external usb hard drive not recognized by winxp

  • Thread starter Thread starter big bear
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big bear

After an internal hard disk problem, I used an Acom Data 120 GB USB
external hard drive to back up critical data before a clean reinstall of
win XP SP2 on a new internal HD.

Now XP doesn't recognize external USB HD in My computer and I can't
find a way to access the data..... WinXP shows the presence of the USB
HD in the "safely remove hardware" icon on the task bar and when you go
to disk management under My computer right click, it shows the drives,
without a drive letter assigned as 111GB unallocated. When you click on
properties in disk management, it says device working properly

I know the USB drive works since I used it to back up my data before the
reinstall.

Any suggestions would be helpful..........

Big Bear
 
big bear said:
After an internal hard disk problem, I used an Acom Data 120 GB USB
external hard drive to back up critical data before a clean reinstall of
win XP SP2 on a new internal HD.

Now XP doesn't recognize external USB HD in My computer and I can't find
a way to access the data..... WinXP shows the presence of the USB HD in
the "safely remove hardware" icon on the task bar and when you go to disk
management under My computer right click, it shows the drives, without a
drive letter assigned as 111GB unallocated. When you click on properties
in disk management, it says device working properly

I know the USB drive works since I used it to back up my data before the
reinstall.

Any suggestions would be helpful..........

Big Bear
Click to expand...


Big Bear:
Here are some troubleshooting tips re these all-too-common USB
non-recognition problems involving USB external hard drives...
1. Access Disk Management (Start > right-click My Computer > Manage
Computer Management > Disk Management) and see if the USB device is
Click to expand...
listed. If so, but there's no drive letter assigned to the drive, see if you
can assign a drive letter to the device.
2. If the USB device is listed in Disk Management with an assigned drive
letter, right-click on its listing and select Explore from the submenu.
Hopefully, Windows Explorer will open and the device will be listed.
3. Connect the USB device *directly* to a USB port on the computer, not via
a USB hub. Try different USB ports should your computer have multiple ports.
4. Avoid using a USB extension cable.
5. Try alternate powering on/off methods. Try booting up with the device's
power on, then try powering on only *after* the system has booted to a
Desktop.
6. Try a different USB cable.
7. In the USB controllers section of Device Manager, uninstall all the USB
controllers listed and reboot.
8. If the device in question is a HDD which you installed in a USB
enclosure, jumper the USB external HD as Master (or Single if the HD is a
Western Digital disk). A number of users have reported that jumper
configuration corrected their non-recognition problem. In my own experience
it didn't seem to matter how a USB external HD was jumpered. But it may be
worth a try.
9. Note that the drive must be partitioned & formatted before it can be
functional. A "virgin" HDD - unpartitioned/unformatted -- will not be
recognized by the system.
10. If the device in question is a USB external HDD, first check out the
disk with the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic utility. If it checks out
OK, and you can remove the HDD from its enclosure (without voiding any
applicable warranty), do so and install the drive as an internal HDD to
determine if there are problems with the disk.
11. Check with the manufacturer of the USB enclosure to determine if any
firmware updates have been issued.
Anna
 
I've been having the same problem on my external hard drives since the last
big Windows Update. I have had these drives for a long time with no problem
whatsoever. Now, half the time they don't show up, so I have to unplug and
replug them into their USB port and to add insult to injury, I then have to
go back and restore their "Sharing and Security" setting which wastes
several minutes. I think MS stubbed its toe on this last update.
 
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