Disk management

Associate
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22 Nov 2012
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I have a usb HD that won't show up in disk management.
In fact with the drive connected disk management won't load,as soon as I unplug it it does but when I plug it back in it doesn't show.
It shows in device manager and is working properly so it says.

I tried the drive in a linux pc and it was ok.If I recall I think I formatted it on the linux pc AFTER it wouldn't show on the windows 10 pc.
I had the above issue before and after formatting.

Any suggestions ?
 
Soldato
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Not a solution - but speculation... I get the same issue on my work PC, and I think, it has something to do with Windows running out of drive letters to use. That's the only thing I can think of.

I only actually have an A: and C: drive, and a DVD, but I get issues with some USB devices, where they will show within diskmgmt and also diskpart - but they will not mount as a drive with a letter, in Windows. I'm forever plugging USB drives in, so this is what has made me think along these lines.

Probably wrong, but I expect that Windows/the registry holds the drive mapping for USB devices, and that it may eventually run out of letters to allocate...
 
Associate
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It should still appear in device manager and computer management if you're out of drive letters.
Does the drive have enough power? Is it spinning up properly? Are lights on the enclosure lit like it's working? Have you tried another pc?
 
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I've just connected it to the linux pc,it shows there and I've formatted it again.
Back on the windows pc,it's in device manager but not disk management or explorer.
There's a solid white light on the drive....Toshiba.
Oh and I can eject it in the safely remove hardware pop up
 
Man of Honour
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Does it show in the BIOS or UEFI settings.. ?

This is a good clue if the system is communicating correctly with the device.

Try a different cable/port.

Clear the BIOS/CMOS.. Looking for the motherboards website for known issues, i.e. is there a BIOS update?

Try the drive in another machine if you can..


Also how large is the capacity of the drive? Remember, if you are not using the GUID Partition under UEFI, the legacy system won't see drives above 2TB.. just a passing thought.

Good luck
 
Associate
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Did you refresh/rescan on disk manager?
Maybe try the command line diskpart program?
I assume you formatted with a filesystem that windows can handle like exfat.
 
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500GB.....it's not a new drive,I've used it before to make a backup.
I'm going to take it to a friend who has a windows pc and reformat it on that I think before I go any further.
 
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Well,the same issue on my friends pc,it didn't show up.
I've now formatted it on the linux pc using every option available and still doesn't show in windows.
I'm going to take a hammer to it because it's doing my head in :)
 
Soldato
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have you tried plugging it in before boot, or during sleep, (it's slighly different but) I have some esata, suuposed to be plug'n'play, drives ,that do not show unless I use this technique.
 
Associate
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If it at least showed up in computer management I would suggest using diskpart. You could then select disk, then clean disk. That'd purge whatever is on it.
On Linux are you formatting raw, or formatting a partition? If it's partitioned, is it MBR or GPT?
I've had issues with disks before that didn't have a partition table.
 
Associate
OP
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have you tried plugging it in before boot, or during sleep, (it's slighly different but) I have some esata, suuposed to be plug'n'play, drives ,that do not show unless I use this technique.
PC won't boot if I plug it in 1st and also at 1 point I was trying different things and the cursor disappeared,the cordless mouse I use had suddenly got no power to the hub....disconnecting the usb drive and the mouse started working again
 
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