External Hard Drive Problem.

[ImageDude]

I have had several laptop problems of late. So, as a possible solution I have had windows 7 re-installed and all was well. Yesterday I downloaded and used CCleaner for the first time. There have been some minor issues with IE8 so I downloaded and installed IE9, and everything seemed ok until I plugged in my Samsung P2 external hard drive. My laptop no longer recognizes it, although it was fine yesterday. The Ext. Drive powers up ok, light on and disc spinning but nothing happens on my laptop. I cannot find it in My Computer, but it appears in Device Manager which states it has the latest drivers and is working correctly. The Ext. Drive is also working fine on another laptop??????

Is there any Techie out there who knows what the problem might be? I have limited knowledge of these things. Thanks

[RKASA]

I have had something like it happen - normally after improper removing the device - try shut down the PC with the drive plugged in and restarting it still plugged in and see if it sorts out the device discovery.

[ImageDude]

I have had something like it happen - normally after improper removing the device - try shut down the PC with the drive plugged in and restarting it still plugged in and see if it sorts out the device discovery.

Hi, and thanks for the reply. I had already tried that option. There is a problem with the laptop because I have another external drive (Transcend) and it won't recognize that one either. I'll keep trying, but thanks again.

[happynthailand]

try any number of "driver up dater programs",that are out there.

sounds like you don't have an updated usb driver installed.

also you might try a 2 prong usb connecter ,one end plugs into the e/h/d the other 2 usb connecters plug into your lap top

I have 4 external h/d's that only work that way with win 7

most it stores sell them

sorry for late post was attaching a pix

Edited September 18, 2012 by happynthailand

[ImageDude]

try any number of "driver up dater programs",that are out there.

sounds like you don't have an updated usb driver installed.

Hi there, the devices are showing in the laptop device manager, which states that drivers are up to date and drives working correctly??? It's a real mystery to me with limited knowledge of such matters. The Ext. drives are both booting up ok on another laptop so the data is still there.

[aarn]

try using another usb lead (or reverse the lead if you have usb/usb lead)

try another usb port in your comp.

OK sorry sounds stupid but has worked for me in the past. AA

[kingbilly]

Sometimes you can get weird stuff happening in Win 7 if you have your computer set to sleep or hibernate. For what it is worth, if I was you I would go into device manager with the external drive connected and showing up in the device manager screen. Then right click on it and uninstall it.

Next I would shut down the computer, remove the drive and reboot - check that all is well and go into Device manager and make sure there are no listings for the drive you uninstalled.

Once happy there, make sure you have the latest drivers downloaded to a convenient place for the drive - you probably won't need them in Win 7 as it usually finds drivers it needs anyway.

Shut down agin and reconnect the drive - now power on and reboot and see if it recognises the drive.

good luck.

[ImageDude]

Sometimes you can get weird stuff happening in Win 7 if you have your computer set to sleep or hibernate. For what it is worth, if I was you I would go into device manager with the external drive connected and showing up in the device manager screen. Then right click on it and uninstall it.

Next I would shut down the computer, remove the drive and reboot - check that all is well and go into Device manager and make sure there are no listings for the drive you uninstalled.

Once happy there, make sure you have the latest drivers downloaded to a convenient place for the drive - you probably won't need them in Win 7 as it usually finds drivers it needs anyway.

Shut down agin and reconnect the drive - now power on and reboot and see if it recognises the drive.

good luck.

Thanks for that info. I will try that tomorrow, I am tired of trying today. I will start with a fresh attitude tomorrow.

[dharmabm]

Look in disk manager,not device manager. If it shows there try right-click and 'initialize '

Sent from my LG-P970 using Thaivisa Connect App

[rakman]

Look in disk manager,not device manager. If it shows there try right-click and 'initialize '

Sent from my LG-P970 using Thaivisa Connect App

Don't format first.. if the drive is in your Disk Management (right click on My Computer or Computer depending on version of Windows, go to Manage), then click on Disk Management. On the list of disks, you should see the list of disks (Disk0, Disk1, etc) pick the external disk, right click and try to assign a drive letter (right click on the disk descriptor if the partitions aren't visible).

Sometimes Windows doesn't assign a drive letter to an external disk.

Edited September 18, 2012 by rakman

[Chicog]

Remove the device.

Go into Control Panel, find the device and uninstall it.

Reboot.

Plug the device back in and Windows should notice it and reinstall the appropriate driver.

But google "Device Name Windows 7 Driver" as well and make sure it is supported; I had a pretty Pininfarina drive that hasn't worked since Windows 7 even with legacy drivers.

[ImageDude]

Look in disk manager,not device manager. If it shows there try right-click and 'initialize '

Sent from my LG-P970 using Thaivisa Connect App

Don't format first.. if the drive is in your Disk Management (right click on My Computer or Computer depending on version of Windows, go to Manage), then click on Disk Management. On the list of disks, you should see the list of disks (Disk0, Disk1, etc) pick the external disk, right click and try to assign a drive letter (right click on the disk descriptor if the partitions aren't visible).

Sometimes Windows doesn't assign a drive letter to an external disk.

Thanks to all for your responses.

Special thanks to this person, this fix worked perfectly, and simple to apply. I owe you.

ImageDude