Windows 7: USB SATA Eclosure with SSD installed drive not recognised fully.

Hello Seven forums,

I have been trying for a day or so and have finally run out of ideas as to what to do with the problem below.

I have recently purchased a Samsung 64 bit 470 SSD so I can upgrade my Asus K53SJ (Win 7 Home Premium, 8 Gig RAM. i5 2410 CPU) laptop.

I have purchased a Conrad USB 2 SATA enclosure so I can format the new SSD and then clone the O.S.... then take out the internal 2.5 WD Blue Scorpion 640 SATA drive and pop in the new SSD. (this is just for my O.S and music programs)

When I plug in the USB SATA enclosure with the SSD in... it does not show up, ie windows does not respond in anyway to the new device being plugged in.

But...

When I go to Control panel-Hardware and sound-devices and printers section there is an Icon an present titled USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge. I then click on the Icon and it is shown as disk drive.

I have been to hardware manager and it is shown in the drive section as Samsung 470 series SSD USB Device, also in the usb section as mass storage device.

So Win 7 is kinda not being a good girl and finding it naturally as it should.

Lol, this is driving me crazy, how do I get the drive to be recognised so I can format it and then clone the O.S?



I have tried the following:

A multitude of USB cables, Powered USB Hub, plugged in the drive on diff usb ports on the laptop.

The darn thing is still not reacting in anyway...

I have other usb drives that I use for all my samples and data ... these all work without any problems as soon as I plug them in.

I have also got out my old XP laptop and when I plugged in the SSD in the enclosure the machine it installed all the drivers right from the bat. But also I could not find it in the my computer section just the internal drive and dvd drive.

The darn thing was also listed in the hardware manager just like my newer Asus.

Is the usb sata enclosure faulty? Or have I lost the plot. LOL.

I would be grateful if you could suggest something so I can get the pesky little thing to work.

Thanks in advance.

Mr Bass.

Try this, The drive needs to be initalized and formatted. Right click on computer, select manage, in the left column select disk management select your SSD, it probably will not show up top but will below, You should bet a message about initalizing the drive. I am assuming this is a new drive. Formatting will erase all data on it. After that process is complete and a drive letter assigned, it will show upp in computer(windows explorer). See if that works.

EDIT: You may find this tutorial intresting. Transferring the OS to SSD. You may have a problem with space and depending on what program you do the clone with, Alignment may be an issue. The best program to use sis Paragon Migrate. Unfortunately it is not free, $19.95, but it works perfect.

Thanks essenbe.

I feel so silly it was something so simple as that. I have assigned it and it now shows.


Once more thanks your help, I'm cloning the O.S now and I have Norton Ghost that came with the SSD as it was a special upgrade kit.

Take care now.

Mr Bass

Mr. Bass, don't feel silly. It is just one of the many things if you have never had to do it, you can't know you're supposed to. I had to ask the first time I did it, but I'm glad it helped.

Hi essenbe, well I think I did that procedure many, many years ago.

Once When I built my own external external usb drives as they where very expensive to buy off the shelf. In hindsight it seems logical to do that.. but since then I had forgotten the process, I was frantically running around and sometimes you forget the very basics.

Have a great week and once more thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

it really makes sense to build your own now. I have a Thermaltake Black X, and I love it. I can change drives in 30 seconds. Mine is USB and eSATA, but you can get them in any flavor you like. We have a thread here about it. Build your own external hard drive. You may find it intresting.

Im having the same problem as OP. I am trying to salvage data off of a hard drive with a usb cable. How can I do this without blanking it out?

Perhaps Go to disk management, in the lower portion find your hard drive. Right click it, select 'change drive letter or path', click add and give it a drive letter. If this works, it should show up in windows explorer. When you right click it, if it wants to format the drive, do not do it as you will lose all of your data.

Hi Seven Forum,

well the USB external issue is solved, thanks for the pointer once more. It was was of those palm to face things when I realised I had missed this vital step.

So I went to disk management and initialised the ssd, this process finally gives it a drive letter. So it was showing up... great stuff.

The green power usb light and red activity led was working on the enclosure.

The next task was to clone the O.S and programs using the recommended software Paragon Migrate OS to SSD. This worked like a charm ... it was off doing its thing, when windows message box popped saying something about the drive needed to be formatted. This was bizarre as it had been formatted, so I ignored the message and let the Paragon continue with its task.

I let the migration software use the whole of the 60 gig ssd for my O.S and music programs as I would not be putting any data on the drive appart from the things the music apps needed to run etc. (I have copious external USB drives for my samples, music files etc that I just plug in when I need)

The whole process of cloning was done in about 45 minutes or something like that. Then came the task of taking out the 3 month old WD Scorpion Blue and replacing it with the new SSD.

This is when I thought to myself... perhaps I should stay logged into the seven forums on the dedicated net machine next door to my studio.. like, if the laptop decides to blow up or something (joking... but you never know ...) so I can post another scrambled frantic newbie message about..... "help my laptop has just taken off and flown out the apartment".

So it was time to turn on the pimped up notebook. I was worried.. lol

Boot time was under ten seconds including splash screen and no tweaks. Oh my Lord. Windows 7 now has a real snap to it, for example I opened up Native Instruments Traktor Pro 2, this was normally a bit sluggish to open up... but now it was so responsive it was like reacting quicker than thought... as soon as you clicked the mouse it reacted... very strange type of quickness.... Jedi stuff! LOL.

Quotes from the Dune movie spring to mind as well.

The whole system is so quick and responsive it really is worth the effort to invest in a SSD and mess about with enclosures and so on to clone.

I placed the old internal HD into the SATA enclosure and that was working fine as well, no problems. So it was a good early morning in Berlin 3.00 AM.. I finished with a huge grim on my face.

Samsung 470 Series 64 gig SSD drive 99 Euro.
Conrad USB 2.0 SATA enclosure 8 Euro.
Cream for when I slapped myself in the face with my palm 2 Euro.
Help from forum members priceless.

Have a good week all.

Mr. Bass

Hello Mr. Bass, thanks for the feedback, it really helps and too many don't do it. I am very happy the transfer went well for you and welcome to the SSD world. There is no lack of information on SSDs at SevenForums, if you ever need it. There are also a multitude of SSD experts here. I always say that an SSD is the most noticable upgrade a person can do for a computer. The two most common quotes from people who have gone to SSDs are. 'Why did I wait so long" and "I'll never have another computer without one." Thanks again for the feedback and good luck to you. If we can help, we'll be right here.