Hard Disk Not Found

I have a WD external (USB) HD [Passport], which, last I used it seemed to work. I plug the USB in tonight, and the light comes on, sso I think 'good'. Then I open an explorer and...the disk isn't there. My other WD (Elements) is shown, C:, D:, my Kindle, my USB memory stick, my 3.5 inch srive etc, but the WD Passport, is not shown. I've tried reconnecting the USB. My PC doesn't seem to go through the routine of reading the disk when I plug a USB disk in, which I think is a bad sign. This disk doesn't show up in Device manager nor in CP > Admin Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management. I am no longer running the WDDumbWare (it's sold under the name WDSmartware) software.

Any ideas ? I really don't want to restart my computer at this time.

Dumb_Question
8.January.2012
Compaq Presario S5160UK (DT261A) [Celeron 2.7GHz] - XP SP3

 

Have another computer you can try plugging it into? Any clicking noises coming from drive? If you put your ear up to it do you hear the platters spinning or any clicking?

It could also be the USB to SATA board the drive is connected to inside the case, they are know to fail too.

Sam

 

Hi DQ,

The lite only means that the drive is getting power. It doesn't not have to be recognized or be 100% good to lite up.

Good Luck, Jim

 

Just to bring you up-to-date.
I plugged the HD into a different USB port, and it now works.
I have no idea why the previous configuration failwed - one day it worked, unplugged USB, reconnected it to thwe USB outlet, and it did not work.
I will try in the old configuration sometime in the future and see what happens.

Dumb_Question
12.January.2012
Compaq Presario S5160UK (DT261A, Celeron 2.7 GHz) - MSI MS6577 v2.1 - XP SP3

 

OK, sorry to keep harping on about this but I can announce that PROBLEM SOLVED.

The issue was that I was I was that that I was trying to run the external HDD from a (powered) USB hub. It turns out that some external drives don't like that; they have to be connected directly the PC's USB

Dumb_Question
16.November.2013