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Portable Hard Drive problem
Sarn
11-12-2009
I purchased http://www.ebuyer.com/product/177125

and this is my problem:


When I connect the external hard drive into the USB ports, the flash drive gets power (the light is on) and the "Safely remove icon" appears on the app. tray. It doesn't appear in My Computer nor does it appear on Disk Management.

The device shows up in the device manager with no yellow signs. It shows up under Disk Drives and under USB controllers. Under properties, the location of the drive is written as Location 0.

The USB port works on other items (i.e. printer, fan etc, i-pod), but not this hard drive and another hard drive that I have.

I have the Y cable (3 usb's) and have connected the hd via all 3 but it still doesn't make any difference.

Any ideas please?
Trollheart
11-12-2009
What version of Windows are you using? Are you, in fact, using windows or some other OS?
I'd say this may need to be enabled in the BIOS. Did it show up at POST?
Reviews of the drive on that page say that the drive wasn't formatted when bought, so was not picked up by the system. It probably needs to be formatted, which may have to happen outside Windows, in the old DOS box perhaps?

Reboot your PC and see if the drive is shown up on POST, and if so, does it assign it a letter?

TH
zapod
12-12-2009
In addition to what Trollheart said, check the following too:

You say the power light is on - this doesn't necessarily mean the drive is spinning.

To check this, put your ear against the drive as you plug it in - you either hear it spin up or it might make a clicking sound. If it's clicking, don't panic - it's not broken - it's just that it's not getting enough power from the USB.

You have the Y cable - make sure both the computer end USBs are plugged in at the same time to adjacent ports as this boosts the power to the drive (as individual USB ports have limited power capacty).

If that doesn't get the drive spinning, you'll have to get an external power adapter. A multi-adapter will do the trick provided it can be switched to 5 volts and can produce >500mA current. Something like this from Maplins would do the trick.
Sarn
14-12-2009
Originally Posted by Trollheart:
“What version of Windows are you using? Are you, in fact, using windows or some other OS?
I'd say this may need to be enabled in the BIOS. Did it show up at POST?
Reviews of the drive on that page say that the drive wasn't formatted when bought, so was not picked up by the system. It probably needs to be formatted, which may have to happen outside Windows, in the old DOS box perhaps?

Reboot your PC and see if the drive is shown up on POST, and if so, does it assign it a letter?

TH”

Thanks very much for your reply. I'm using Vista.

I'm not very technical, so I don't know what POST means and I don't know how to format it in the old DOS box
Sarn
14-12-2009
Originally Posted by zapod:
“In addition to what Trollheart said, check the following too:

You say the power light is on - this doesn't necessarily mean the drive is spinning.

To check this, put your ear against the drive as you plug it in - you either hear it spin up or it might make a clicking sound. If it's clicking, don't panic - it's not broken - it's just that it's not getting enough power from the USB.

You have the Y cable - make sure both the computer end USBs are plugged in at the same time to adjacent ports as this boosts the power to the drive (as individual USB ports have limited power capacty).

If that doesn't get the drive spinning, you'll have to get an external power adapter. A multi-adapter will do the trick provided it can be switched to 5 volts and can produce >500mA current. Something like this from Maplins would do the trick.”

Thanks for replying. I have plugged the Y cable in the USB's and the drive external drive is spinning (well it feels like it's spinning when I touch it because there's a little vibration).

I find this really strange because all my other gadgets that I use are OK and can pick up a drive, except for portable external hard drives.
Trollheart
15-12-2009
POST stands for Power On Self Test, and it's basically all the info that scrolls by as you boot up, before the Windows splash screen comes on. If you watch that as it goes by, you should see (if you're quick!) if the BIOS has detected your drive. How many is it reporting?

As for formatting in the DOS box, well I don't know how safe it is, but basically you click start/programs/Command prompt (I think it is in Vista, it's that in Win 7 anyway -- should show a sort of black box for the icon). That gives you a small black screen which you can expand or work on in the size it opens. You then need to go to (if it doesn't already open on that) Windows/command --- or soemthing. Sorry, it's ages since I used it.
Then just type format and the drive letter, if one was assigned. If not, try using the next one due (in other words, if you have a C drive and your DVD is D, and you have no other drives, try format e: (you'll need the colon) and hit return. If Windows/DOS sees a drive there it shoudl then start to format it.
But as I say, it's a long long time since I had to do this, so perhaps solicit some further advice before you go down that road.... it can be a tricky one, specially with today's Windows systems.
Whatever you do, DON'T type format c:, as that will try to erase your current hard disk!
Trollheart
15-12-2009
Oh, also, try going into the BIOS (if you're not sure how to do that, it will tell you at startup, usually press F3 or DEL to enter BIOS) and go to the peripherals tab, see if you can add a drive from there. If the BIOS isn't seeing it, Windows has no chance.
Check the BIOS and see how many drives are shown, let us know if you need help.
TH
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