Hard Drive works internally, but not externally.

[moHACKmad]

Hello everyone,


I've got a Seagate Momentus hard drive taken from a laptop that I intend to use as an external storage device. When plugged directly into my laptop's hard drive slot, it works fine. When I try to use it externally with an enclosure, it is not recognised (on the same computer from which it was taken) by either Windows Explorer or Disk Management (yes I did a rescan).

When plugged into another laptop via the enclosure, however, it is detected in Disk Management, although not in Windows Explorer. Unfortunately, Disk Management doesn't provide me with any useful options for reformatting it. It simply says "no media", and doesn't detect any data or capacity. When using SeaTools for Windows while still plugged in externally with this secondary laptop, it fails virtually all tests and refuses a full data scrub.

I have since plugged the hard drive back into my primary laptop's hard drive slot (from which it was taken) and am running Seatools (so far, so good).

Any idea what's going on? How can I get this hard drive to operate as a normal external drive? Thanks in advance.

UPDATE - I reinserted the hard drive into my laptop, successfully reformatted it via Disk Management, chose not to assign it a drive letter, and I still have the same problems. My secondary laptop detects the hard drive when connected externally via USB hard drive enclosure within Disk Management, but not within Windows Explorer. More frustrating - when connecting the hard drive externally to my primary laptop via USB hard drive enclosure Windows will not detect it anywhere - neither within Disk Management or Windows Explorer. By the way, I am using Windows 7 64-bit. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Cr00zng]

Maybe the external enclosure or USB cable is bad, that prevents Windows recognizing the drive? Try changing the USB cable or the enclosure...

 

[jumanji]

Hi,

Would you mind posting the screenshots of Windows Disk Management to see how your external HDD looks on a) your primary Laptop ( if it shows up) and b) on your secondary laptop?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

Another question: How does your primary laptop work, if you had removed the drive from it?

 

[moHACKmad]

Maybe the external enclosure or USB cable is bad, that prevents Windows recognizing the drive? Try changing the USB cable or the enclosure...

Nope, the enclosure works fine with another hard drive. The USB cable is also in proper working order.

 

[moHACKmad]

Hi,

Would you mind posting the screenshots of Windows Disk Management to see how your external HDD looks on a) your primary Laptop ( if it shows up) and b) on your secondary laptop?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

Another question: How does your primary laptop work, if you had removed the drive from it?

The hard drive in question which was removed from my primary laptop was a secondary hard drive. The OS is installed on the laptop's primary hard drive.

Here is a screenshot of Disk Management with the hard drive in question being connected externally to my secondary laptop - Disk 1 K is what is shown.

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/8013/i44x.png

 

[jumanji]

OK, at the moment the only explanation I could think of is that the Seagate Momentus drive is a hybrid drive part flash memory and the rest conventional platter. Your external enclosure is unable to handle this unconventional drive while it can the conventional HDDs.

 

[moHACKmad]

Nope. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[jumanji]

OK, you are a non-believer.

Try using a double-headed USB cable for more power. It may work.

Warning: The extra power drawn may kill the enclosure electronics. Some enclosures may be able to handle it and some may not. Try at your own risk. A USB 3 enclosure may be a better option as those are designed for more power from USB 3 ports but still ....at your own risk.

 

[hinaruu]

I also have this problem. But my problem is that the HD is working externally but not internally.

I have 4 HD`s

1.) ST31000528AS
2.) WD500AAKX
3.) WD6400AAKS
4.) ST500DM002 ( this is my local hd)

the rest is my other hd drive but not connected. Now i want to add atleast 1 or 2 hd to my computer. So I start adding the first one which is the #1 drive the ST31000528AS. I plug the cables to the hd then turn on my computer. But it always freezes at the bios screen then it will turn off automatically.

I tried all the other hd drives from 1-3 drives i listed above. They got the same results. So i searched about the problem and i found this thread http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/217130-bios-screen-freezes-startup.html . I also used the disk clean command. To format my hd. But the problem still persists.

That problem occured only when i connect it internally but when i connect it externally its working fine. What do you think is the problem?

I tried replacing the sata cables and connecting it to different sata port. But got the same results :3

any ideas? (sorry for my bad english) im really confused :3

 

[GokAy]

Can you enter BIOS with one of those attached? Does it show in BIOS? What does the boot order look like?