External HDD not recognizable on my Windows 7

Asked By JepRey 410 points N/A Posted on - 06/19/2011

Hi folks,

I bought an MSI external hard drive and used it as a storage for my files, when I backed them up last weekend. However, when I try to connect it now, my computer doesn't seem to detect it.

 

The light on the device went off, so I assume the problem is not with my hard drive. The drive is also not visible or available on my "Computer" window.

 

What seems to be the problem? Please advice. I don't know much about computer technicalities and I need to have access to my files now. By the way, I'm using Windows 7.

 

Thanks in advance!

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• Question Category: Misc Hardware

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Answered By jenia 110 0 points N/A #126548

External HDD not recognizable on my Windows 7

Dear Jep Ray,

Your problem may be categorized into hardware or software problem.

If it doesn’t work on your computer but works on other computers, then it is an internal problem of your system property and not your external hard disk drive problem.

I’ll give you solutions for this.

At first try this easy solution and then we will go deeper.

• Go to control panel and click on folder option.
• Under view tab, please uncheck Hide Empty Drives and Folders.

Apply this and again enter your External HDD. If it fails to work, do the following:

• Go to control panelAdministrative toolsComputer ManagementDisk Management

See whether your driver is listed there or not? Of course, you will see it. Now format this, located in the option menu.

Hope this will work.

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• Posted on - 06/19/2011
• Question Category: Misc Hardware

Answered By ethan.007 0 points N/A #126550

External HDD not recognizable on my Windows 7

Hi JepRey,

It seems that you are having a real big problem. But it may arise from many different problems. Now you have to try these steps separately or combine.

1. In general cases you have to check the data cable of the external hard drive. Change the cable and use a new one.
2. Try to connect the external HDD back site USB port of the PC.
3. Front sight USB sometimes causes this type of problem.
4. After connecting the HDD, you may have to wait for some time. It may take time to run the HDD properly.
5. External HDD contains an extra circuit. This may get faulty and stop providing the correct voltage to run the HDD. A technician can handle this problem.
6. The HDD may crash or become faulty.
7. USB port may not correctly configure. To active the HDD, we have to enable the plug and play option from the BIOS.

JepRey you may have to go through these steps. How it works out.

Ethan

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• Posted on - 06/19/2011
• Question Category: Misc Hardware

Answered By ZacharyRoth 5 points N/A #126552

External HDD not recognizable on my Windows 7

Turn the computer off without the external hard drive being plugged in. 

Plug the external hard drive into a USB port, power up, the system post boot up will find the drive and inform windows what hardware is installed.

When windows boots up, it will look at all the hardware and find the external hard drive, when windows finishes booting up you should be able to see the drive in my computer.

If you can't access your files, data recovery software can help. I used this one called Tenor share Data Recovery to retrieve files off crashed HDD and it worked.

If needed, you can download it and scan your hard drive for free to preview whether your files can be recovered.

It will show you the file name, type, date and size of your files and thumbnails for your pictures that it found on your drive. Get it from here.

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• Posted on - 05/07/2012
• Question Category: Misc Hardware