External hard drive not detected by any laptop!

stir_crazy

Hi all,

This is my first time posting on this board. Apologies if this has been posted before, I checked back a few pages but didn't see a thread.

I have a 1TB Maxtor Basics External Desktop Hard Drive, which was working fine on my laptop up until I took it to my parents house and plugged it into my dad's laptop (his OS is Windows 7). His laptop didn't detect it at all, it should have done as it is supposed to install its own driver when you connect it. Since then, I've tried it on 3 different laptops (on Windows Vista and Windows 7), not one of them is detecting it, there is no connection sound when the USB is plugged in, I can't find it anywhere in My Computer or in Device Manager.

The hard drive itself whirrs away and the green power light is on. I've been googling the problem and it seems more and more that I would need specialist help in order to recover the data on it - there are important household docs, lots of sentimental pictures and almost all of my music collection on it. Kicking myself now that I don't have another backup, but I didn't think I would ever need it. I was just wondering if anyone here might have any ideas on how to get my laptop to detect the drive?

Thanks in advance.

TimothyEBaldwin

Typically a USB external hard drive will consist of in internal SATA or PATA hard drive and a USB to SATA/PATA adapter in a case.

The adapter will appear in device manager in the USB section as a "USB Mass Storage Device". If it this does not appear it is likely the adapter is broken, so remove the drive and connect it to a working interface of the appropriate type.

Like all digital electronics, hard drives are vulnerable to static electricity, to take appropriate precautions.

paddyrg

Just checking - is the drive 'Formatted for Mac' (HFS/HFS+)?

If so, thanks to petty licensing bickering between OS manufacturers, Windows cannot mount the drive natively, you have to use HFSExplorer (free download) to mount it, then copy the files across.

The only format both Apple and MS will both mount natively is FAT32, so file size limit is 4GB. It is ludicrous.

Sharon87

Have you tried a different cable? Might be the cable that's broken. If not it sounds like the connection, and you'll need to remove the hard drive from the casing and use the SATA or whatever connection the hard drive has to transfer your material. Will involve having to buy new cables if you don't have them already.

And also I never travel with my only back up drive. I have a portable 2nd back up that I take with me if I'm going somewhere and need it. Try the western digital passport drives.

TimothyEBaldwin

paddyrg wrote: »

Just checking - is the drive 'Formatted for Mac' (HFS/HFS+)?

But that won't stop Windows from detecting the drive, loading device drivers and showing it in Device Manager.

paddyrg

TimothyEBaldwin wrote: »

But that won't stop Windows from detecting the drive, loading device drivers and showing it in Device Manager.

Ever tried it? From the outside it appears as if nothing is plugged in or recognised, you have to go deep to recognise it at all.

stir_crazy

Thanks for your replies. It's formatted for Windows, I've only ever used it on Windows PC's or laptops. Its not showing in the USB section of the Device Manager - the USBs show nothing connected. I'll try it with another cable first, I dont have any lying around that will fit so looks like I need to buy a new one. I read that if they get bumped it sometimes makes them stop working, so definitely hoping it might be the cable!

paddyrg

stir_crazy wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. It's formatted for Windows, I've only ever used it on Windows PC's or laptops. Its not showing in the USB section of the Device Manager - the USBs show nothing connected. I'll try it with another cable first, I dont have any lying around that will fit so looks like I need to buy a new one. I read that if they get bumped it sometimes makes them stop working, so definitely hoping it might be the cable!

Cable is certainly worth a go - bear in mind you might already have a suitable cable with a printer or mobile phone which you can use to test it with, save shelling out

apnorf

Does it have it's own power supply connector? I had same problem over the last week and after a lot of searching found a forum suggesting power supply might be culprit. The indicator light was on but no show on computer, bought cheap supply off Amazon ( cheap in case it wasn't the solution ) and YAHOOOO up and running again.