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External hard drive not recognized.
Computer - Dell Inspiron E1505
CPU - 1.73 GHz
RAM - 1.0 GB
32 Bit OS
Operating system - Vista Home Premium
Service Pack 1 installed
Internal hard drive - 80 GB Hitachi HT541680J
I bought an iomega 160 GB eGo external USB-powered hard drive which is supposed to be pre-formatted and ready to go (plug-and-play). When I plug it in to a USB port the computer "dings", the power light on the drive lights up and I can hear the drive running if I put it up to my ear.
However, when I go to START > COMPUTER the drive doesn't show up on the list of drives. All that show is the C: drive, the D: Recovery partition of the C: drive, the DVD drive and, if I have it attached, my HP 3180 inkjet printer.
If I go to START and right-click COMPUTER and then select MANAGE to get the Computer Management screen and then select Disk Management, I get the screen showing all the drives connected. This screen shows the C: drive as Disk 0 and the external iomega drive as Drive 1. It shows them both to be online. It also shows the DVD drive and the printer if I have it connected. Right-clicking the Drive 1 here and selecting Properties brings up a box labeled TOSHIBA MK1646GSX [the iomega 2.5" drive] USB Device Properties. Under General it says "This device is working properly"
OK - The external drive is running. The computer recognizes that the drive is there. Why doesn't the drive show up in the list under START > COMPUTER? If it doesn't show up there with a letter assigned I can't use it. Stranger yet, when the drive is connected to another Vista PC it shows up instantly. Same thing with a Windows XP machine. It just doesn't work with mine.
iomega doesn't have customer support. The Geeks at Best Buy don't have a clue why it's acting this way.
debbie24
1 Message
0
October 30th, 2020 08:00
I don't want to format the disc because I want recuperate the data
The Maxtor is recognizing the computer but the computer doesn't see it at all.
it has it's own power supply.
DRW
2 Posts
1
May 13th, 2021 11:00
This is a very old thread, but the problem persists. Here is a very simple solution that worked for me.
PROBLEM: External drive does not show up
REASON: Needs a name (C, D, E, etc.)
For some reason the computer likes to delete this name from time to time.
How to fix it:
Open the Start menu – type "disk management," press Enter when the Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions option appears.
Right-click the volume icon – Choose Change Drive Letter and Paths to add a drive letter. The drive letter will be prompted for you – default seems to be E.
madweber
1 Message
0
April 25th, 2022 15:00
That is exactly it!