Window 7 is Not Picking HDD as USB

imran1102 · 17 Apr 2010

Hello SevenForums Experts
I have Problem in connecting HDD as a USB. As this is common Problem and i have read Many Threads/Posts about it on SevenForums, but unfortunately i got nothing Helpful.

My Problem is that I connect HDD as a USB for the very first time and it was working very fine and i also backup some of my Important Data on it. But when i Plug Out USB Cable With out "Safely Remove" then again i connect HDD as USB and want to Browse Partitions but this time window was not picking it up.
BTW it is showing it in "Device Manager" and also in "Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management(Local)

When I Click On Initialize

Is it Because of "Un-Safely remove" Because HDD is working on other windows (My Friends Window XP)

I have also Uninstalled/Deleted HDD in "Device Manager" and rebooted PC but Nothing Changed
After reboot it says "Drive Software Installed properly Now ready to Use". But I cann't see Drive's Partitions in Explorer.

{Window 7}
{HDD Maxtor 20GB}

not so gray matter · 17 Apr 2010

According to that screenshot, Disk 1 (Not Disk 0) isn't partitioned. You need use a software such as Partition Wizard to create a partition or two on the drive itself and then it'll load.

BTW, Most of the times that you disconnect the HDD without safely removing it, it will lose whatever data was transmitted to it since it was connected.

imran1102 · 17 Apr 2010

notsograymatter said:

According to that screenshot, Disk 1 (Not Disk 0) isn't partitioned. You need use a software such as Partition Wizard to create a partition or two on the drive itself and then it'll load.

BTW, Most of the times that you disconnect the HDD without safely removing it, it will lose whatever data was transmitted to it since it was connected.

You are Telling that The area i highlighted (19 GB UnAllocated Space) is Not Partitioned. No man i have three Partitions in that HDD and very important data on it. You Scared Me.

Is there any other way Like deleting Drive so it reinstall it.... or something in Registry, System32 or Etc. Please Tell Me i have VVVVV.Important Data on It...

imran1102 · 17 Apr 2010

Anybody Please Reply...

not so gray matter · 17 Apr 2010

Disk 0 is your main disk, the one with C:\ which has your system on it. According to that screenshot it has 4 partitions. You're saying that those are supposed to be there and there are three extra partitions that should be on Disk 0 correct?

My best advice would be to disconnect the USB disk, make sure your main hard disk is working properly and then backup your data, format & partition the USB disk on another computer using NTFS.

It would help alot if you explained what your hard drives should look like.

imran1102 · 17 Apr 2010

notsograymatter said:

Disk 0 is your main disk, the one with C:\ which has your system on it. According to that screenshot it has 4 partitions. If you want to join the three partitions that aren't C:\ together, use a program like Partition Wizard to do so. However, make sure you backup your files before hand.

Disk 1 shows as unpartitioned. In order for this to work you need to partition the drive.

If you're trying to say that all four of those partitions are the same disk and C: is it's own disk then you have some serious problems. My best advice would be to disconnect the USB disk, make sure your main hard disk is workly properly and then format & partition the USB disk on another computer using NTFS.

MR. notsograymatter I Already Mentioned that Disk 1 (Not Disk 0) has Already 3 partitions and i connect it as a USB. Tell me why its not showing its partitions like before. Please Also tell me how to Fix this Problem. I don't think that i didn't provide Much information to understand my Problem. Please Help.

not so gray matter · 17 Apr 2010

Which disk is your boot disk?
It is Disk 0 w/ 4 different partitions (C-F)

Or is it Disk 0 which should have 1 partition?

In other words should it look like this?

Window 7 is Not Picking HDD as USB-hdds.png

Or should your main disk have four partitions on it?

If you look at my snapshot of diskmanagement, you can see what healthy partitions look like, I have two partitions on my main drive, C:\ and F:\ those are both boot partitions. Then, each external drive has it's own partitions on their own disk.

What you need to do, if I've understood you correctly, is take your external hard drive to another computer, backup your data and then completely format the disk. When you repartition it, make sure you use NTFS formatting. Once you've done that it should show up correctly on it's own disk in disk management.

Window 7 is Not Picking HDD as USB-hdds2.png

imran1102 · 17 Apr 2010

Then Why it shows 3 Drives on other Computers. Which have Xp Installed. I am Talking about Disk 1 ( the one which is highlighted Red)

not so gray matter · 17 Apr 2010

Sorry, i was confused, I thought the three partitions on disk 0 were your usb disk showing up incorrectly, didn't realize the three extra partitions on your main disk and the three partitions on your other disk are different.

Anyway, I don't know why, but for some reason it's not showing up. The easiest solution is to backup all of the data and then reformat the drive. Once you've reformatted it, plug it into your Win7 computer to be sure it shows up. If it does, you can put the data back on and transfer it.

EDIT:
Keep in mind that some external hard drives don't work in Windows 7, some do. Most of them do, but on occasion they don't.

imran1102 · 18 Apr 2010

I am Trying To install window xp on this drive individually. but Message Appears that there is no HDD to install window... Now is this a bad sector or if it is then how to fix it. Please Help.