External Hard Drive Issue

[Psychic Gibbon]

I recently received a WD 5000AAV External Hard Drive as a gift from a friend as he upgraded and I was in need of one, but every time I attempt to use it I am unable to access it. The computer (HP Pavilion dv2915 nr) seems to recognize that it is there but does not set up a new drive to access it and the only thing that happens is a 'Safely Remove Hardware' option. The friend used an iMac but the device was able to connect to Windows computers before so I don't think that is the problem. Currently I am stumped and frustrated as to how to fix this problem.

Is there a way to fix this or did I just receive a high tech paper weight? Thanks in advance.

 

[whs]

I recently received a WD 5000AAV External Hard Drive as a gift from a friend as he upgraded and I was in need of one, but every time I attempt to use it I am unable to access it. The computer (HP Pavilion dv2915 nr) seems to recognize that it is there but does not set up a new drive to access it and the only thing that happens is a 'Safely Remove Hardware' option. The friend used an iMac but the device was able to connect to Windows computers before so I don't think that is the problem. Currently I am stumped and frustrated as to how to fix this problem.

Is there a way to fix this or did I just receive a high tech paper weight? Thanks in advance.

Have a look in Disk Management whether the disk has a drive letter assigned. If not, right click on it and assign (any) one.

 

[Psychic Gibbon]

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Have a look in Disk Management whether the disk has a drive letter assigned. If not, right click on it and assign (any) one.

When I attempted this the only options not grayed out were 'Delete volume...' and 'Help'.

edit: When I checked the C drive properties it listed the external hard drive in the 'Hardware' tab. Is this the root of the problem?

 

[whs]

Ok, right click on the left part where it says Disk0, Disk1, etc. and try to "Initialize", then the letter.

 

[Psychic Gibbon]

The 'Initialize' option was not available when I clicked. I took a screenshot of what I'm getting, hopefully it helps:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/Khaoki/sigh.png

Also, I edited my previous quote, but I'll just say "When I checked the C drive properties it listed the external hard drive in the 'Hardware' tab. Is this the root of the problem?" again to avoid the possibility of missing that.

 

[whs]

Unfortunately, the right click menus obscure a lot of info. Could you post another picture without the right click menus. And also with the disk sizes in the upper part.

 

[whs]

The 'Initialize' option was not available when I clicked. I took a screenshot of what I'm getting, hopefully it helps:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/Khaoki/sigh.png

Also, I edited my previous quote, but I'll just say "When I checked the C drive properties it listed the external hard drive in the 'Hardware' tab. Is this the root of the problem?" No, that is a good sign. At least it is recognized - somehow. again to avoid the possibility of missing that.

see above.

 

[Psychic Gibbon]

Unfortunately, the right click menus obscure a lot of info. Could you post another picture without the right click menus. And also with the disk sizes in the upper part.

Here you go.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/Khaoki/sigh2.png

 

[whs]

OK, since there is no data on these volumes, I suggest to delete them (this is the only option anyhow) - both the 200MB and the 465GB. Then you may be able to define a new partition from all that free space.
If that will not work, we may have to use Partition Wizard Home Edition.

 

[Psychic Gibbon]

I was not able to delete the 200 MB partition but was able to delete the 465 GB partition. After that I was able to set up its own drive and is currently reformatting, though that process is taking ages.

Unless something goes horribly wrong I think the problem has been fixed. Thanks for the help! :D

 

[whs]

I was not able to delete the 200 MB partition but was able to delete the 465 GB partition. After that I was able to set up its own drive and is currently reformatting, though that process is taking ages.

Unless something goes horribly wrong I think the problem has been fixed. Thanks for the help! :D

Hmm, you should have done a quick format. But now you are hooked for a while. When you are done, download the Partition Wizard (see link above) to deal with the 200MB partition.

PS: I'll check tomorrow how you are doing because it is midnight in my neck of the woods.

 

[whs]

How did it work. Did you try the Partition Wizard to deal with the 200MB partition. It is funny that this drive (you said external drive) has this 200MB partition. Was that originally an internal drive. These small partitions are usually allocated for the MBR and for Bitlocker.