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 recognized

Aug 3, 2006 9:22AM PDT

I have a 160Gb Seagate inside of a Mobile Disk external case. I cannot get WinXP to recognize the drive. I have tried all of my USB ports and firewire ports, and different cables. Do you think I need a new enclosure?
Thanks for any suggestions,
Todd

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
SP2 and Disk Management
Aug 3, 2006 12:59PM PDT

Computer make & model?
Is the HD brand new, or are there files on it?
Does it show up in DISK MANAGEMENT?

Get XP updated to SP2.
Update XP with Windows Update.

Go to DISK MANAGEMENT to INITIALIZE if HD has never been used.

- Collapse -
You may not be able to format with usb
Aug 20, 2006 3:57AM PDT

I had the same problem with a Seagate 160GB PATA Drive. I took the drive out of my laptop and put the Seagate as the primary drive and formatted with XP CD. Now the USB enclosure works with the drive.

Hope this helps.

- Collapse -
it creates prob sometimes
Aug 25, 2006 3:37AM PDT

even i faced this problem when i bought an external hard disk. it was WD(Western Digital)make. there was some problem with the hard disk. it used to detect the hard disk sometimes and sometimes not. and also it used to give an error of power surge. then i got the hard disk replaced and now it is working perfectly. and if the hard disk is not detected there formatting it is far far away. so better check your hard disk. try checking it in some other casing. sometimes casing also creates problem.