# External hard drive not showing up anymore..



## Valar

So here's my story..

About 6 months ago, I bought an external hard drive that I've used to hold most of my pictures, music, etc. (It's a "Western Digital" external hard drive, around 300GB).

For Christmas, my little brother got a new computer and asked to use it to transfer some of his pictures and whatnot to his new computer, so I let him. Everything transferred over fine, so he gave it back to me and I attached it to my computer and it was coming up as a "G:" drive instead of an "E:" drive like it always has been.

So I try disconnecting it from the USB and attaching it to different ports, but it still was coming up as G:.. Everything was opening and whatnot on it fine, so it was not a big deal I suppose, (Still haven't figured out why that was happening..) but after a couple of tries plugging it in to different USB ports, it just abruptly stopped opening up when plugging it in, no longer shows up in "My computer" or the device manager, etc..

So I try attaching it to other computers in the house, and the same thing, not showing up. The light lights up on it as usual, I can hear it spinning, it's not clicking or anything.. just not showing up anywhere!

Now I feel like an idiot, because I kept all my pictures, music, and everything else on there- Long story short, the computer originally had a very small HD so I bought the external to hold stuff that wasn't something like software.. since then I replaced the HD and now have a much larger one, but never "rerouted" where my pictures and everything were saved to. 

Anyways, I've read a bit on various forums and websites about this and have tried a few things so far, but no luck. I'm not extremely tech savvy either, so maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I've been lividly working on this for hours to no avail, so I would really appreciate any help.. not only, like I said, is all my stuff on there, but the thing was fairly expensive so I'd hate to have to throw it out or something.. :sigh:


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## Izzard

Theory. Corruption of the hard drive happens most often when you unplug the drive while its in the midde of transferring data. Sooo, unplugging it constantly might have been what caused it to corrupt. Im not sure, but my computer scans all the directories in my external drives before giving me the "this drive contains multiple media types, do *insert your choice here* when you connect a drive with this kind of media type" window. You may have interrupted that sort of thing. Either way, Id get it looked at by a professional. The best thing to do is find one close by so you dont have to mail it. they'll tell you what can be done about it, and quote you a price for doing it.


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## Izzard

Oh by the way, there are multiple reasons it changed drive letters. If you unplug multiple devices then plug them back in in a different order than the reverse of how you took them out, theyll all be different letters. (its late...so my logic and reasoning on that exact statement may be a tad off ) Its quite easy to have drive letters change like that. If you cared so much, you could have used the Disk Management menu to change it manually.


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## geslink

Oha, does not look good! Before you shut down or unplug an external device you always should use the Windows-function "Secure removal af hardware" as is shown by a green icon in the right end of the processbar when an external device is connected (may be hidden there).

As others said: you easily and savely can change a drive letter by Startmenue > Controlpanel > Administration > Computeradministration > Store > Disc Management > right-click on the graphical picture of the drive > 
> klik change driveletter or path > the present driveletter is shown in a little editingwindow > klik button Edit > select the new driveletter from the list > klik OK > neglect the warning message > close all windows concerned.

Another preventive habit is to disable all automatic playing of files on an external storage device by choosing Do nothing* (under Vista you can unmark the field Automatic play* under Controlpanel > Automatic play).
*) I have to guess the english names since my system is in danish.

DO NOT plug in in several USB-ports on a computer because than the drive is reinstalled each time again and mostly with a new drive letter. Reserve a certain port to it!

I wonder while the drive not will be recognized by any computer, after it has been shut down for power. Try if a computerservice-workshop can. If I find something in my harddiscsuppliers-software, I will tell you so later on. You also can ask your harddisc manufacturer on his support-website.

Have patience; some will most likely find a way out!
Good luck, regards Geslink, DK.


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## geslink

Hi, geslink again: Please give me the complete name/id of your external WD(Western Digital)harddisk so I possibly can figure out more about reset possibilities. It looks namely as the cache* of the HDD is filled with a lot of rubbish where its internal firmware hangs on.
I met a similar problem with an external DVD-drive** of a relative, which neither was "seen" any longer on her nor mine computers. I send her to a PCshop and their it came "alive" again on their servicecomputer. After that she followed the connect/disconnect praxis, as I described yesterday, there were no problems since.
*) Cache is a kind a tempstore inside the HDD so it can handle data regularely.
**) The DVD-drive got its power from 2 USB-ports. Where gets your HDD power from?


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## Izzard

If its the temp files that are the problem, you probably would have to send it in anyway, because of course you cant connect it to your computer to deal with them...


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## Midmap

I had the same problem with the WD 500Gb external hard drive. It was permanently connected to the server and just one day decided to not show. So dont think the problem could be connecting and disconnecting the device. I opened up the box, removed the hard drive and connected the harddrive (SATA) to another computer (because there was invaluable info on the drive). So, my conclusion is that there is a problem with the interface, as my harddrive worked fine connected via SATA to a computer. A new enclosure with the USB interface can be bought for around R250.


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