USB caddy not showing up correctly

[starship2000]

Hi All,

I have a laptop and bought a new 60GB SSD as a boot drive replacement for my 500GB SATA, I then wanted to use the 500GB in a USB 2.0 caddy, for data storage.

I've installed windows 8.1 onto the SSD and it works fine, I then plug in the caddy SATA and it says, format the drive!

Used both power cables, so presume not a power issue. (Works with one anyway)

If I swap the drives back, (500GB in the laptop), it boots fine and I can see the SSD in the caddy fine as well.

Tried the SATA Caddy in another PC, same problem

Laptop has a BIOS, not UEFI, both are standard MBR partitions.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[ArtPog]

No doubt the reason you haven't rec'd any responses to your query because your description of the problem in terms of the component involved is unclear.

When you refer to a "caddy" what PRECISELY are you referring to? It would seem you're NOT referring to a USB extrenal HDD/SSD enclosure since you mention something about "plug in the caddy SATA", and not a USB port/connector.

So is this a "caddy" a device that you have installed in a laptop's optical drive compartment - generally referred to by users as a "caddy"?

Anyway...if you've connected this "caddy" to two PCs and experienced the same problem does it occur to you that it's a defective component? Or are you reasonably certain it's non-defective?

 

[starship2000]

It's a USB caddy, like - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dynamode-SATA-External-Housing-inch/dp/B000UO9I54

When I say "plug in the caddy SATA", I mean the SATA drive is in the caddy, not the SSD

"SSD caddy" works fine, so caddy is fine IMO.

Thanks

 

[ArtPog]

1. OK. It's what we would call here in the "colonies" a USB external enclosure. We normally use the term "caddy" for the type of component (or something slightly different) I mentioned previously. I just wanted to make it clear for myself what we were dealing with here.

2. Let me get something straight. Your previous 500 GB HDD functioned without problems in the laptop.

3. Then you uninstalled the HDD and installed a 60 GB SSD in the laptop and that drive also functions without problems in the laptop.

4. At this point I'm unclear...are you indicating that at some point you installed the 500 GB HDD in the USB enclosure and the current laptop and another PC could not detect that drive?

5. But when you returned the 500 GB to the laptop as its boot drive it booted and functioned without problems?

6. And you did the same procedures with the 60 GB SSD? You installed that drive in the USB enclosure at some point and the two systems did not detect it? But it works fine as a boot drive in the laptop.

 

[starship2000]

The 500GB works normally in the laptop, as the main drive. Ran various HD tests, no bad blocks.
Installed 60GB SSD, formatted and installed Windows 8.1, no issues
Put 500GB in the USB external enclosure, with the 60GB SSD installed in the laptop and it won't read, says format the drive.
Returned 500GB as boot drive, no issues.
The 60GB SDD, works fine as boot and externally.

 

[ArtPog]

I honestly don't know what the problem could be. It doesn't seem to make much sense that you have two drives that are obviously non-defective since both of them can boot and properly function. When you install the SSD in the USB external enclosure - no problem. But when you install the HDD the USB external enclosure apparently detects the installed drive but sees it as an unformatted disk.

So the bottom line here is that ONLY the HDD results in a problem when installed in that USB external enclosure, although the enclosure DOES DETECT a drive has been installed, right? (I was speculating that it might be necessary to provide auxiliary power to the 2.5" HDD since it's sometimes necessary to do so when the drive is connected as a USB external device. But the times we've run into that situation the external enclosure would not detect that a drive had been installed; in your situation the drive IS detected as an unformatted drive.) Do you have any other drives - SSD and/or HDD - for testing purposes?

Can you install the HDD in another PC as a secondary drive or in the same PC if you can install it internally, and see the outcome?

 

[starship2000]

Everything you've said is correct.

I've installed the HDD as a secondary drive in a PC and all the partitions display fine

 

[ArtPog]

I just don't know. Everything seems to point to some sort of a problem with the USB external enclosure or the USB cable involved or perhaps even a USB port on the device, but it apparently works just fine with at least one other drive.

Since the 2.5" drive is a HDD (and not a SSD) are you ensuring that its internal connection within the USB enclosure is properly secured? I wish you could lay your hands on another USBEHD enclosure for testing purposes.

 

[starship2000]

I've got another old IDE USB external enclosure and tried that cable, same problem.

I've borrowed a 2.5 HDD drive to test in the enclosure and it works fine.

So, it looks like it's the 500GB HDD in some way

What would stop Windows from recognising the partitions?

 

[ArtPog]

First of all...how could you use an USB external enclosure with an IDE interface for a SATA HDD? That type of enclosure is designed to house an IDE drive; how could you possibly install a SATA-type drive in such a device?

You've previously indicated the 500 GB HDD functioned without problems as an internally-connected drive so it seems it's non-defective. You could test it further with a HDD diagnostic program - preferably one from the disk's manufacturer. Or if it's feasible just delete all the partitions on the drive, "clean" it with DiskPart and re:initialize, partition, and format the drive.

 

[starship2000]

Sorry, forget the IDE, I just used it to check the cable

I borrowed a 2.5 HDD drive to test in the USB SATA enclosure and it works fine.

I know I could format etc. Just annoying we can't work out the cause.

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated.

 

[ArtPog]

The ONLY thing that occurs to me - and it's a longshot - is that there's some anomaly in the HDD's SATA connector and/or the USB 2.0 external enclosure that as a result prevents the drive from properly mating with the enclosure's SATA data connector.

Could you not invest in a USB 3.0 enclosure designed for a 2.5" drive? They're cheap enough - frequently under $10 and at least you would have a USB 3.0 capability. A shot-in-the-dark but something to consider.

 

[starship2000]

But the borrowed SATA drive works fine in the USB enclosure.

 

[ArtPog]

I was unaware the borrowed USB enclosure was a USB 3.0 device although it's true the distinction may not be relevant at all. I was just grasping at straws as it were.

Well, I guess you can just keep it around and hope you'll come across a USB external enclosure in which it can be utilized, or as a more-or less last resort use one of those SATA-to-USB adapter cables. They're cheap enough and some of them actually work!

 

[starship2000]

Thanks