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Windows 7 - Windows 7 doesn't recognize my external hard drive |
07-30-2010
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#1 | | |
Windows 7 doesn't recognize my external hard drive I"ve had a Simpletech external hard drive for a few years now, and it's worked great on every computer that's had Windows XP (it's a plug and play). However, I just bought a new laptop with Windows 7, and when I tried to plug it in to the USB port on it, it just told me "USB device not recognized." The power light comes on, too. This is a brand new computer, so I'm not taking it apart to reassemble anything, and the external HD still works fine on my XP computers, so I know it has to be something about Windows 7 it doesn't like.
Help!
| My System Specs | | |
07-30-2010
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#2 | | |
Check your device manager and make sure that your USB drivers are up to date... | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number HP Pavillion 601 OS Windows 7 Ultimate CPU Intel P4 3.4Ghz Dual Processor Motherboard Austek Memory 2GB Graphics Card Integrated 82915G Chipset 128MB Sound Card Intel HD integtrated Monitor(s) Displays HP2009m 20' HD Wide Screen Screen Resolution 1600x900 Hard Drives WD 250GB WD 500GB External Internet Speed 30mb |
07-30-2010
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#4 | | Windows 7 Ult x64 - SP1/ Windows 8 CP x64 |
Does it show up in Disk Management?
Is the external IDE or SATA?
Have you tried booting with the external plugged in?
Can you give us some specs on your new laptop? | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number 76~1.4 OS Windows 7 Ult x64 - SP1/ Windows 8 CP x64 CPU Intel Core i5-750 3.84GHz Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P, SATA 6Gb/s USB 3, f14 Memory 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1600 Corsair Vengeance CL8 1.5v Graphics Card XFX HD 5770 1GB DDR5 Sound Card Realtek HD Audio ALC889 Integrated Chip Monitor(s) Displays 22" LCD Dell Screen Resolution 1680x1050 Keyboard Logitech Wave Mouse CM Sentinel PSU Corsair HX650W Case Cooler Master Storm Scout Cooling Corsair H80 2x12cm Noctua NF P12 , 2x14cm case fans Hard Drives Intel X25 M 120GB SSD,
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Internet Speed Dismal Other Info eSATA ports,
External eSATA Seagate 500GB SATA2 7200rpm,
External USB WD 500GB |
07-30-2010
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#5 | | |
Does it show up in Disk Management?
Is the external IDE or SATA?
Have you tried booting with the external plugged in?
Can you give us some specs on your new laptop?
It doesn't show up anywhere. I don't know if it's IDE or SATA. I've rebooted with it plugged in - no difference. My new laptop is what you'd expect with a new one - Windows 7, lots of space, several USB ports. Can you be specific about what specs you want? | My System Specs | | |
07-30-2010
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#6 | | MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit |
Use Speccy and complete your System Spec info. SPECCY- System Information Tool http://www.piriform.com/speccy
Operating System, CPU and Temp, Ram, Motherboard, Graphics, Hard Drives, Optical Drives, Audio, Peripherals, Network info.
Simply put—this is the best and it’s free! | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Toshiba Satellite L305D laptop OS MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit CPU AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-64, 2100 Mhz, 2 Cores Motherboard TOSHIBA Portable PC (Socket M2/S1G1) Memory 4.0GB (2x2GB) DDR2 @ 333MHz 5-5-5-15 Graphics Card ATI Radeon 3100 Graphics (Toshiba) Sound Card Realtek High Definition Audio Monitor(s) Displays Generic PnP Monitor @ 1280x800 Screen Resolution 1280 x 800 Keyboard standard PS/2 Keyboard Mouse HP Wireless Optical Mobile Mouse Model FHA-3410 Hard Drives 125.03GB Corsair CSSD-V128GB2 ATA Device (IDE)
Depending upon testing, organized as 1,2, or 3 partitions with/without a 100mb system partition at the front. Internet Speed What the local pub, local coffee shop offers. Other Info Optical Drives HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T50N ATA Device
Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad
Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter
Also have an Asus ha1002xp netbook with Win 7 Ultimate installed. |
07-31-2010
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#7 | | |

Quote: Originally Posted by karlsnooks Use Speccy and complete your System Spec info. SPECCY- System Information Tool http://www.piriform.com/speccy
Operating System, CPU and Temp, Ram, Motherboard, Graphics, Hard Drives, Optical Drives, Audio, Peripherals, Network info.
Simply put—this is the best and it’s free! I have no idea what you're asking. Are you trying to sell me something? | My System Specs | | |
07-31-2010
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#8 | | Windows 7 Ult x64 - SP1/ Windows 8 CP x64 |
Click the link posted by karlsnooks, download the program, it's free.
Run it, it will tell you all of your computers specs.
In the lower left corner of any of your posts click the "My System Specs", then click "Update your System Specs".
Fill in all the info you can, this will help us to get a resolution to your problem. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number 76~1.4 OS Windows 7 Ult x64 - SP1/ Windows 8 CP x64 CPU Intel Core i5-750 3.84GHz Motherboard Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P, SATA 6Gb/s USB 3, f14 Memory 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1600 Corsair Vengeance CL8 1.5v Graphics Card XFX HD 5770 1GB DDR5 Sound Card Realtek HD Audio ALC889 Integrated Chip Monitor(s) Displays 22" LCD Dell Screen Resolution 1680x1050 Keyboard Logitech Wave Mouse CM Sentinel PSU Corsair HX650W Case Cooler Master Storm Scout Cooling Corsair H80 2x12cm Noctua NF P12 , 2x14cm case fans Hard Drives Intel X25 M 120GB SSD,
Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB cache, Internet Speed Dismal Other Info eSATA ports,
External eSATA Seagate 500GB SATA2 7200rpm,
External USB WD 500GB |
07-31-2010
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#9 | | |
Ok, here's the specs on my new computer. I didn't know how to do a copy and paste, so it's here as an attachment. Thanks. | My System Specs | | |
07-31-2010
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#10 | | Win7 Pro 32-bit, Win7 Home 32-bit |
Don't know if this will help ... but I routinely use an external drive adapter to plugin drives for reformatting, repartitioning, and other such stuff. When I do that, the drive does NOT appear in the drive list.
What I have to do is the following:
1) Go into Disk Management
2) Scroll down the page until I see the entry for the drive -- usuall near the bottom
3) Notice that it says "Offline"
4) Right-click and select "Online"
After that, the drive is assigned a letter and it then appears both in the drive list in my file manager and is available for use.
I think that, sometimes, drives attached via USB have to be manually "mounted" in this manner.
Try this and see if it works. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom OS Win7 Pro 32-bit, Win7 Home 32-bit CPU AMD 4400/Intel 915 Motherboard ASUS/Intel Memory 2GB DDR 400 Graphics Card ATI X1600/Builtin Intel 915 Sound Card Bluegear B-Enspirer/Builtin sound Monitor(s) Displays Samsung 24" widescreen Screen Resolution 1920x1200/1024 x 768 Windows 7 doesn't recognize my external hard drive problems? All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:17 AM. |  |