External usb hd not recognized

phenix · 07 Dec 2012

Windows 7 pro won't recognize my external HD.
I have 2 external HDs which I rotate each month.
The computer as few days ago recognized the external
HD. When I use the 2nd External HD the computer
refuses to recognize it. The hds are used in a
Thermaltake Black X docker.
Device manager says the device is working properly
and it shows the external device. Powering down and
all the other tecks have no effect on the device
showing up in WE. Windows says that I have the latest
driver. I have been using this procedure for the last 2
years with success. The problem might have somthing
to do with Windows plug and play, which is not
showing anymore.
Hope I put this in the correct forum.

essenbe · 07 Dec 2012

If I understand you correctly, the drive is shown in device manager. Try going to Disk Management and see if it shows there. If it does, right click the drive, select 'change drive letter or path', next screen select add, give it a drive letter from the dropdown menu. If it wants to initialize and format the drive, do not do it, you will lose all data on the drive. To get to disk management, right click computer, select manage, then in the left column select disk management.

Also, on external devices, I give them drive letters high in the alphabet such as X or Y. That way Windows is not likely to assign another device that letter.

phenix · 07 Dec 2012

Thank you Essenbe for taking your time to respond.

First let me elaborate a bit on my system.
Windows 7 pro 64-bit but am having the same problem
on my other computer using windows 7 pro 32-bit.
My computer is one of those HP computers with the mess of the OS.
The other computer is a Dell t3400.
Here is a list of what's shown in Disk Management:
disk 0 c: OS, J: one of my partitions, K: one of my partitions,
d: hp recovery
disk1 G: no media
disk2 H: no media
disk3 I: no media
disk4 L: no media
cd-rom E:
I was afraid to delete any of this. I use the external HD
and Clonzeilla-Live for my backups.
As you can see there is no external usb drive shown.

essenbe · 07 Dec 2012

When you plug the drive in, can you hear the drive spin up? This may sound simple, but are you sure the drive is seated in the dock correctly? I use the same dock and have inserted it not completely seated and wondered why it was not working.

phenix · 07 Dec 2012

Problem solved.
On my other 32-bit puter i went into Minitool wizard and my missing
HD showed there. It was missing a drive letter. Changed that to "Z"
and was able to backup that computer.
So the docker and hd are working.

Downloaded the 64-bit Minitool wizard. Did not have to run it. The
drive letter just showed and I was able to backup to the external HD.
Have NO idea why. Theory, there are 4 removable disks showing in
WE/computer. So I thought put in my usb stick and see what happens.
Voila, another removable drive was added. Wonder if using the same
port for both drives caused the problem.
Sure hate fixing something and can't find the cause of the problem.
Thanks for your help.