Hi my verbatim 320gb portable hard drive and my 3tb toshiba external hard drive wont show up on my laptops or my tv anymore even though the data is upto date on them both and says both devices working properly dont know what to do mate hope you can help me please

SOURCE: phillips external hard drive

If its an usb drive, no driver is required. The drive will show itself in My Computer after it is commected. Uninstall the driver, shut down, connect the device to the computer and start the computer.Tell me if it works. Also, when posting a question, give full details.

SOURCE: Maxtor Basics external portable hard drive not getting detected

I have a Western digital model wd2500b007-rnn
and I cannot get either my PC or my laptop to recognize the drive. I isolated the drive to another computer with the same error. It says USB device not reognized. I also tried a different port. I have not tried different cables. Can I retrieve the old data on the drive?

Did you find a resolution for this? I am having the same problem. None of my PCs can recognize the drive. Formatting seems to be the only choice but I need to recover my old data first.

SOURCE: External hard drive shown as portable disk and does not work

hi

i think the hard drive is ageing,

if you are past warranty try to open up the casing and try to see if you can connect the HDD to connect individually else where (like with another casing or Laptop PC) if still not connecting then the problem is with the HDD

else the problem may be with the casing

cheers
pls rate if this was any help

SOURCE: Iomega Prestige 1.5TB external hard drive won't start-up properly

Try replacing the power supply. Especially if all you get is a beep and no drive motor noise. The power supply is 12 V, 1.5 A, center positive polarity. Iomega may even replace it for free if the drive is still under warranty. But don't use the phone. Use their free chat-live service. Again, assuming the drive is still under warranty, which is a year, I think.

SOURCE: Toshiba 320gb external drive is not detected by any laptop...

Hello

Okay , so there are some steps to figure out what is wrong with your external.

Firstly , if your computer makes a sound when you plug in your external , go to Start-Control Panel-Administrative Tools-Computer Management-Disk Management , and see if your external drive is listed here with your local drives. If it is listed , right click on the drive and change the drive letter to make it appear in "my computer".

If your drive does not make a connection sound when connecting to your computer and also does not show up , please follow the next step.

Remove the hard drive from the casing if possible and install it in your computer case or another external case.If the drive works , the problem is with the casing and you can ignore the drive.

Now , if the problem is with the casing , there are still 3 possibilities.

1. The USB cable between the drive and the computer may be damaged.
2. The circuit board which connects your drive to the interface of the external may be blown.
3. The power supply (if applicable) may have a blown transformer.

The latter is the easiest to diagnose , does your external light up at all when you plug in the power? If not , then this is probably your problem. On the bottom of the adapter is a label which you will be able to use to have a new adapter made at your local electronics shop and this will cost about $30 max. They will also be able to test the adapter with a clamp meter to see if this is really the problem and this should be free.

The second component you want to test is the USB cable. If you have a printer , swop out the cables and see if your printer functions normally. Most externals use the same connector so you should be able to test it in this manner. If the cable works go on to the last step. If the cable is defective , replace it with a new one which you can find for about $10 at most electronics and chain stores.

The last component to test is the circuit board. This is a bit of a grey zone as you probably won't be able to spot the blown component unless it failed really badly. With the casing already opened , locate the external's circuit board and check to see if you have any blackened components or fluids leaking from some components. If all the other components of the external worked perfectly , then this is the faulty part. It is not really economical to replace the circuit as most of the time it is out of production by the time you need to replace it and it still costs a lot even if it is available so if your drive is working perfectly when connected via sata or IDE on your computer , the best is to buy a new casing and place your old drive in the new casing.

A casing costs about $50 and you could get it at most tech shops and big chain stores like Best Buy.

I hope this solves your problem and please reply if you need more help.

Kind Regards
Andrea