USB drive down 1

[CyberCrone]

I have been using an external hard drive for backup (USB connected). Last time I connected it Windows saw it as a removable disk drive and asked me to insert a disk. Because of that I can't access the drive at all. Device manager sees it correctly as a hard drive, and tells me it is not necessary to use the taskbar 'Safely remove...' icon to disconnect it, but I have never trusted that and normally use that before disconnecting. However, I am forgetful sometimes and I may have inadvertently disconnected without using safe remove.

If that is what I did, what exactly is it that happens when you remove a USB device incorrectly and can it be fixed, or is the drive a goner? Second question: is there some other possible explanation?

Toni McConnel
TechRite Associates
Technical Article Ghostwriting

http://www.TechRite-Associates.com

 

[wolluf]

Removing the drive without going through the 'stop' process can cause a problem - but can't see it wrecking a drive. Only problems I've had are filestore corruptions and files written to the drive recently not being availble if connect drive to other machines (presumably as file writing was cached and hadn't actually happened when drive disconnected).

Have you another machine you can connect it to, to see if it works there?

Was it supplied as hard drive - or did you put drive in external closure? Basically, can you unscrew the casing and retrieve the drive - so you could connect it directly via IDE/SATA cable (depending on drive type) to see if the drive's ok? If something is wrong it may be the drive or the interface.

btw - does it appear in disk management (run diskmgmt.msc)?

 

[CyberCrone]

Thanks for your help, Wulluf. I do have another computer but it too is down. (Sigh) This drive was supplied in an enclosure and there is no obvious way to open it--odd. I mean, not a single screw anywhere. Not even an obvious place to insert a screwdriver and pry. I'd better contact Western Digital and ask. Meantime I'll try running diskmgmt.msc and see what happens. I didn't know about this utility, by the way. I'm a technical writer but my expertise is at the design level, not the practical fix-the-computer stuff! Anyway, running diskmgmt from DOS, maybe it will not be bothered by whatever is upsetting Windows.

Toni McConnel
TechRite Associates
Technical Article Ghostwriting

http://www.TechRite-Associates.com

 

[CyberCrone]

Hey, Wulluf! It took hours for "interface" (from your message) to sink in. But it did, eventually, and I changed out the USB >>>CABLE<<< and voila! there's my hard drive. Now it makes sense--power surge or whatever from disconnecting improperly could blow a cable, ya think? Thanks for your help, which led to the solution.

Anyone else listening, anytime I get a response that leads to a solution I make a donation...hope you will do the same.

Toni McConnel
TechRite Associates
Technical Article Ghostwriting

http://www.TechRite-Associates.com