External Hard Drive Help

Good Afternoon:

I am working on a friend's WDC ROM Model_Scorpio_USB Device [external Passport hard drive] in a Windows XP Professional environment. Although the external drive does not appear in My Computer, it is displayed in Device Manager, and a Belarc Advisor report.

Numerous attempts of unplugging the drive, rebooting the computer, accessing Services and researching Plug n Play, Removable Storage, and the Portable Media Serial Number Service, the contents of the drive are still inaccessible.

I visited the manfacturer's site, downloaded a diagnostic application/program, ran the program's Quick and Extended Tests, and received the following message:

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC ROM MODEL-SCORPIO--
Unit Serial Number: WDC-ROM SN# XYZ----
Firmware Number: 09.07D09
Capacity: 20.00 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: FAIL
Test Error Code: 11-Cable Test::Read diagnostics sector error!
Test Time: 15:10:03, September 06, 2008

Replacement of the cable still results in the same error message. Any assistance or suggestions are Greatly Appreciated and Welcomed.

Respectfully

Zephyr53

 

Tried changing its drive letter through Administrative tools. Can it utilize an external power supply? Tried using a different USB port? Tried troubleshooting through device manager, right click device, Properties? Disable>Enable. Uninstall>Reinstall. I like WD's External drives, own a few My Books, hope it hasn't gone bad... When all else fails I try a Linux Live CD like Knoppix, PCLOS, or Puppy Linux.

 

Hello Bugaballo:

Thank You for responding to my situation. I did try changing USB ports but it did not work. Tried troubleshooting through device manager, right click device, Properties, but it stated the device was working correctly.

I did not try changing the drive letter, but I will, and I will try your suggestion of Disable>Enable. Uninstall>Reinstall. Thanks for the heads-up on the programs Linux Live CD like Knoppix, PCLOS, or Puppy Linux.

I will let you know the results of following your instructions.

Again, Thanks So Much!

Zephyr53