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

Question

I need help figuring out whats wrong with external HD

Jan 28, 2012 11:05AM PST

My son connected my 1.5tb Seagate Freeagent to his Xbox Live account. He didnt read the fact that it was going to delete everything from the HD when it configured it. I wasnt able to stop him right away. I unplugged it the second it said "This may take a few minutes"... I plugged the HD into the computer and it did not register it at all. I went to Disk Management and it says its there and that "this device is working properly" but it says its unallocated as well... No clue what to do. I did a search for a file on the HD and it showed up but wouldnt open. "This drive or network connection that the shortcut "" refers to is unavailable. Make sure that the disk is properly inserted... I have checked the USB Ports ... they work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
RE: External HD XBOX
Jan 29, 2012 1:09AM PST

The XBOX uses a modified version of XP for an OS. It has already started the format process when you see the warning " this will take a few moments". Dig out your favorite recovery software an see what you can salvage.

- Collapse -
RE: External HD XBOX
Jan 29, 2012 4:47AM PST

I got a pandora recovery program, but unfortunately as I mentioned, the computer does not recognize the Seagate HD. IT IS NOT ALLOCATED TO A DRIVE.... so a recovery program, i dont believe (or know how to) get it to work without it being allocated to a drive. I need to learn how to allocate a drive.... anyone know how to. Or am i completely off base on what needs to be done to fix this problem?

- Collapse -
Just run it and see what happens.
Jan 29, 2012 5:10AM PST

It should work without it being a drive in Windows Explorer.

Kees