Not seeing external hard drive through USB on some computers

[dilbert42041]

I took a hard drive from an old computer and am trying to recover the files under the users directory (Windows 7). I plugged the 3.5" Seagate hard drive into an external enclosure (with a separate power source). I cannot see the hard drive on my Windows XP computer or my Windows 7 computer. It doesn't show up under disk management tools. The USB ports work fine. The hard drive works properly I think...as explained below.

However, I can see it on my Windows 7 work laptop. I can access everything except for the users folders because I'm not an admin on my work laptop. So I can't recover the files in those folders because I can't change the read rights over to myself. So I know the hard drive can be read, I just can't get it to show up on the 2 computers that I have admin rights to.

Any suggestions?

 

[James Mason]

Uhh, it sounds like i may be encrypted, if it's a work laptop, I would imagine they encrypt any drives that are attached to it so you can't steal their data.

Talk to your IT people.

 

[dilbert42041]

No, this definitely isn't the problem. In fact, it is the exact opposite. The work laptop is working just like it should. It is my two home computers that aren't seeing the device at all.

 

[James Mason]

If it's encrypted with bitlocker or something, your windows 7 HOME edition computers may not even be able to see it:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff404223.aspx