Thinkpad T420 does not recognize external drive

For a few years I have been working with an HP Elitebook 8460p to which I connected an external drive, a Western Digital Element 2042. Working just fine. A few months ago I purchased a Thinkpad T420 and I thought that connecting the external drive would be a piece of cake but unfortunately no. So far I have been been enable to do so and I can't figure out why. When booting the drive doesn't show up in the drive's list.
I have been trying just about each port on my Thinkpad and none worked, the actual cable and port seem to work as the light at the back of the drive are on.

I know for a fact that the drive works, I just fired off my HP Elitebook 8460p again to make sure it was indeed still alive and it is fine. I can see it on my HP's boot menu and in the HP's disk management details. But not on my Thinkpad T420.

I used an enclosure with another drive to make sure the USB ports on my Thinkpad T420 are ok and this works fine. I also changed the drive's letters.

If the ports on the Thinkpad is fine if the external drive is fine, why then my external drive is not recognized by my T420 thru the USB port ?

This is the external drive's information as they are shown on the HP

It is probably just not getting a drive letter and you need to give it one are after initializing it. Does disk management see it?
Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows

On the ThinkPad with it plugged in, in the Device Manger do you see any yellow triangles in there? Likewise under devices and printers does it show up in the top row like it does in the hp?

Does the device manager for the hp with drive plugged in show this on the bottom?

EDIT: Also on the thinkpad does it show up in the safely remove hardware item in the system tray?

Can u go into the bios and list which version it is? On the ThinkPad.
BIOS Update Bootable CD for Windows 8 (32-bit, 64-bit), 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), XP - ThinkPad T420, T420i - Lenovo Support (US) there is a chart on this page. To get into it you hit f1 or enter when the pc turns on. Edit: also when you plug in the drive do you hear and feel it get power and spin up?

CaptainWD said:

I would run WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic and see if that WD Elements is recognized and if it passes both the quick and the extended tests. This should render the drive safe to use and exclude it as the potential cause of the problem.

Done, but the drive doesn't show up in the list.

CaptainWD said:

Just to be on the safe side I'd try another USB cable and all the ports on the laptop and see if the drive pops up anywhere.

Done, no change. Keep in mind that both drive and cable are working fine on my HP

CaptainWD said:

Di you have all your latest OS and driver updates?

Yes for the OS and driver but it appears no for the BIOS, see below

CaptainWD said:

I would recommend backing up the data from the drive just to be on the safe side!

Actually it is my drive for doing back up. I had to purchase an enclosure and use and old drive to keep up doing my backup, but still I would like to go to the bottom of this issue.

rvcjew said:

Can u go into the bios and list which version it is? On the ThinkPad.
BIOS Update Bootable CD for Windows 8 (32-bit, 64-bit), 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), XP - ThinkPad T420, T420i - Lenovo Support (US) there is a chart on this page.

Indeed I do not have the latest BIOS but I read the text version of the changes and I don't see any major change between current version 1.48 and mine 1.46

rvcjew said:

Edit: also when you plug in the drive do you hear and feel it get power and spin up?

Yes I do hear the power and the spin up (and also I see the light at the back is on).

Edit: An extra step I tried today was disabling the BIOS Security Chip (as described here) but no change

This is by BIOS:






My current's BIOS settings are as this:

Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.8
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

WakeOnLAN
current setting = ACOnly
possible settings = Disable,ACOnly,ACandBattery,Enable

EthernetLANOptionROM
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

USBBIOSSupport
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

AlwaysOnUSB
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

TrackPoint
current setting = Automatic
possible settings = Disable,Automatic

TouchPad
current setting = Automatic
possible settings = Disable,Automatic

FnCtrlKeySwap
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

FnKeyLock
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

ThinkPadNumLock
current setting = Independent
possible settings = Independent,Synchronized

PowerOnNumLock
current setting = Auto
possible settings = Auto,On,Off

BootDisplayDevice
current setting = LCD
possible settings = LCD,VGA,Digital,Digital1onDock,Digital2onDock

GraphicsDevice
current setting = IntegratedGfx
possible settings = IntegratedGfx,DiscreteGfx,SwitchableGfx

OsDetectionForSwitchableGraphics
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

SpeedStep
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

AdaptiveThermalManagementAC
current setting = MaximizePerformance
possible settings = MaximizePerformance,Balanced

AdaptiveThermalManagementBattery
current setting = Balanced
possible settings = MaximizePerformance,Balanced

CDROMSpeed
current setting = Normal
possible settings = High,Normal,Silent

CPUPowerManagement
current setting = Automatic
possible settings = Disable,Automatic

PCIExpressPowerManagement
current setting = Automatic
possible settings = Disable,Automatic

OnByAcAttach
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

PowerControlBeep
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

LowBatteryAlarm
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

PasswordBeep
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

KeyboardBeep
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

SATAControllerMode
current setting = AHCI
possible settings = Compatibility,AHCI

CoreMultiProcessing
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

HyperThreadingTechnology
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

AMTControl
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

HardwarePasswordManager
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

LockBIOSSetting
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

MinimumPasswordLength
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

BIOSPasswordAtUnattendedBoot
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

BIOSPasswordAtReboot
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

FingerprintPredesktopAuthentication
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

FingerprintReaderPriority
current setting = External
possible settings = External,InternalOnly

FingerprintSecurityMode
current setting = Normal
possible settings = Normal,High

FingerprintPasswordAuthentication
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

SecurityChip
current setting = Active (<---- this is the one I changed to Inactive and Disable)
possible settings = Active,Inactive,Disable

TXTFeature
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

BIOSUpdateByEndUsers
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

FlashOverLAN
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

DataExecutionPrevention
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

VirtualizationTechnology
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

VTdFeature
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

EthernetLANAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

WirelessLANAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

WiMAXAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

WirelessWANAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

BluetoothAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

ModemAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

USBPortAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

IEEE1394Access
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

ExpressCardAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

UltrabayAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

eSATAPortAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

MemoryCardSlotAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

SmartCardSlotAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

IntegratedCameraAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

MicrophoneAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

FingerprintReaderAccess
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

ATpModuleActivation
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable,Disable

ComputraceModuleActivation
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable,Disable

BootMode
current setting = Quick
possible settings = Quick,Diagnostics

StartupOptionKeys
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

BootDeviceListF12Option
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

BootOrder
current setting = HDD0:ATAPICD0:USBHDD:USBFDD:HDD2:HDD1:PCILAN:ATAPICD1:ATAPICD2:HDD3:HDD4
possible settings = HDD0,HDD1,HDD2,HDD3,HDD4,PCILAN,ATAPICD0,ATAPICD1,ATAPICD2,USBFDD,USBCD,USBHDD,OtherHDD,OtherCD,NODE V

NetworkBoot
current setting = PCILAN
possible settings = HDD0,HDD1,HDD2,HDD3,HDD4,PCILAN,ATAPICD0,ATAPICD1,ATAPICD2,USBFDD,USBCD,USBHDD,OtherHDD,OtherCD,NODE V

BootOrderLock
current setting = Disable
possible settings = Disable,Enable

ReserveMemoryForUEFIBootManager
current setting = Enable
possible settings = Disable,Enable