Can't read external hard drive

[Seasharpminor]

External drive connected via USB on Windows XP Pro. Worked fine until system
was powered down. When repowered, can't read with Windows Explorer. Drive
letter shows in My Computer but clicking on Properties either does not do
anything or shows "drive not formatted". Drive shows as "working properly"
in Device manager. diskmgmt.msc shows disk and drive letter but with no
format type nor content.

This is a brand new 1TB sata drive but the symptoms are the same as a
previouis EIDE drive, also externally attached that this one replaced because
I thought the drive was bad.

Active Recovery program shows files are still there.

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]]

External drive connected via USB on Windows XP Pro. Worked fine until system

was powered down. When repowered, can't read with Windows Explorer. Drive
letter shows in My Computer but clicking on Properties either does not do
anything or shows "drive not formatted". Drive shows as "working properly"
in Device manager. diskmgmt.msc shows disk and drive letter but with no
format type nor content.

This is a brand new 1TB sata drive but the symptoms are the same as a
previouis EIDE drive, also externally attached that this one replaced because
I thought the drive was bad.

Active Recovery program shows files are still there.

It's possible you have a bad USB port that is shorting out or
something similar. Plug it into a friends computer and see what
happens.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Tuesday, September 01, 2009 9:21:01 AM , and on a
whim, Seasharpminor pounded out on the keyboard:

External drive connected via USB on Windows XP Pro. Worked fine until system
was powered down. When repowered, can't read with Windows Explorer. Drive
letter shows in My Computer but clicking on Properties either does not do
anything or shows "drive not formatted". Drive shows as "working properly"
in Device manager. diskmgmt.msc shows disk and drive letter but with no
format type nor content.

This is a brand new 1TB sata drive but the symptoms are the same as a
previouis EIDE drive, also externally attached that this one replaced because
I thought the drive was bad.

Active Recovery program shows files are still there.

I've had that happen also. For me, I used the Partition Magic utility
PTEDIT32.EXE and changed the drive "type" from 17 (hidden) to 07. How
it was changed to hidden is unknown. And any partitioning program could
not change it from hidden either, as a reboot would not allow the OS to
access the USB drive early on.

You situation may be different, but I would at least look at the PT to
see what the partition is set to.


Terry R.

 

[Seasharpminor]

Terry R.
Thanks for the suggestion but I still have the problem. I used diskpart to
make sure the drive was active but the symptoms are the same. Any other
ideas?

 

[olfart]

Terry R.
Thanks for the suggestion but I still have the problem. I used diskpart
to
make sure the drive was active but the symptoms are the same. Any other
ideas?

maybe there isn't enough power from the USB port....or it is marginal. Do
you have a powered hub you could try??

 

[Seasharpminor]

The hard drive is plugged into an Ultra ULT40326 docking station which is
powered.

 

[Paul]

The hard drive is plugged into an Ultra ULT40326 docking station which is
powered.

There is one review here which is kinda curious.

http://www.compusa.com/applications...?EdpNo=4143852&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

"Files invisible in Windows Explorer"

Try another adapter, something with fewer frills. Buy this at some
place other than Newegg - Newegg seems to have the highest price
of anyone. (I searched for "SATA dock" and then sorted by best rating,
to find this one.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16817707170

Paul