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My PC Don't Detect My External Hard Drive

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Yuha Posts 5 Registration date Tuesday September 27, 2016 Status Member Last seen September 29, 2016 - Sep 27, 2016 at 09:58 PM
R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017   - Sep 30, 2016 at 03:03 AM
Hello,

I could really use your help right now. When I was downloading videos using IDM, my IDM suddenly not responding and freezes. I tried to end the process by using task manager, but it didn't work. so, I restart my laptop without ejecting my external hard drive. Then, when I check in My Computer, the drive don't show up as always. But, I can hear the sound when I plugged in the hard disk. I can properly eject it too. I uninstall it using device manager and re-install it, but it still didn't work. I also can't find it in disk management. I've tried test disk and disk part, but it still didn't showed up. BTW, I'm using a Samsung 1 TB external hard drive.
  • I tried connect the hard disk with other computers, but, nothing change. It still didn't showed up.
  • There seems to be no problem with the USB cord and USB port
  • I'm using Windows 10
  • I can't afford to replace the hard disk because it contains a lot of my works
  • I've uninstall the USB hub and restart the pc -- still not working
  • I can't assign drive letter to the hard disk due to the PC unable to detect the hard disk.



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2 responses

Answer 1 / 2
R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017   155
Sep 28, 2016 at 03:31 AM
Hi Yuha,

You have done good job trying to solve the issue. So, basically, the hard drive appears in Device Manager but not in Disk Management? Have you tried the drive with another USB cable? Please run the Command Prompt as an Administrator and type the commands:

Diskpart
List disk

Does the external drive appear? If it does, it may be possible to save your data. Use a data recovery tool and try to backup the most important files. I leave you link with some software suggestions. Once you have saved the information, and if the drive is under warranty, contact the seller and ask for guidance.

https://ccm.net/downloads/tools/file-management/

Hope this helps

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Yuha Posts 5 Registration date Tuesday September 27, 2016 Status Member Last seen September 29, 2016
Sep 29, 2016 at 02:37 AM
I've already tried using another USB cable but, nothing change. When I tried the original cable to another external hard disk, it worked perfectly fine. So, I think, the problem is the disk itself.
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Answer 2 / 2
Yuha Posts 5 Registration date Tuesday September 27, 2016 Status Member Last seen September 29, 2016
Sep 28, 2016 at 04:17 AM
Hi. Thank you for your reply, R2D2_WD.
I've tried in Disk Management, but, a message popped up and it says:-

'The specified disk is not convertible because the size is less than the minimum size required for GPT disks'

So, the disk is currently unknown to the PC.
I've tried to locate the disk in DiskPart, but it didn't showed up.
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R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017   155
Sep 29, 2016 at 05:30 AM
Do you get this message when you try to format the drive in Disk Management? Do you remember if the drive was formatted in GPT or MBR? The message may indicate a drive issue. It is strange that the drive is listed in Disk Management but not after the Diskpart-> List Disk command. Could you check that again? Have you tried the drive on another PC? I would recommend you to test it on a Linux PC or download a Linux Live version. You only need to boot from a USB containing those files. No installation is required. Once the Linux OS is loaded, connect the hard drive and check if it is recognized and if it is possible to format it.
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Yuha Posts 5 Registration date Tuesday September 27, 2016 Status Member Last seen September 29, 2016 > R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017  
Sep 29, 2016 at 11:18 PM
Sorry. Now I know what you mean. I tried to format the drive in GPT, as I can't format the drive in in MBR.
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Yuha Posts 5 Registration date Tuesday September 27, 2016 Status Member Last seen September 29, 2016
Sep 29, 2016 at 11:00 PM
I've never formatted the drive because the drive is unknown in Disk Management. I've checked in Diskpart several time, and sometimes the disk appeared in it, but the size appears to be 0 byte. On the other time, the disk is undetected.

Did you mean that I need to replace Windows 10 to Linux?
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R2D2_WD Posts 3606 Registration date Monday September 1, 2014 Status Member Last seen February 20, 2017   155 > Yuha Posts 5 Registration date Tuesday September 27, 2016 Status Member Last seen September 29, 2016
Sep 30, 2016 at 03:03 AM
I would recommend you to test the drive on a PC that runs Linux OS or to use Linux Live Version. The live versions can be downloaded. You should burn a booting USB drive. Boot the PC from that USB and the Linux will start loading. Please note that this is not an installation. The OS will load the necessary files from the USB without installing and this process does not affect your Windows installation.
It is a good thing to try, because sometimes external drive that present issues in Windows, respond better in Linux systems.
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