Installed Hard Drive Not Showing In "My Computer" Or Accessible

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J

jeffysno

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Nov 13, 2010
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Been looking through old posts, but can't seem to find an answer for my current storage problem and hoping someone might be able to help out. I'm about as computer dumb as they come, so already please keep that in mind when replying and no offense to any dumbed down instructions. :)

I had an old Iomega 1tb external hard drive that quit being recognized by the computer and it has some old files/photos I'm hoping to get off of it. After doing some online research and trouble shooting, decided to try and install it as a second drive on my old Dell desktop that is running Vista. The drive does not show up under my computer, but I can see it under computer management/disk management and can also see it going in through CMD/DISKPART.

When in DISKPART, if I type in LIST DISK I can see:

Disk 0 - online - size is 233gb (this is my C drive)
Disk 1 - online - size 932gb (this is my old external)

I read somewhere that I could rename a disk via DISKPART, but need to choose a volume first. When I type in LIST VOLUME, the only return I get is:

Volume 0 - drive letter C

The newly installed hard drive doesn't show up as volume 1.

When I go into Disk Management I see a split screen (top/bottom) view. Up on top it shows 4 drive icons with the top 3 with no drive letter assigned, layout = simple, type = basic, file system is blank and status says Healthy (primary partition). the 4th drive icon is labeled with C:, layout = simple, type = basic, file system = NTFS and status says Healthy (system, boot, page file, active, crash dump, primary partition.) On the bottom portion I also see both disks (disk 0 orig hard drive and disk 1 newly installed), but can't do anything with disk 1. Both disks show up as basic, storage size and show as being "online". Disk 0 is identified as my C: drive and shows healthy. Disk 1 shows 3 partitions (24mb, 3.92gb, 927.57gb) with all 3 showing healthy. Disk 1 does not have a drive letter assigned. When I try to right click on any section of the disk 1 line (main icon with drive icon, or any partition), the only choices I am able to make are delete volume and help. All the other choices like make partition active or change drive letter are grayed out and cannot be picked.

Any ideas on what I can do next? Hoping that since the computer is still able to somewhat identify it that I might be able to pull some old files off this drive before officially proclaiming it dead.
 
Solution
Chicano
Recuva is a file recovery application.. what you need is a Data Recovery application... some partition managers include a Data Recovery section, and their developers also make apps specifically developed for Partition and Data Recovery. There are also many Partition and Data, Partition Recovery only and Data Recovery only applications.

Partition Find and Mount scans for the HDD, can allow you to find and mount lost partititons, allows you to add a partition drive letter to make partitions visible in the Windows File Manager (Explorer) and copy files from them.

http://qpdownload.com/partition-find-and-mount/

Another Partition Recovery applications that helped me find lost partitions and recover data was DiskGenius that came...
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rontonomo

rontonomo

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Jun 26, 2016
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when you take a drive out of an external enclosure you usually have to use software made by the maker of the drive to format in a way that it will be recognized by a pc otherwise it will not work.
 
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SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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Jan 4, 2016
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This description is not really readable.
Can you show screenshot from Disk Management?
Upload to tinypic.com or imgur.com and post link.
 
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J

jeffysno

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Yes, disk 1 is my ex-ex. I noticed the 100% free space and was hoping it was just not reading correctly.... or something else. Right clicking in device management only gives me the options of "deleting" or "help". All other options are grayed out and I'm not able to pick them.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
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Right clicking where, exactly?
On the small space to the left, or the large white space on the right?
 
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SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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Jan 4, 2016
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Try data recovery software on that 927Gb partition. You may be able to recover something.
Use getdataback.

Looks like that external enclosure has done non-standard drive partitioning. That's why you can't access your data without the original enclosure.
 
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Chicano

Chicano

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Aug 29, 2011
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Third party disk & partition managers usually do a better job than the Windows disk manager... and a Healthy disk and partitions should not be much of a problem for Minitool Partition Wizard... but before attempting anything with Monitool, run Hard Disk Sentinel to get an accurate idea of the actual HDD condition.

https://www.hdsentinel.com

Download Minitool Partition Wizard
https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

EDIT:
Hard Disk Sentinal shows graphically the real HDD condition if the % numbers say it's in good condition, the next thing to do is assign a drive letter to the Disk 1 partitions. Leave recovering data from it for later.. trying it just now is not something I would recommend.. you have to try conventional software before getting on to the more complicated.


 
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J

jeffysno

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Right clicking on the Disk 1 "header" box (/aetr86.jpg) and any of the partitions to the right (/j08qxd.jpg) All 3 partitions to the right of Disk 1 give the same choices when right clicked (delete volume or help).

http://i66.tinypic.com/aetr86.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/j08qxd.jpg

I plugged in a different, known working external just to see how it looks and it connected as "Disk 2" and automatically became my /E: drive. When I right click on those 3 partitions, the 1st one only shows the option of "help", the middle (named /E:) lets me choose all options (rename, mark active, delete, etc) and the final one is like the ones for Disk 1, only option is to "delete volume" or "help".
 
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J

jeffysno

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Chicano,

If it says the drive is good, how do I assign a letter to it. That's what I was trying to do in diskpart and disk management, but it wouldn't let me. Will give Sentinal a try.
 
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J

jeffysno

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Skynet,

I still have the original enclosure, but it is a network external that connected to my wifi via lan cable and wasn't even recognized anymore. Has a USB input on it, but nothing else.
 
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Chicano

Chicano

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Minitool Partition Wizard can do a much better job than the Windows disk manager and it will probably let you assign drive letters. so try that before aything else.

 
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Chicano

Chicano

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Minitool Partiton Wizard will also detect if there's data still in the HDD with right click on an partition > Explore.... > next right click > Assign (drive letter) > If it fails assigning a letter, right click again the same partition and take a screenshot of the right click menu and show it to us to see the available options for the next suggestion.
 
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J

jeffysno

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Nov 13, 2010
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LOL! Yeah, I saw your sig and am usually pretty good about backing it up. In this case though, my back-up died shortly after my laptop died, so looking more and more like the SCUD missle of life got me. Gonna still try all the help above and see if something can be salvaged. if not, it's going to the scrap heap.
 
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J

jeffysno

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HDSentinel couldn't even give me a status of drive. ot sure what all the below means, but guessing technical speak for "dead?"

-- Physical Disk Information - Disk: #1: ST31000528AS --

Hard Disk Summary
-------------------
Hard Disk Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1
Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : S-ATA II
Disk Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller (ATA) [VEN: 10DE, DEV: 0266] Version: 5.10.2600.998, 8-9-2007
Disk Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Bus Number 1, Target Id 1, LUN 0
Hard Disk Model ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ST31000528AS
Firmware Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : CC44
Hard Disk Serial Number . . . . . . . . . . . . : 9VP7YHTR
Total Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 953867 MB
Power State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Active
Current Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?
Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? (Unknown)
Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? (Unknown)

ATA Information
-----------------
Hard Disk Cylinders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1938021
Hard Disk Heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 16
Hard Disk Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 63
ATA Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ATA8-ACS version 4
Transport Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : SATA Rev 2.6
Total Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1953525168
Bytes Per Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 512
Multiple Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 16
Error Correction Bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 4
Unformatted Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 953870 MB
Maximum PIO Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 4
Maximum Multiword DMA Mode . . . . . . . . . . . : 2
Maximum UDMA Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 300 MB/s (6)
Active UDMA Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 300 MB/s (6)
Minimum Multiword DMA Transfer Time . . . . . . : 120 ns
Recommended Multiword DMA Transfer Time . . . . : 120 ns
Minimum PIO Transfer Time Without IORDY . . . . : 120 ns
Minimum PIO Transfer Time With IORDY . . . . . . : 120 ns
ATA Control Byte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Valid
ATA Checksum Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Valid

Acoustic Management Configuration
-----------------------------------
Acoustic Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Acoustic Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Disabled
Current Acoustic Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Default (00h)
Recommended Acoustic Level . . . . . . . . . . . : Balanced performance and volume (D0h)

ATA Features
--------------
Read Ahead Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported, Enabled
DMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Ultra DMA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
S.M.A.R.T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Write Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Host Protected Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Advanced Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Extended Power Management . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Power Up In Standby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
48-Bit LBA Addressing . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Device Configuration Overlay . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
IORDY Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Read/Write DMA Queue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
NOP Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Trusted Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
64-Bit World Wide ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 005000C592203148
Streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Media Card Pass Through . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
General Purpose Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Error Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
CFA Feature Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
CFast Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Long Physical Sectors (1) . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Long Logical Sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Write-Read-Verify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported, Disabled
NV Cache Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
NV Cache Power Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
NV Cache Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Free-fall Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Free-fall Control Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Nominal Media Rotation Rate . . . . . . . . . . : 7200 RPM

SSD Features
--------------
Data Set Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
TRIM Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Deterministic Read After TRIM . . . . . . . . . : Not supported

Security Mode
---------------
Security Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Security Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Security Erase Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 162 minutes
Security Enhanced Erase Feature . . . . . . . . : Supported
Security Enhanced Erase Time . . . . . . . . . . : 162 minutes
Security Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No
Security Locked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No
Security Frozen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No
Security Counter Expired . . . . . . . . . . . . : No
Security Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : High

Serial ATA Features
---------------------
S-ATA Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
S-ATA I Signaling Speed (1.5 Gps) . . . . . . . : Supported
S-ATA II Signaling Speed (3 Gps) . . . . . . . . : Supported
S-ATA Gen3 Signaling Speed (6 Gps) . . . . . . . : Not supported
Receipt Of Power Management Requests From Host . : Not supported
PHY Event Counters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Non-Zero Buffer Offsets In DMA Setup FIS . . . . : Not supported
DMA Setup Auto-Activate Optimization . . . . . . : Not supported
Device Initiating Interface Power Management . . : Supported, Disabled
In-Order Data Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Asynchronous Notification . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Software Settings Preservation . . . . . . . . . : Supported, Enabled
Native Command Queuing (NCQ) . . . . . . . . . . : Supported
Queue Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 32

Disk Information
------------------
Disk Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Barracuda 7200.12 1000528
Form Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 3.5"
Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1 TB (1 x 1,000,000,000,000 bytes)
Number Of Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 2
Number Of Heads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 4
Rotational Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 7200 RPM
Rotation Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.33 ms
Average Rotational Latency . . . . . . . . . . . : 4.17 ms
Disk Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Serial-ATA/300
Buffer-Host Max. Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 300 MB/seconds
Buffer Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 32768 KB
Drive Ready Time (Typical) . . . . . . . . . . . : 10 seconds
Average Seek Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.5 ms
Track To Track Seek Time . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1.0 ms
Full Stroke Seek Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? ms
Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 101.6 mm (4.0 inch)
Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 147.0 mm (5.8 inch)
Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 26.1 mm (1.0 inch)
Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 622 grams (1.4 pounds)
Acoustic (Idle) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 2.7 Bel
Acoustic (Min Performance And Volume) . . . . . : 2.9 Bel
Acoustic (Max Performance And Volume) . . . . . : 2.9 Bel
Required Power For Spinup . . . . . . . . . . . : 2,800 mA
Power Required (Seek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 12.8 W
Power Required (Idle) . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 7.2 W
Power Required (Standby) . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.8 W
Manufacturer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Seagate Technology
Manufacturer Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products

S.M.A.R.T.
------------
No. Attribute Thre.. Value Worst Data Status Flags

Transfer Rate Information
---------------------------
Total Data Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB, 0 MB since installation (1/15/2018)
Total Data Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB, 0 MB since installation
Average Reads Per Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.00 MB
Average Writes Per Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.00 MB
Current Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Maximum Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Read Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Write Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Disk Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 100 %
 
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Chicano

Chicano

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From Minitool, right click on both the Disk2 ID, and the 931.51 GB partition to see if all right click menu options are available or grayed out...

Safe menu actions are:
Partition: Surface Test, Change Letter, Explore, Label, Align, Copy...
Disk ID: Align partitions, Rebuild MBR/GPT, Copy, Surface test, Partition Recovery.

If you connect the HDD to the LAN cable to access it as before, it may be better accessed specially if, it was encrypted?.
 
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