External Hard Drive Not Detected

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  1. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #11

    ezura,
    Since there are several people with several different problems, posting a new thread giving your problem and your system specs will help us keep people and problem together.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 40
    win 7 Pro - 64 bit
       #12

    Update on External Drive Problem


    My problem with external drives appears to be solved. ASRock released an updated BIOS that now allows me to see all external drives. My MB is the ASRock X58 Extreme and the updated BIOS is Version 1.90.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #13

    toglenn,
    glad to hear problem is solved and many thanks for passing on the solution.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1
    7
       #14

    RE: Fixed Mine...


    THANK YOU, Thank You, thank you, eBert.

    I spent almost a week pulling my few hairs left out of my head over this issue.

    You were SPOT ON!!! I followed your steps and bata bing-bata boom it was fixed.
    I did have to disignate the drive letters to for my 3 HHD's to remain on the system after a reboot. (J) (K) (L) Works like a champ!!! I have no problems when these WD hard drive go into standby and power down, Comes right back up when I need to read or write data. I have 3 WD 1.5 TB My Book Home Editions with USB/Firewire/eSata ports. Thank you again eBert.

    Respectfully,

    ]: ) Tennasota


    ebert said:
    I had this same issue and it was driving me crazy!! I checked everything I could think of!! Until I thought I would check it out in the computer management..
    Go to:
    Control Panel
    Admin tools
    Computer management
    Disk management
    And sure enough there were my drives that I couldn't access. I had to right click on the drive header and select 'Online'
    And now sure enough I see all my drives in the 'Computer'
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3
    Windows 7
       #15

    Another possible "simple" solution


    It may be the sequence in which you power up the USB device and connect it to the computer, and a power management setting in Device Manager. This applies to devices that are self-powered, although the power management setting might more aptly apply to port-powered devices.

    I had 2 self-powered devices that wouldn't detect in Windows 7 (Seagate FreeAgent pro external USB drive and anything connected via a Dynex 7 port USB hub) -- no ding for USB detection, nothing in device manager or anywhere else.

    Here's what didn't work for me, but took a lot of time with countless reboots. Used Device Manager to update drivers (not needed according to OS) and to uninstall and redetect USB host controllers and Root Hubs. I unplugged and replugged USB connectors to all the computer's USB ports. I tried registry hacks. Zippo, nada.

    Pinultimate thing I did was disable power management on the USB Root Hubs (properties in Device Manager), which may help. Last thing (always the last thing, doh) I started to play with the power connection to the devices. They had always been powered up (at least they glowed with a power light), but apparently early on I connected them to the computer (with the computer on) before powering up the device. As such, they got into the mode of pulling power from the USB port (not enough juice for these puppies), even after I connected them to external power. I had to reset them by disconnecting them from the computer and power. Let them sit for several seconds, then power them up, sit for another few seconds and connect to the computer. Voila -- case solved. I could reproduce the problem by just reversing the sequence.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 2
    Windows 7
       #16

    jorikirk said:
    It may be the sequence in which you power up the USB device and connect it to the computer, and a power management setting in Device Manager. This applies to devices that are self-powered, although the power management setting might more aptly apply to port-powered devices.

    I had 2 self-powered devices that wouldn't detect in Windows 7 (Seagate FreeAgent pro external USB drive and anything connected via a Dynex 7 port USB hub) -- no ding for USB detection, nothing in device manager or anywhere else.

    Here's what didn't work for me, but took a lot of time with countless reboots. Used Device Manager to update drivers (not needed according to OS) and to uninstall and redetect USB host controllers and Root Hubs. I unplugged and replugged USB connectors to all the computer's USB ports. I tried registry hacks. Zippo, nada.

    Pinultimate thing I did was disable power management on the USB Root Hubs (properties in Device Manager), which may help. Last thing (always the last thing, doh) I started to play with the power connection to the devices. They had always been powered up (at least they glowed with a power light), but apparently early on I connected them to the computer (with the computer on) before powering up the device. As such, they got into the mode of pulling power from the USB port (not enough juice for these puppies), even after I connected them to external power. I had to reset them by disconnecting them from the computer and power. Let them sit for several seconds, then power them up, sit for another few seconds and connect to the computer. Voila -- case solved. I could reproduce the problem by just reversing the sequence.
    I made an account JUST so I can tell you how MUCH I appreciate your post. Yes, it IS a simple solution and something very trivial, and yet, it fixed my problem! I run Windows 7 x64 bit and my WD 1.5 TB Elements external hard drive now works because of a simple power issue. THANK YOU SO MUCH
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 3
    Windows 7
       #17

    So glad it solved your issue. You just made my day, knowing I helped someone by sharing.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 2
    Windows 7
       #18

    ^ Haha well if I didn't see your post I would've had to return it for a replacement or looked for another harddrive at a high price because I got mine on sale. You definitely made my day
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 1
    Windows 7 Starter
       #19

    This worked -- a small difference in Win 7 Starter


    ebert said:
    I had this same issue and it was driving me crazy!! I checked everything I could think of!! Until I thought I would check it out in the computer management..
    Go to:
    Control Panel
    Admin tools
    Computer management
    Disk management
    And sure enough there were my drives that I couldn't access. I had to right click on the drive header and select 'Online'
    And now sure enough I see all my drives in the 'Computer'
    THANK YOU! Note that in Windows 7 Starter, the command in disk management changes to:
    Assign/Change Drive letter

    After doing this, it found the original names and data of my existing partitions.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1
    Win7 x64 Pro
       #20

    jorikirk said:
    It may be the sequence in which you power up the USB device and connect it to the computer, and a power management setting in Device Manager. This applies to devices that are self-powered, although the power management setting might more aptly apply to port-powered devices.
    Thanks for your tip, I fortunatelly spend with this trouble ony few hours, but still it maked me slighly nervous while upgrading to new approach with Win7 x64 on internal SSD and more virtualboxed images on external disks. Now it seems that Win7 needs to force rescan SOME HUBs with attached drives. I really dont know if such rescan is done after devicemanager view "by connection", which I used to look for things, but my case is described here at MS answers too:
    USB drive not accessible

    I simply repluged nearest hub uplink and drive was detected. In XP, all was ok for years ...
    But still it does not work after reboot, so I ended with laptop "battery removal" dance too,
    as I noted here too:
    External (USB 2.0) hard drive shuts down USB port and is not recognized until port is disabled and then re-enabled

    Thanks again a LOT! Hope my survey helps to someone too.
    Falken
    Last edited by falken; 17 Jul 2010 at 09:50.
      My Computer


 
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