Laptop dump to external HD

Hi guys....

Laptop lease has run out....getting a new one! Want to dump essentially all the data on it (about 16gb) on to a portable HD (80gb)

When I plug the HD into the laptop it says 'new hardware detected' but it doesn't appear on 'My computer' or anywhere else.

Sorry if this is a dumbass question, but can someone advise?



Ken

 

What OS are you running?
What is the brand of the external HD?
Do you also have the AC plug in the External Drive?

When the USB drive is installed, look in the Device Manager and see if it shows up in there, perhaps as an unknown device or something.

 

right click on my computer and select manage, then click on disk management. scroll down and see if you can find your portable hdd. It probably needs the drive letter changed. if you see your hdd then right click on it and choose the change drive letter option, set it to something like n or q and then hit ok.