
| > > > Does the power light even come on?
| > > >
| > > > Does the drive access light blink as if the drive is trying to be
accessed?
| > > >
| > > > Have you changed out the connecting cable (USB)?
| > > >
| > > > Have you looked at the drive in Disk Management (Start | right click "My
| > > > Computer" | Manage | Disk Management)? What information can you obtain
about
| > > > the drive? What options are available if you right click on the drive?
| > > >
| > > > A good question receives better answers!
| > > >
| > > > --
| > > > Regards,
| > > >
| > > > Richard Urban
| > > > Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
| > > > (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
| > > >
| > > > Quote from George Ankner:
| > > > If you knew as much as you think you know,
| > > > You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
| > > >
| > > >
| > > >
| > > > | > > > > hi i recently bought an external hard drive to put my media like
movies
| > > > > on, it was working fine but then it just stopped working, i restarted
| > > > > my pc to test and no drive in my computers, i tried uninstalling the
| > > > > usb drivers but that didnt work either, could it be a cd drive took
the
| > > > > letter it was using. if this is not the problem is there anything that
| > > > > i can do so i wont lose my data. thank you
| > > > >
| > > > > isaac
| > > > >
| > > The light comes on the drive, when plugged in, the device is read and
| > > then a message comes up saying found usb mass storage and then another
| > > message saying an error occured and it was unable to be configured, the
| > > drive is not in management and the usb mass storage driver has a yellow
| > > bubble and a black ! meaning trouble, it is a driver error im pretty
| > > sure thanks for the help
| >
| > it also doesnt work in other computers same error mesage ^@%#^ it im
| > going to try making it a internal to get the files
|
| ok did the internal thng, gave me an errror message saying secondary
| slave error and then booted windows read the drive and said drive is
| fine, but drive is not in my computer or manager any help i dotn want
| to lose my files.


WOW!

Don't be in a rush, this may take several weeks/months to figure this out.
Click to expand...

ok but i have important docs and files on there like programs for my cs
classes so if i lose these im screwed i just need to know how to get
them on my internal drive, are there any secrets like with an imaginf
program or something
 
|
| Cymbal Man Freq. wrote:
| > | > |
| > | (e-mail address removed) wrote:
| > | > (e-mail address removed) wrote:
| > | > > Richard Urban wrote:
| > | > > > Not working - is NOT very descriptive!
| > | > > >
| > | > > > Does the power light even come on?
| > | > > >
| > | > > > Does the drive access light blink as if the drive is trying to be
| > accessed?
| > | > > >
| > | > > > Have you changed out the connecting cable (USB)?
| > | > > >
| > | > > > Have you looked at the drive in Disk Management (Start | right click
"My
| > | > > > Computer" | Manage | Disk Management)? What information can you
obtain
| > about
| > | > > > the drive? What options are available if you right click on the
drive?
| > | > > >
| > | > > > A good question receives better answers!
| > | > > >
| > | > > > --
| > | > > > Regards,
| > | > > >
| > | > > > Richard Urban
| > | > > > Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
| > | > > > (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
| > | > > >
| > | > > > Quote from George Ankner:
| > | > > > If you knew as much as you think you know,
| > | > > > You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
| > | > > >
| > | > > >
| > | > > >
| > | > > > | > | > > > > hi i recently bought an external hard drive to put my media like
| > movies
| > | > > > > on, it was working fine but then it just stopped working, i
restarted
| > | > > > > my pc to test and no drive in my computers, i tried uninstalling
the
| > | > > > > usb drivers but that didnt work either, could it be a cd drive
took
| > the
| > | > > > > letter it was using. if this is not the problem is there anything
that
| > | > > > > i can do so i wont lose my data. thank you
| > | > > > >
| > | > > > > isaac
| > | > > > >
| > | > > The light comes on the drive, when plugged in, the device is read and
| > | > > then a message comes up saying found usb mass storage and then another
| > | > > message saying an error occured and it was unable to be configured,
the
| > | > > drive is not in management and the usb mass storage driver has a
yellow
| > | > > bubble and a black ! meaning trouble, it is a driver error im pretty
| > | > > sure thanks for the help
| > | >
| > | > it also doesnt work in other computers same error mesage ^@%#^ it im
| > | > going to try making it a internal to get the files
| > |
| > | ok did the internal thng, gave me an errror message saying secondary
| > | slave error and then booted windows read the drive and said drive is
| > | fine, but drive is not in my computer or manager any help i dotn want
| > | to lose my files.
| >
| >
| > WOW!
| >
| > Don't be in a rush, this may take several weeks/months to figure this out.
|
| ok but i have important docs and files on there like programs for my cs
| classes so if i lose these im screwed i just need to know how to get
| them on my internal drive, are there any secrets like with an imaginf
| program or something

Your drive may already be corrupted. But I still stand by my belief that your
drive will work in a Win 98SE machine. I may be wrong, depending on the damage
that becomes evident when you try different tacts.

Also, your drive in the external enclosure may be recognized in a USB 1.1 port
in Win XP, but copying lotsa stuff will be slow, like 100 MB per minute. I'd try
this for now. If your computer is so new there are no USB 1.1 ports, I can't
help with that. USB 1.1 ports still work, it's the USB 2.0 system that gets
screwed by Windows.
Also, check what driver your external had, in Device Manager. ALi drivers are
known to work on some systems, but not on others. NEC drivers may work better on
some systems where other drivers fail. Take screen shots (print screen, paste)
into Word for reference. The drivers picked out are installed by Windows, and
getting Windows to pick out one driver over another is a process that exists,
but it's very painstaking.

<shakes head> I can't believe the slave drive wasn't recognized.
I have an old Gateway (PI, 200 Mhz) that had a manufacturing defect whereby you
either get one hdd with 1 CD drive, or 2 hdd with no cd drive. I'm gonna have to
buy a bigger hdd and copy stuff over to that, take out the two hdd's in there
already, then install a cd burner.
 
And what does disk management say about the drive? Does it even see the
drive?

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
ok did the internal thng, gave me an errror message saying secondary
slave error and then booted windows read the drive and said drive is
fine, but drive is not in my computer or manager any help i dotn want
to lose my files.
Click to expand...
The secondary slave error is a message that something is not connected right, might be as simple as
the jumper setting for Master/Slave on the back of the drive. If there is another thing connected
to the IDE cable be sure to check its jumper settings too.
 
David said:
The secondary slave error is a message that something is not connected right, might be as simple as
the jumper setting for Master/Slave on the back of the drive. If there is another thing connected
to the IDE cable be sure to check its jumper settings too.
Click to expand...

Hey guys found out that the drive is DEAD meaning it came off the
spindle inside, i took it to my buddy at best buy and he showed me it
and said "THAT NOISE AINT GOOD!!" Hard to believe that a man defect
occurs in something that was used for less than two days, it costs alot
to get those files too like $500
 
|| Hey guys found out that the drive is DEAD meaning it came off the
| spindle inside, i took it to my buddy at best buy and he showed me it
| and said "THAT NOISE AINT GOOD!!" Hard to believe that a man defect
| occurs in something that was used for less than two days, it costs alot
| to get those files too like $500

Well that is bizarre. Did someone loosen a screw on you (UPS?)?

Can you get the platters onto another spindle arrangement? (Lookin' for miracles
now)
 
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