Windows 7 External Hard Drive Troubles.

[J-Dog]

Hi.

I recently did a custom install of Windows 7 Ultimate. I backed up all of my files (music, movies, documents etc) onto my 500GB FreeAgent External Hard Drive (I was previously using XP Proffessional)

However, now the external hard drive won't show up on My Computer. It can be seen in Device Manager, as well as Devices and Printers.

How do I access my external without losing any of the files that are currently on it?

 

[cybercore]

Welcome to the forums, J-Dog.

1. Make sure proper 7 compatible driver for your external hard drive is installed
2. Computer > Management > Disk Management > Take full ownership of it

 

[J-Dog]

Welcome to the forums, J-Dog.

1. Make sure proper 7 compatible driver for your external hard drive is installed
2. Computer > Management > Disk Management > Take full ownership of it

Hm, I did 'update driver software' in Device Manager for the external and it seems to think my driver software is up to date.
Also, sorry if I sound silly, but what do you mean by 'take full ownership of it'? The external hard drive does not show up in disk management, by the way.

 

[cybercore]

If it doesn't show up in disk management - that's the problem, it should !

1. Test your drive on another pc
2. Check your bios settings for your external hard drive

 

[J-Dog]

If it doesn't show up in disk management - that's the problem, it should !

1. Test your drive on another pc
2. Check your bios settings for your external hard drive

Thanks.

I managed to get it working by uninstalling the seagate device in device manager, rebooting and plugging it in.

However, I think the external is actually broken. I was able to go on, but when I started copying files across, I was told that the files were not found. I then tried accessing some of the files on the external and again it said files not found. When plugging the external back in after this, windows told me that the device was not recognised and was not installed successfully.

 

[Saltgrass]

Be careful, do not assume the files are not there just because Win 7 is having problems with your external drive. I use a different drive for XP and Win 7 and never put the XP drive on my Win 7 machine.

If you need to use the drive with Win 7, what type of connection is it? How was it formatted?

You may have to boot with it plugged in, or let Device Manager do a search for new devices.

 

[J-Dog]

Oh, and now I got back onto the external after many attempts and reboots, and it told me the files were not accessible, because of an I/O error.

 

[J-Dog]

Be careful, do not assume the files are not there just because Win 7 is having problems with your external drive. I use a different drive for XP and Win 7 and never put the XP drive on my Win 7 machine.

If you need to use the drive with Win 7, what type of connection is it? How was it formatted?

You may have to boot with it plugged in, or let Device Manager do a search for new devices.

USB connection, not sure how it's formatted.

 

[J-Dog]

Hate to bump an old thread, but here's some extra info. The model is ST305004FDA1E1-RK, and I've tried it on a different computer (running XP home) and it was also not recognised.

 

[Saltgrass]

If it won't work on XP either, then of course, something is wrong with either the disk itself or the controller in the external enclosure. Does this drive not have its own power source? Is the yellow activity light working? Is it making any noises?

If you can't get it to work, it appears you cannot try to format it in its current state. I would probably remove the drive from the enclosure and put it directly in the computer, just in case the external controller is having a problem. It doesn't say if it is a SATA or PATA drive, so connections might be a problem. It does say it has a 5 year warranty----(probably won't get your data back)

 

[J-Dog]

If it won't work on XP either, then of course, something is wrong with either the disk itself or the controller in the external enclosure. Does this drive not have its own power source? Is the yellow activity light working? Is it making any noises?

If you can't get it to work, it appears you cannot try to format it in its current state. I would probably remove the drive from the enclosure and put it directly in the computer, just in case the external controller is having a problem. It doesn't say if it is a SATA or PATA drive, so connections might be a problem. It does say it has a 5 year warranty----(probably won't get your data back)

Yeah, it has it's own power source, and the light works. It makes a fairly quiet whirring sound. I think it's SATA, not sure. I'll try and figure out how to open it up and put it directly in my computer.