External USB Hard Drive not mounting

Question

I recently bought an external enclosure for a hard drive so I can backup my laptop.  I went through all the normal procedure to connect it, but it doesn't show up on My Computer. I checked in the Device Manager and it shows up under Disk Drives. I checked in Computer Management and I see the disk under Disk Management, but it hasn't been assigned a drive letter.  I manually assigned a drive letter which now shows up in the Disk Management window, but I still don't see it in My Computer.  I'm not able to choose Open or Explore for that drive in Computer Management.  It gives me a drive not found error. I tried deleting the partition, recreating it and formatting it, but no luck.  I tried restarting my computer as it requested, but still no luck.  I've downloaded the latest BIOS update from Dell.com. I've set the hard drive to be Master, not Slave, using the jumpers on the drive. I'm running Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 loaded.  My computer is a Dell Latitude D620. Any help is appreciated!

Sterling_Aug · Answer

Did you create a partition on the new drive? Is it formatted?

KedarWarriner · Answer

Yes, I've deleted the partition, created the partition, formatted it (both quick and regular).  Then I've deleted the partition again, re-created it, formatted it again, this time as FAT32 instead of NTFS.  Still nothing. Something interesting though.  I tried it on my other PC which is not a Dell and is running Windows XP Media Center and it worked first time.  I didn't need to do ANYTHING.  Just plug it into the USB port and BINGO!  it showed up on My Computer. There seems to be something up with the Dell D620 specifically.

jec4312 · Answer

Does the enclosure have it's own power supply? If not maybe it is not drawing enough power from the USB port on the 620.

KedarWarriner · Answer

Yes, the drive has its own power supply.  Any my laptop is also plugged in and charging.  I don't think it's an issue with the drive, but with the laptop's ability to recognize it.

Storage, Drives & Media

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