External HardDisk help needed

[ganqile]

Help, my pc doesn't detect my external harddisk. It was working fine all the time until I tried to plugin and open the files, My PC didn't detect it. Its not working on my laptop too. It doesn't appear in Disk management too. My harddisk led light are showing up and I can still hear the sound come out of my speaker everytime i plugin. Please help as all my important stuffs are inside.

 

[dsperber]

Just to try something else, you might use Partition Wizard standalone bootable CD. Just curious as to whether or not the drive is visible outside of Win7 itself.

To be honest, I actually don't know if it will be usable on the external USB drive (assuming it could be seen), or whether you must use the Win7 version while under Win7 in order to see USB-connected drives. I can't find specifics on what PW standalone can see. And of course, if Win7 doesn't see the drive I doubt that PW running under Win7 would show it. That's why I'm curious about the PW standalone, if it really does support external USB-connected drives.

But, worth a try. If the drive IS visible to PW standalone, you can use it's "explore partition" operation to at least confirm that all of your data is still there, at least that the folder/file structure is unharmed.

I see you said that it's not visible any longer to both your desktop and your laptop, so that's certainly an ominous sign. But if the "new hardware detected" sound is coming from both machines, that's perhaps an encouraging sign.

Have you called the drive's manufacturer fro possible support from them?

 

[ganqile]

No, I haven't call them yet. How do I use the program you suggested?

 

[dsperber]

How do I use the program you suggested?

Download both the Win7/XP version as well as the standalone boot CD version.

Win7/XP version of Partition Home Edition v5.2 can be downloaded from this page. Install it, for future use. It's a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED utility for all hard drive and partitioning needs. Anything you can do with DISKMGMT you can do with PW... AND LOTS MORE, and really more intuitively and easily.

Standalone boot CD version of the program can be downloaded from this link. Save the downloaded ISO file somewhere and then burn it to CD for standalone booting from that CD.

If you don't have "burning" software, IMGBURN is also highly recommended and can be downloaded from one of the links this page, for example from this source on the free-codecs.com site.

Then, just boot to the newly burned standalone CD, and let it open. You can read the instructions on how to use the program on this PW instructional web page. But really, it's very very intuitive. I think once you look at the GUI it will be very obvious what you can do.

This standalone boot version of PW looks and works just like the Win7/WinXP version, except that you won't see Windows drive letters on the partitions. Also, you can do things directly in the standalone boot version that you'd have to restart Win7/WinXP to have PW complete (e.g. manipulating the C partition itself) at pre-boot time.


Anyway, specifically what I'm curious about is:

(1) does standalone boot PW actually possess the ability to see an external USB-connected drive (assuming yours was working)? I'm positive your internal hard drives will be visible, but the question is whether or not an external USB drive would be seen or not. Hopefully yes. If not, well we've struck out here. I don't know the answer, as to whether an external USB drive IS supported by standalone PW.

(2) if so, then the drive and any partitions on it should be visible to you. Now if you select a partition on that drive, the list of available operations on the left side should light up and there will be an "explore partition" item. If you select it, another window will appear with a basic Windows Explorer looking presentation. You can navigate through the folders to see the folders/files, although you cannot actually open any of the files.


That's what I'm most interested in determining... whether there is still a usable file system intact on your drive, so that our next goal is to try and recover that data or protect it from destruction... while you solve the problem of why it is no longer visible from either of your two machines.

You say you get the "new hardware detected" sound, but I'm concerned that the MBR/partition structure on the drive has been compromised... meaning the data on the drive may really be inaccessible.

Partition Wizard has some "partition recovery" and MBR reconstruction tools, but as to whether or not they might be of any use (and not actually lose your data) is not known yet. Of course the external USB drive itself needs to be physically visible and accessible by standalone PW in order to even have a chance of using its detect/correct capabilities.

Why MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable CD
* Manage partition without installing anything on your computer
* Manage partition without Operating System
* Restore partition when partition table is damaged and computer can't boot
* Restore partition when partition is deleted by accident and computer can't boot
* Rebuild MBR if MBR is damaged
* Analyze and fix partition table mapping problem


So, I'm really only suggesting using standalone PW as an alternative "viewer" to that drive (assuming standalone PW supports external USB drives), just to gather the info that the drive's contents are still there, and still accessible (hopefully).

If the whole file system on the drive has been lost (including the MBR describing the partition(s) on the drive) that's pretty extreme. But if standalone PW can at least see the drive (whereas Win7 cannot, given the state of the drive) we can perhaps come up with a plan of attack for some solution... which will not lose your data, hopefully.

 

[ganqile]

When I boot, what option should I choose? Is there any option to choose?

 

[ganqile]

I dont see my hard disk but my C drive only....

 

[dsperber]

I dont see my hard disk but my C drive only....

Rats.

Well, so much for that possibility.


I don't have an external USB drive of my own, but my brother-in-law does. Just for my own curiosity I will perform this same experiment using his machine.

Not that I don't believe your results, but we're still in the dark as to the status of your external USB hard drive. In my brother-in-law's situation I absolutely know that the external USB drive currently works perfectly and is visible to Win7 and programs running under it.

So I want to determine if standalone PW can (or cannot) see an external USB drive that is 100% known to be working properly. If not, then I guess that's the end of it. If so, then it points to an obviously serious problem with your drive (which cannot be seen, whereas mine can be seen), and I'd begin to come to terms with the possibility that you may well lose the data that's on it.

 

[ganqile]

Thanks, I dont mind losing all the datas just to save my hard disk.

 

[DocBrown]

Hi ganqile,

You said it won't work on your desktop & your laptop. Has it ever been connected to any other computer in the past ? What is the make & model ? Is it a Sata or IDE HD ? Is it a full size (3.5") or laptop (2.5") ext HD ? How is it powered ? Try to give us as much detail as possible.
We need to analyze all this for the best possible solution.

 

[ganqile]

It worked on my own pc, my own laptop, my mum's laptop, my cousins' laptop and my friends' laptop. The model is Imation 2.5'' HDD 500GB. Oh ya, on that day I found out its not working anymore, I lend it to my friends' to transfer counterstrike source. When I got home, I tried to plugin and its not detected anymore. I searched for ways to fix it. It didn't show up in My Computer and it did show up on disk management. I found some ways on how to fix it by right clicking on my harddisk in disk management and make it active. After that, I couldn't see it in disk management anymore.

 

[DocBrown]

What make of computer & what operating system was on the friends computer. That is what might have corrupted it.

 

[ganqile]

My pc is window 7 ultimate 32x, my laptop is Window 7 home premium 64x, my friends laptop should be the same as me as we go to the same school and same class which is also my classmates. My mum's lappy is window vista not working vista what.

 

[DocBrown]

From search your ext HD, It looks like it is 100% USB powered. No ext power supply. Does it need to plug into TWO USB ports ? 1 for data & 1 for power ?

 

[ganqile]

Nope, just the USB into the pc.

 

[ganqile]

Anyone? Please?

 

[dsperber]

Anyone? Please?

You didn't respond to a recent question above, regarding more details about "your friend's computer, make and brand".

You said everything was working perfectly for this external drive before you gave it to your friend so that he could copy something to it for you. Worked great before that, on all kinds of other Windows computers.

Gave it to your friend for copying something onto it for you, got it back from your friend, and it no longer works.

Don't you think information about your friend's computer setup and what he might have done to your external drive that made it unusable on your own computer(s) as soon as he returned it to you is relevant to us, in trying to help you resolve the problem?

If his computer is a Mac, that's a problem I would think... if somehow your hard drive got reformatted for a Mac. External USB drives formatted for a Mac cannot be used on Windows machines... without first re-formatting them back as NTFS drives for Windows, which of course loses all the data on them.

But even if formatted for a Mac (HFS), the drive itself is "visible"... so that it can be reformatted to NTFS for Windows. In your case, the drive isn't even "visible" any longer, to any computer you've tried to connect it to!

If your friend's laptop is like yours, another Windows laptop, then it seems unlikely it could have just "broken" by being connected to his laptop to copy a file onto it.

And yet...


So, why don't you ask your friend what he did to your drive while it was in his possession?

 

[ganqile]

Let me ask 1 question before I ask him. Can I reformat my harddisk without it being visible?

 

[dsperber]

Let me ask 1 question before I ask him. Can I reformat my harddisk without it being visible?

No.

If Windows can't see it at all, then there's no way to use the FORMAT built into Windows to format it.

And if Partition Wizard standalone can't see it at all, then there's no way to use the FORMAT built into PW standalone to format it.

It must be visible to SOME program capable of doing FORMAT, in order to be able to do that FORMAT.

That's why I was hoping Partition Wizard standalone boot CD could see it, because PW can do FORMAT... as long as it can see a drive. Being standalone and not running under Windows I was hoping it might work. But your test revealed it wouldn't work, either because (a) PW standalone cannot see external USB drives, or (b) there's something broken about your drive now that simply makes it not visible to any software, running under Windows or standalone, which would otherwise be able to see it.

And we also know that it's not visible under Windows, and therefore not visible to Partition Wizard running under Windows.

It's just not visible, for some probably hardware malfunction reason.


So, unless the manufacturer can provide you with some type of standalone formatting utility (and I don't know how that would even work, if say you have to run it under Windows but while under Windows the drive is simply not visible) or suggest something else if you call them on their support phone, I don't know what to say.

If the drive is still under its warranty period, you could get them to RMA a replacement to you at no cost (other than perhaps shipping). You've already said you can live without the data that's currenly on it, as if you're willing to FORMAT the drive you're obviously willing to lose the data on it.

So an RMA replacement for the malfunctioning drive is a reasonable alternative... if it's still under warranty.


But I'm curious to hear what your friend says he did with it while it was in his possession and connected to his laptop.

 

[ganqile]

He just transfer the CSS files.

 

[dsperber]

He just transfer the CSS files.

Did he "safely remove hardware" before disconnecting, after he was finished with the file COPY?