HDD not seen in my computer

timbo2410

timbo2410

timbo2410

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Joined
27 Dec 2009
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Hello, just got a sata to USB cable and got a whole heap of info off one of my hard drives. It was very easy and I had no problems at all. I've just gone to do the same for anothe drive and it is not showing up in my computer. It is shown in device manager along with all other HDD's so how do I get it to show up in my computer? I am running windows 7 pro ...
 
Ummmm .. I haven't given it a number. The other drive came up straight away as it did on my old computer so I thought it would do the same.

If i format it won't it erase all info on the drive?
 
ok I've gone into disc management and found the drive. I can see all my other drives as well. Now there are options that say reactivate disc ?? Is this what I need ? As I said, I don't want to loose the info on this drive.
Oh I forgot, when I look at the drives under disc management, all the drives are listed as basic ... all except the one I want which is listed as dynamic. Should I select the option to make "basic" and if so will this wipe the drive?
 
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Ok so trolling online for a solution ... the general opinion is that once a drive has been formatted to be "dynamic" then it cannot be read from a Sata to USB connection. I can convert the drive back to "basic" (and then be able to read the drive), but in doing so I will loose all the data stored on it! I have downloaded several programs that recover lost data, but I still cannot "see" the drive to be able to enable a data recovery. The only place I can see the drive is connected is through device manager but that is all I can do. Solutions anybody?:confused:
 
No I'm afraid I don't have a linux disc. It's weird though because I thought I would have trouble with the old hard drive that had my Win XP on it (I'm running Win 7 now), but I just plugged the old OS drive in and up it came ... got all the data I wanted without a hitch. Same went for the second drive, no problems ... but the third drive ???? Just won't play ball .... and all the drives are the same (Western Digital 120GB) ... so I don't know what the difference is?
 
Hmmm I saw a thread that was exactly the same problem that I'm having. A data recovery program was used to "see" the hard drive and then get the data. I just downloaded the program and ran it. It found the drive I was looking for without a hitch. I selected to recover the files but then the drive disappeared. I have re-started the program and the drive is no longer there? Although it still shows in device manager as operating?
 
So do I have any other choice other than to format the hard drive in question to "basic" and trust that I may be able to recover the data with a file recovery program? ...... anybody :confused:
 
This may be tedious however you could move the files onto one of the other hard drives that allow you to use your cable? Space allowing ofcourse.
 
is it saying anything about not being initialised?

i get this problem now and again if you unplug the usb cable from your pc wait 5 and plug it in again it can work . try it a few times and see.
 
The hard drive is from my old machine and it is connected up via a USB cable. I have used the same cable to get all info off of two ther drives (one being a Win XP "C" drive) without a hitch. Now, I plug in the drive in question and it shows up straight away as a USB connection (just like the others), but then it does not show up in my computer. It is showing in device manager though. Now if I look deeper the drive is showing that it is "dynamic" ... I've looked this up and there are all sorts of problems with "dynamic" drives .... I cannot access the drive at all until I return it to "basic" ... but doing so will wipe all data !!!! There must be a way :eek:
 
ok it seems that I have several small steps to take to get the data off of this sucker. Apparently I need to:
1. get the drive to be "valid"

2. get the drive to be "online"

3. then I can use software to get all the info off

4. change the drive to "basic"

Now .... How the *&%£^$%£! do I get the drive to be valid and online? I've clicked on the "reactivate" button but nothing happens apart from the drive firing up !!! I click on the "offline/online" button but still nothing happens ??? any clues ..... really ... any at all .... ?
 
I've since been in contact with Western Digital the makers of all my hard drives. They have been talking me through what amounts to everything I have tried to date. Now it is the weekend I guess there is nobody at their help centre as I have not had any contact since yesterday evening. So I guess I have to wait until Monday to do any more. Can anybody offer any advice between now and then?
 
Well after all the trials and tribulations ... I just sorted out my unreadable disk .... it is all thanks to a forum member by the name of "Chicken #16" ... I downloaded a program called testdisk and within seconds I had all the data listed on my "UNREADABLE" hard drive ... man I've spent days downloading different programs that do all sorts of things but this little program saved me a lot of hastle .... so there you go .. cheers mate :D
 
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