external USB HDD - not connecting

My laptop died suddenly so I removed the hard drive and put it into a 2.5 " HDD enclosure I own.

However I can't seem to use it..I know the enclosure is OK but when I connect it up I get a driver error or a general error.

The hard drive itself has NTFS & FAT32 partitions ...could this be the cause? I have however tried it on both XP (ntfs)and 2000 (fat32) machines.

On Win2000 I get a message saying I need to restart (which never happened using my other 2.5" HD) and on XP I just get an error saying the device may not work properly......help!

WizZard

Are you sure you have it connected the right way around. When XP detects it does it tell you the drive type/identity? (eg. Samsung/IBM)

nope XP doesnt state that....I'm fairly certain I have it set up correctly....the funky green circuitry stuff should be at the bottom of the case

Would it make any difference that there's an OS on the HD? ??

fenris

Had something similar with my external USB drive - drive was from my old laptop formated as NTFS, sometimes on a laptop the disk security permissions are set to only allow access to the disk from a unique user.

I had to put the drive into another laptop (same hardware or close enough),
fire up the laptop,
go into file explorer,
righ click on the drive,
select properties and click on the security tab,
Add the everyone user with all permissions.

Once I popped the drive back into its enclosure everything just worked!

MarkR

Go to control panel and administrative tools, then computer management, storage, and disk management. Make sure it's been initialized and assigned a drive letter. If you don't see it here try the device manager for any errors.

vibe666

if you want to test it another way, maplins have a 3.5" to 2.5" ribbon cable so you can test it out via a direct ide interface, rather than the usb.

the other thing is, it might well have been the hard drive itself that died in that laptop.

permissions shouldn't stop the drive itself from being seen, just the data.

and markr said pretty much everything else there is to say. if it's not in disk management then it's not there full stop.

do you have another 2.5" drive to test the usb enclosure with just to be sure it's not that?

I have the 2.5" drive the enclosure came with and everything shows up ok.

I tried the enclosure with the dead laptop drive on a few different computers with the same results....

On Win2k I get a message saying I have to restart which isn't normal and XP just said it may have errors...the drive didnt show in either case.....

besides a USB enclosure is the ribbon cable the only other option open to me ?

I tried the laptop with a different HD but it still didn't work. I'd really like to access some of the data on the HD from the dead laptop......thanks for any help

Shiny

oh god i know your problem.

it is the biggest bastard trying to get into the hardrive.

if fact from my experience i think it is impossible.

The reason (I think) why it isn't working is because the master
boot record on the hardrive is corrupted in some way.

hence this will not allow it to show through the usb connection.

BigEejit

you can fix a master boot record ... I've had to do it manys the time ... fdisk /mbr sometimes and various other utilities other times ... google is your acquaintance .... but it has to be in a working computer for that to work :P

oh god...so I need another working laptop and put the Hard drive in it?

All I know for certain is my laptop stopped working and when I took the HD out and put it in a USB enclosure it wouldn't work and theres nothing wrong with the enclosure.....

BigEejit

no you dont need another working laptop, just a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter cable and you'll be able to use it in any desktop pc ... I bought one for €6 all in (mostly p&p) off ebay

ok i'll check that out thanks! Hopefully its not dead after I go and buy the cable etc.....I'd take it to a computer repair shop only for the copious amounts of porn residing on it.....

BigEejit

BigEejit wrote:

no you dont need another working laptop, just a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter cable and you'll be able to use it in any desktop pc ... I bought one for €6 all in (mostly p&p) off ebay

I used such an adaptor and the OS on the laptop HD (XP Home) began to boot up perfectly but I ran into a Windows activation screen

I tried again but selected Safe Mode and could get at my files.....there must not be any problem with the mbr therefore.

I still can't use the drive with a USB enclosure for some reason though....???