Windows 7 Windows 7 Won't Recognize External Hard Drive

[mattjones16]

I'm using the release candidate and whenever I plug in my Western Digital Passport USB external hard drive, I get nothing. It doesn't show up in device manager or in My Computer. The light on the harddrive comes on and the drive spins up, so I know it's working. Windows just won't recognize it. Any ideas?

Link Removed due to 404 Error

 

[reghakr]

Have you looked for a drive letter in Windows Explorer.

Does this drive have it's own power source?

Go to Control Panel > Device Manger and see if any entries have a yellow flag beside them.

 

[windows7rctester]

I'm using the release candidate and whenever I plug in my Western Digital Passport USB external hard drive, I get nothing. It doesn't show up in device manager or in My Computer. The light on the harddrive comes on and the drive spins up, so I know it's working. Windows just won't recognize it. Any ideas?

I have the EXACT same problem. I also only have the problem with my WD Passport external HDD. It turns on, spins, and lights up, but just does not show up in windows 7. Someone please help.

reghakr,
The drive is powered by the USB port. I looked in windows explorer. I looked in Device Manager. Any other ideas?

 

[reghakr]

I heard this worked in another post.

restart and access the BIOS. Look for an entry named something like On chip USB.

It's default setting may be 1.1+2.0. Change it to 1.1 and see if that makes a difference.

 

[twincitybulldog]

Ext drive

I did this:
Go: control panel
administrative tools
computer management
disk management
scroll down the list of drives and your drive should be there.
May need to be formated

 

[Super Sarge]

If it is there you may need to assign a drive letter, I have had this happen in Vista with certain thumb drives also once happened in W-7

 

[reghakr]

Give this link a try for compatibility with Vista:

Western Digital Passport USB

You'll need to know the exact model number and a link is provided to the manufacturer's site

 

[ironhorse99]

Card reader not enabled

I have the same problem. It's there when I boot. The lite for the device flashes once red and then I hear a pop from the speakers & at the same time the lite goes out. It's enabled in the Bios I know as I can use it when I switch drives & boot Ubuntu 9.04. I'm sure its just the sort of thing Microsoft is looking for......after all its still a Beta.
Can someone tell me where to go and report this to Microsoft. Mike

 

[Tepid]

I did this:
Go: control panel
administrative tools
computer management
disk management
scroll down the list of drives and your drive should be there.

If it is there you may need to assign a drive letter, I have had this happen in Vista with certain thumb drives also once happened in W-7

I second this ,,, you probably DON'T need to format it.
Drive letter is probably missing, or assigned an already existing drive letter.

 

[jenkinsdjj]

external hard drive not recognized in windows 7

I have used diskmgmt.msc to assign a drive letter and this works. however it still keeps happening and I have used diskmgmt.msc several times to assign a new drive letter. Perhaps Microsoft should be made aware of this problem. It does not happen to me in vista. Otherwise it seems a great os.

 

[kemical]

Have you tried using a different USB port ?(if possible) If the drive is plugged into the front ports then try plugging it into the ones at the back.

 

[jenkinsdjj]

externa;l drive recognition in w7

i have tried several different usb ports but to no avail it still periodically happens

 

[kemical]

Whats the actual make of the drive (apologies if this has been posted already) I looked and didn't see it...

 

[jenkinsdjj]

iomega 1tb external drive. It has two Partitions, primary and logical. The primary contains a vista backup (drive K) this is always seen by w7.The other partition contains copies of all my valuable data. w7 always recognizes the vista partition . It is the other partition which w7 occasionally fails to recognize (drive J). I also run partion magic 10 which never fails to reconize both partitions.
thanks for your prompt comments
David j

 

[kemical]

Hi David,
I tried looking through iomegas main site to see if there was a firmware update or something like a FAQ section. Trouble is without knowing the exact name/model number of your drive I got stumped quite early on. If you want to check the site yourself you can:

Link Removed - Invalid URL

Or post the information and I'll check through it again, no worries..

 

[jenkinsdjj]

the model is Iomega MDHD1 TB - UE, P/N 3174600, s/n 61av390a53
David J

 

[kemical]

Hi David,
thanks for the info...
I think your drive is here: Link Removed - Invalid URL

You'll see various options for support with the 'My external HD is not being detected' section quite lengthy and may include an answer for your particular problem.
Post back if nothing usefull is found..

 

[smrtgrl]

Western Digital External Harddrive problem SOLVED

When I plugged my WD ext hdd into my brand new, beautiful Windows 7 loaded laptop, to my dismay it didn't do anything! Like the rest of you having problems out there, my external harddrive had it's light on and was happily spinning but nothing in My Computer or in Device Manager in control panel showed any signs of a portable device. So this is what I did:

1. Go to WD - Service & Support Home
2. Click the "download" picture
3. Select your appropriate model
4. You must know your model number
5. Download the WD synchronization software or driver

 

[vaikz]

Me too had this problem. But in my case, I was able to use it for awhile. But lately, windows 7 can't recognize it. It say's unable to install the driver and it had a yellow exclamation mark on it. And also one time it said to format my external drive. I don't have problem using it on xp. My external drive is a 2.5" 120GB Maxtor usb but my external casing was damage and I'm using a generic HDD case. can anyone help on this please.

 

[tockki]

Having the same problem.

Just can't figure out why my external hard drive is not recognized in windows 7. It works great on XP.
I have 2 enclosures... one by vantec nexstar 3 and anotehr by Megadisk. Both are powered by the USB port.
Both works on XP but not recognized by Win 7.
Called the makers of the enclosures and both told me that it should work.... hmmmm.
The drive is spinning but nothing is recognized on the comp.
Tried the disk management thingamajig but to no avail I just don't see the drive at all.

Hopefully the microsoft guys are working on this.