Help with external HD (partition not showing up)...

R

ryams27

New Member
Hey guys,

I have a 1 TB external HD that is broken up into three partitions. For some reason, only two of three partitions will appear in Windows Vista. When I had it connected to my now out-of-commission desktop which ran XP, all partitions showed up and were accessible with no problem.

Can anyone offer any insight as to what's causing this and/or how to fix it? As luck would have it, my entire music library is on the one partition that won't show up, so I've been unable to access my music since my desktop has been down. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

My Computer

System One

Check for assigned drive letter in Vista. it could also be a corruption problem with the partition, or a format that cannot be read by Vista.

What is the third partition formated to?, and have you tried running Check disk on the external?

10202d1234934006-how-make-vista-more-responsive-faster-check-disk.gif


To access Manage utility:
start>in search bar, type,manage>click "computer management">click "continue">click "Storage-Disk Management"
 
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My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    T7600G Core2Duo 2.66 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Intel 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
    Memory
    4GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobility Radeon x1900 256MB
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    WUXGA 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    640GB 7200RPM SATA/RAID 0 (2x320GB)
    and 320GB 7200RPM External
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft 3000
    Internet Speed
    10 mbps/2 mbps
    Other Info
    Optical Drive:
    Panasonic UJ-220 DL BD-RE (Blu-Ray)
Thanks for the response.

I've actually made sure that it wasn't due to drive letter assignments. And I don't think the partition is bad because it used to show up in XP and at the same time would not show up in Vista (on my laptop).

I have yet to run chkdsk because I don't know how--after all, the drive I'd want to check isn't showing up.

The drive and all its partitions are formatted to NTFS.
 

My Computer

System One

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My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    T7600G Core2Duo 2.66 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Intel 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
    Memory
    4GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobility Radeon x1900 256MB
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    WUXGA 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    640GB 7200RPM SATA/RAID 0 (2x320GB)
    and 320GB 7200RPM External
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft 3000
    Internet Speed
    10 mbps/2 mbps
    Other Info
    Optical Drive:
    Panasonic UJ-220 DL BD-RE (Blu-Ray)
Now if the partition in question shows in disk management you can run a disk check on it, by clicking the partition in question, selecting properties>tools>Error-Checking: "check Now" check both boxes (like you see below), and click "start".

10202d1234934006-how-make-vista-more-responsive-faster-check-disk.gif
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    T7600G Core2Duo 2.66 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Intel 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
    Memory
    4GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobility Radeon x1900 256MB
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    WUXGA 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    640GB 7200RPM SATA/RAID 0 (2x320GB)
    and 320GB 7200RPM External
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft 3000
    Internet Speed
    10 mbps/2 mbps
    Other Info
    Optical Drive:
    Panasonic UJ-220 DL BD-RE (Blu-Ray)
rive0108 said:
Now if the partition in question shows in disk management you can run a disk check on it, by clicking the partition in question, selecting properties>tools>Error-Checking: "check Now" check both boxes (like you see below), and click "start".

10202d1234934006-how-make-vista-more-responsive-faster-check-disk.gif
Click to expand...

The partition in question shows up in Disk Management, but everytime I click on "properties" I get an error message that the operation cannot be performed because the view is not up-to-date and that I need to refresh. I've refreshed several times to no avail.

Below is a screenshot of disk management:

2vnkg8p.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

The drive partition in question, is either corrupted, or damaged and while the partition is visable, and managed to work in xp, It has no assigned drive letter in vista, and the format is not recognized. I think it due to NTFS file allocation corruption, or bad sectors- this may indicate drive failure is emminent, and total loss of data on that corrupted partition.

You need to access a XP machine, copy the contents off the partition (try a library if no one you know has XP) WHILE YOU STILL CAN, it is very likely that it is severely corrupted (NTFS), and that you will lose all access to this partition even in xp in the near future. Have you never performed disk checks on your external HDD partitions?

then go back to Vista Disk utility, and format it to NTFS/BASIC/SIMPLE and assign drive letter G. You may have to repair bad sectors (if possible), or reformat/repair the entire HDD. If sectors are not fixable, Vista will not use them.


The issue here is that switching from XP to Vista causes all kinds of issues- you may have difficulty accessing/coping/deleting data off the HDD due to User permissions/Ownership. It is recommended to completely format the external HDD in Vista, and re-assign drive letters to assure complete compatability. This is simple- merely copy all contents off the partitions to Vista, DELETE all partitions, format to SIMPLE/BASIC/NTFS, partition (If you want), and assign drive letters, and then copy contents back to it.
 
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My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    T7600G Core2Duo 2.66 Ghz
    Motherboard
    Intel 945PM + ICH7 Chipset
    Memory
    4GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Mobility Radeon x1900 256MB
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    WUXGA 17"
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    640GB 7200RPM SATA/RAID 0 (2x320GB)
    and 320GB 7200RPM External
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft 3000
    Internet Speed
    10 mbps/2 mbps
    Other Info
    Optical Drive:
    Panasonic UJ-220 DL BD-RE (Blu-Ray)
so no matter htf it is brand new, the same can happen?.. this is the second exteranal I'm buying. I bought the identic as the other... nothing wrong ever happened with the other as to p^lug-it in and all.... so... wtf is wrong w this one? let me guess... "I go back to the store" -))
 

My Computer

System One

Ghis1964 said:
so no matter htf it is brand new, the same can happen?.. this is the second exteranal I'm buying. I bought the identic as the other... nothing wrong ever happened with the other as to p^lug-it in and all.... so... wtf is wrong w this one? let me guess... "I go back to the store" -))
Click to expand...

Worst than that I guess.... it think's that it's the first drive... it's not, but it believes it is it without ever showin-up anywhere.
 

My Computer

System One

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