Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

External Hard drive not accessible

Mar 7, 2005 5:42AM PST

I am using a Dell running windows 98 that was given to me after my gateway crashed a couple of months ago. My 60gig Maxtor external hard drive worked fine with my new machine up until the other day. My computer reads that is it still hooked up and gives me the gig info and says there is still 45 gigs used up, so I know my data is still on there. When I try to open it is says "E:/ is not accessible, A device attatched to the system is not functioning". When I try to run scandisk is says "such a program as disk utility has locked it". I tried hooking it up at a friends house on their Dell running Windows XP, but ran into the same problem. I read another post on this site regarding a similar issue and contacted on track recovery to see if they could help. Even though My pictures, home movies, music all lie within this hard drive, I am unable to spend thousands of dollars to retreive them right now, is there any way to retreive my information??? I tried chkdsk but it prompts me to run scandisk first, which as I said I am also unable to do, please help, this is extremely frustrating.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Please tell.
Mar 7, 2005 6:09AM PST

Is this on the USB 2.0 port?

If not, put it on such a port.

bob

- Collapse -
USB Port
Mar 7, 2005 8:28AM PST

I know the hard drive is a USB 2.0, how would I find out whatport I am working with? Thank you

- Collapse -
All about USB at...
Mar 7, 2005 8:35AM PST
http://www.usbman.com

If you had followed the forum tip, forum members could check if your PC had USB 2.0
- Collapse -
Just so we don't cover all this over again...
Mar 7, 2005 6:14AM PST
- Collapse -
usb 2.0
Mar 7, 2005 11:29PM PST

Go to the device manager>usb controllers and itf you see enhanced controller you have usb2.0

- Collapse -
(NT) (NT) Please add how to tell if it's performing as USB 2.0...
Mar 7, 2005 11:41PM PST
- Collapse -
USB controller
Mar 8, 2005 5:53AM PST

I checked and I dont see enhanced controler, so I must not have USB 2.0. My External HD worked fine with this machine before, so I dont understand why the USB controller would suddenly be the wrong kind? Just talked to a guy that can reformat my hard drive for me, but wouldnt that erase all the data? If so then thats out of the question.

- Collapse -
That enhanced can vanish... if.
Mar 8, 2005 5:57AM PST

The drivers are corrupt, missing or ...(doesn't matter).

http://www.usbman.com is chockful of tidbits but the repeating story is motherboard drivers.

If you had supplied make and model numbers, the forum could have looked deeped into this.

Bob

- Collapse -
Make and Model #
Mar 8, 2005 6:13AM PST

Ok, I hope this helps. I am running a Dell Dimmension L550r, with an Intel III, I am checking out usbman.com right now, if something happened to my enhanced, and I tried hooking my external HD onto another machine where it had worked in the past and still didnt work, would that still mean that the USB would be the problem?

- Collapse -
Never found a P3 with USB 2.0 supplied.
Mar 8, 2005 6:40AM PST

Even early P4s came with only USB 1.1.

For me, I know this issue too well and would not try anything less than USB 2.0.

Have you found a machine with USB 2.0?

bob

- Collapse -
USB 2.0
Mar 8, 2005 10:34AM PST

I hooked my External HD up to a machine that is fairly new and is definitely running with a USB 2.0 and still got nothing from my hard drive, something is screwy with this hard drive because when i turn it on when my computer is already on, it freezes my computer up. If I have the external HD on when I boot up my computer, it is fine and reads that it is hooked up and gives the correct drive space information, 45 gigs used, 10 free . . .

- Collapse -
If I have the external HD on when I boot up my computer, it
Mar 8, 2005 11:09AM PST

"If I have the external HD on when I boot up my computer, it is fine and reads that it is hooked up and gives the correct drive space information, 45 gigs used, 10 free . . ."

Stick with FINE to retrieve your information...

The lockup is not unusual with driver issues. However I would not touch the working machine unit you retrieve the files you can't lose.

Bob

- Collapse -
Stick with FINE to retrieve your information...
Mar 8, 2005 2:35PM PST

Well, I wish it was as fine as I think you thought I meant, I just meant my computer doesnt freeze when the External HD is already on when I boot up, yet the same problem arrises with not being able to access the HD, the device manager and everything else indicate it is active, but I am still getting the message " Drive is not accessible", sorry im having a hard time with all of this, I kind of thought I knew what I was doing with computers until this happened, now im completely in the dark. I really appreciate all of your help and I really hope I can get this sorted out soon. I have learned a very valuable lesson though, make backup discs!!! lol Does this sound hopeless or do you think there is a way to retreive my information? Thanks Bob,
Mike

- Collapse -
I get it... Almost fine...
Mar 8, 2005 8:44PM PST

If this was my disc and I wanted to try recovering some files, here's my process.

1. Get a KNOPPIX CD.

It's Linux, but boots from the CD and needs no install. See what it sees (don't be shy, it's very Windowy and you'll notice it's a snap to use) when:

a. You boot with Knoppix with the USB drive attached.
b. You boot with Knoppix and attach the drive later.

2. Pull the hard disk and connect it to the second IDE controller and boot up as normal. If you see your files (that you couldn't lose), copy them off now.

3. If step 1 works, then you may have a failed OS or other issue. I can't offer a ready fix. Scour usbman.com for clues. I still know to use the USB 2.0 card everytime since I've seen too many lose weeks/months over this.

4. If step 2 works, then the enclosure (most likely) failed. For not much you can replace the enclosure from newegg.com, compgeeks.com and get it working again.

Best of luck,

Bob

- Collapse -
Trying the Steps
Mar 12, 2005 7:59AM PST

Thanks so much for your suggestions, im trying to get my hands on a KNOPPIX CD, I will try your other suggestions if that doesnt work. I'll let you know how everything turns out. Thanks again for everything.
Mike