Just reinstalled XP, but now external hard drive not working!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bente
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Bente

Hi,

I just formatted my PC today and reinstalled Win XP Pro. I hooked up my ext.
hard drive and turned it on. It gave the 'remove hardware safely' thing, it
shows up as usb device for mass storage, but not in Disk Management. I'm
getting really frustrated since I put everything I wanted to save on this
thing.. (So formatting isn't an option) And the weird part is.. I also have a
drive of 250GB and that one worked like a charm :S

It's an LaCie Hard Drive, 1TB.

Please help me :S
 
Bente said:
Hi,

I just formatted my PC today and reinstalled Win XP Pro. I hooked
up my ext. hard drive and turned it on. It gave the 'remove
hardware safely' thing, it shows up as usb device for mass
storage, but not in Disk Management. I'm getting really frustrated
since I put everything I wanted to save on this thing.. (So
formatting isn't an option) And the weird part is.. I also have a
drive of 250GB and that one worked like a charm :S

It's an LaCie Hard Drive, 1TB.

Please help me :S
Click to expand...

Did you install the hardware drivers (particularly the motherboard chipset
drivers) after the clean install of Windows XP?
 
Bente said:
Yeah I did, I installed everything possible from my motherboard
drivers-cd.
Click to expand...

Recommendation: Visit the hardware manufacturer's web pages to download the
latest drivers.
 
I just did, and didn't get me anywhere. I installed all the updated and extra
drivers possible. I uninstalled the usb thing in hardware manager, and
plugged it in. Got the same result as before. Any other ideas? (A)
 
Ok somehow I got it in the thing where I could assign a letter to it (I made
it I: ) BUT I now only have the option to format it :S I realllyy don't want
to! I have everything on there.. (My WinXP, Office2007 backups and
everything.. My life is on there.. ) Any ideas how to access it without
formatting?? Thnx in advance
 
Bente said:
Ok somehow I got it in the thing where I could assign a letter to it (I made
it I: ) BUT I now only have the option to format it :S I realllyy don't want
to! I have everything on there.. (My WinXP, Office2007 backups and
everything.. My life is on there.. ) Any ideas how to access it without
formatting?? Thnx in advance
Click to expand...

Follow JS's suggestion. It is better unless one wants to do some
editing of the Windows Registry, essentially removing the enumeration
information for the LaCie external drive and hoping that Windows is
able to re-detect its properties.

Also, remember the fact that "having a backup" implies that there
are 2 copies of the information...an original and a copy. If there
is just one copy, then there is no backup and all can be lost in an
unexpected moment.
 
That doensn't work. I tried it on my laptop, and it asks the same thing.
"This medium hasn't been formatted. Do you want to format now? [Yes] [No].
 
Ok that last one didn't seem to work.. But the thing is, I put all of my
stuff on the drive since i was completely formatting my pc and doing a clean
xp install. So I really need the stuff that's on there..
 
Bente said:
That doensn't work. I tried it on my laptop, and it asks the same
thing. "This medium hasn't been formatted. Do you want to format
now? [Yes] [No].
Click to expand...
Try another PC and see if you can gain access.
Click to expand...

If it is not accessible on multiple PCs - that is a very bad sign.
 
Bente said:
Ok that last one didn't seem to work.. But the thing is, I put all of my
stuff on the drive since i was completely formatting my pc and doing a clean
xp install. So I really need the stuff that's on there..
Click to expand...

If it was my drive, I would probably remove it from the enclosure, and
connect it directly to the computer. One thing that will improve, is the
ability for the raw disk drive manufacturer's test utility, to be able to
test the drive, and display whether it is damaged or not. Each disk
manufacturer (making the part inside the enclosure), has test utilities.
They access things, like the SMART data, as well as trying other tests
on the drive mechanism. SMART is a feature on drives, uses to test and
rate their performance state (good, or about to die).

For a free utility, to look at partition information, you can try Testdisk.
But such a utility cannot do anything, if it cannot see the drive, or access
the drive.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

In the worst case, you may need data recovery, which could cost
$500 to $1000. And in the interim, be careful not to do anything
to the drive, that will make matters worse.

Since the drive does not show up, when plugged into a second computer,
that increases the odds that the enclosure USB chip or the hard drive
inside the enclosure, or the power supply feeding the external enclosure,
are having problems.

Paul
 
Well I was able to assign a letter to it. I made it an (I:) but now i only
have the option to format the drive, which I don't want to. Is it possible
for a company to retract the stuff that's on the drive? That I can get
someone to open the thing up and save what's on it?
 
Bente said:
Well I was able to assign a letter to it. I made it an (I:) but now
i only have the option to format the drive, which I don't want to.
Is it possible for a company to retract the stuff that's on the
drive? That I can get someone to open the thing up and save what's
on it?
Click to expand...

You can do it or you can get someone who knows about computers to take it
out of the case and put it in a computer or connect it to a different
external controller (or both...)

A company that recovers stuff from failed/erased drives might charge you far
more than the data is actually worth. Your best bet is putting the actual
drive in a different enclosure/computer and reading the data natively or
with recovery tools (many of which are free.)
 
Bente said:
Well I was able to assign a letter to it. I made it an (I:) but now i only
have the option to format the drive, which I don't want to. Is it possible
for a company to retract the stuff that's on the drive? That I can get
someone to open the thing up and save what's on it?
Click to expand...

Yes, there are companies that will perform "Data Recovery". This
can range from making simple repairs to the disk structure (using a
Windows utility), all the way to opening up the interior of the disk
drive, and replacing the head assembly. The procedure becomes more
expensive, if they have to open up the drive in a clean room. There
is no charge generally speaking, if no data is recovered.

http://www.seagateservices.com/data-recovery/index.html

Paul
 
Google for data recovery utilities.
TYpically these are not free, but have free demo versions
that can at least tell you whether the disk may be recovered.

Regards,
--PA
 
Bente said:
Well I was able to assign a letter to it. I made it an (I:) but now i only
have the option to format the drive, which I don't want to. Is it possible
for a company to retract the stuff that's on the drive? That I can get
someone to open the thing up and save what's on it?

:
Click to expand...

Is this the LaCie Little Big Disk Quadra 1 TB? That is the only 1 TB
external drive I see on the LaCie USA site. If so, it has 2 x 500 MB
SATA drives in a RAID 0 configuration. With RAID 0 an error on
one drive will destroy the data integrity of the entire array. In the specs,
the drive has USB, eSATA, and Firewire 400 & 800. It could just be
a problem with the external controller, but the problem is that, with
RAID 0 I don't know if you can just plug them into a PC and have an
operational array even if the drives are okay.
 
No it's not that one, I'm from Europe :) But I think I'll just call some
company on monday.. Because I need it to work.. And I'm not a total idiot but
I'd rather have a specialist look at this problem.. Thnx anyways.. I'll post
how it ends though!

Thanks everybody for the help! I appreciate it a lot!
 
Try this:

Unplug your drive, then temporarily display the ‘Ghost‘ devices by clicking
Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt.

Now type ‘set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1’ (not the quotes but the
space) and press Enter.
Now type ‘start devmgmt.msc’ (not the quotes but the space) and press Enter.
In Device Manager, click View > Show hidden devices.

By expanding a category, e.g. Disk drives or USB, then right-clicking your
Lacie drive you can remove it by clicking uninstall. Be aware that an
important device like a USB modem or a printer that is not currently plugged
in, can be accidentally uninstalled.

Once you have finished with Device Manager, close the Command Prompt by
typing Exit and pressing Enter.

Plug in the drive, is it working?

If not, go to Disk Management, right-click the ‘missing’ drive graphic icon
and change the drive letter to one nearer the end of the alphabet.
 
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