EMERGENCY -- External HD not recognized!

[Guest]

For some reason, I'm not getting any new messages for the hardware
group. (Last message was 12/15/06). But I get new messages for this
group. Weird!

If this message gets through -- I just got a WD external harddrive;
started it up and moved some data over.

Now my computer doesn't see the darn thing!!! There is one "Unknown
Device" listed under USB (in Computer Management). Could that be my
external hard drive? The details for "Unknown Device" say that no
drivers are loaded. But Driver Details says its a Windows driver.

How do I get my computer to recognize it again? (I'm using XP SP2).


Awaiting your responses with baited breath, I remain, yours truly,
<*(((>< ~~~
~~~~~

 

[Guest]

I've tried the external HD on another machine. No joy.
I've unplugged, rebooted, etc., -- no joy.

Next suggestion?

 

[DL]

If you tried the external on another PC with the same result, doesnt that
tend to indicate something?
ie faulty drive/enclosure/cable
Its new, so call WD Tech

 

[Guest]

I called WD technical support today at 3:00. I held for 90 minutes. By
then it was past 5:00 and they were closed. I'll try again tomorrow.

Now, the external HD did work okay for a while.
I moved some big folders over to it and tidied up a bit.
There were some pre-installed folders and files on the external HD. I
thought of moving them into one folder called "WD Stuff."| For the life of
me, I cannot remember if I did that or not. If I did, would it make the HD
not be recognized any more?

What do I do? I've got about 13 GIG of data on the external HD. I don't
have copies of that data elsewhere. I bought WD because I heard they were
good and rarely went down. I planned to burn that data to CD's later this
month.

I'm ready to cry. Sorry.

Can you guys think of anything else at all that I could try?

 

[Dan]

In my dealings with external hard drives, I have found that the internal
hard drive is rarely the problem. The enclosure that houses the drive is
usually what fails. You should be able to take out the hard drive and put
it into another hard drive enclosure or put in into a desktop computer to
get the data off of it.

I am not sure what your level of experience is. You may want to get some
help from your local computer store.

 

[Guest]

Thanks everybody, for trying. Unfortunately, I'm still stuck with a HD that
has 13 GIGs of my data on it, and cannot be recognized by either of my two
computers. I guess I'm up a crick without a paddle. :-(

 

[Guest]

IT'S WORKING NOW! I uninstalled 3 updates, unplugged everything, rebooted,
and plugged it back in. Weird.