Harddrive-Cannot Find

For to long, by necessity, I have been backing up from one internal harddrive to another internal harddrive and it works fine. What I want to do is backup to an external harddrive that I can switch out and take off site.

For some reason, my system is not recognizing any external harddrive. I have tried 3 differant brands which are recognized just fine on other computers. Does anyone have any idea as to what could be the problem with my system?

 

Hello Roger Macon,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Products!

Please read the public Knowledge Base article 1515: Acronis Product Does Not Detect Hard Disks in Windows and follow its instructions in order to resolve the issue.

Thank you.
Daniel Pustovoy

 

Acronis-Daniel,

Thanks for responding! I think Acronis TI is working just fine. I never get far enough to even try anything with TI. My problem is that when I connect an external harddrive (Seagate, Western Digital etc.) my computer system is not seeing the harddrive at all. It never shows up as a new drive in Windows Explorer. I think that if my system would recognize the harddrive then TI could find it as well.

I only ask the question here because I thought someone here might have some idea as to what might be causing the problem or could direct me to a location where someone would.

Acronis TI has always worked very well for me and I do not think that this is in anyway a TI problem.

 

Whar operating system are you running? Is The drive formatted?

 

My OS is WinXPpro SP2. I have an unpartitoned internal C-drive and a 2nd unpartitoned internal G-drive. There are other drives shown for such things as CD/DVD etc. which all work just fine. There has been no special formating (if I am referring to your question correctly) of the internal drives other than NFS or NTS or something like that and the external drives are formatted the same.

Thanks for responding!

 

When you plug your external drive in do you get the windows insert tone?

I'm assuming you have an external USB attached hard drive?

 

Typically I do get an inset tone. The external harddrives I have tested (Seagate, Western Digital etc.) are USB.

 

Go into Disk Management with the drive plugged in and take a screen snapshot of what displays and post here.

 

Snifferpro,

Thanks for looking at this with me. I can find Device Manager but not sure where Disk Manager is Located.

I took a screen shot using SnagIT (at Window Explorer) BEFORE I plugged in the Western Digital "My Passport Essential" external harddrive. I then plugged in the harddrive and heard the insert tone. I then took an AFTER screen shot and as can be seen-nothing change-the external harddrive does not show up. After I took the AFTER screen shot, but before typing AFTER on the screen shot, my system locked up and I had to re-boot. This is typical (not related to SnagIT) everytime I plug in an external harddrive, brand does not matter, to the USB port my system locks up and I have to re-boot. I was surprised to discover that the AFTER screen shot was still in SnagIT after the re-boot.

 

For disk management;

Start
Control Panel
Administrative Tools
Computer Management
Storage
Disk Management


The fact that your system hangs when you plug in a USB hard drive indicates a problem.

Do you have any other USB devices plugged in?

Go to Device Manage and take a snap shot and post.

 

The only other USB device connected is my printer but it has been connected for +-2 years and I had the external harddrives (Kangaroo-60G's to swap out weekly) connected and used just for backup for YEARS prior to the printer. The problem started about 6 months ago when I bought larger harddrives (Kangaroo-200G's to swap out weekly) to use. I then bought a Seagate to use but no success. Now i am trying the Western Digital mentioned and still no success.

 

Roger, just to clear up some terminology. You do have partitioned HDs. There is one partition on each HD. But the serious error is the partitions have no drive letters in Disk Management. Drive letters are present in My Computer. A Google search finds several similar situations but none with an answer.

I saw a computer last week where USB flash drives had drive letters in Disk Management but not in My Computer. Cause unknown so far.

 

Hi Roger,

From thread #9, my understanding is that Removable Disk (I) was an invalid device in your PC. This could be due to corrupted device driver or device driver did not configure correctly when an USB device was inserted previously.

My suggestion is go to Device Manager, uninstall this device before attaching the USB hard disk.

 

In Disk Management try right clicking on the empty drive and assign a drive letter like Z

 

Brian, JCtay & Snifferpro : Thanks for the feedback

Brian,
Now I understand-the entire HD is considered one partition.

JCtay & Snifferpro,
Should I try one of the suggestion first and should I do a backup before doing one of the suggestions?

 

I would definitely make a full backup before making any changes.

 

Does anyone know why Roger doesn't have HD drive letters in Disk Management?

 

A long shot but maybe he used a utility e.g TweakUI that allows you to limit the letters available for drives and accidently unlisted all letters

I am running Vista but I remember using TweakUI for that purpose in XP.

 

After taking a closer look, the Removable Disk (I) is in fact the built-in memory card reader of your printer HP psc 2175. It’s a valid device and hence it should not be removed or uninstalled from the device manager.

 

Roger,

Could you try this test. Connect an external HD. I know you won't be able to see it in My Computer. But does it appear in Disk Management? With or without a drive letter?

I hope your computer doesn't lockup before you view Disk Management.

 

Found this article:
Newly Formatted Drive Not Available in Windows Explorer

Note that the recommended procedure only applicable directly to Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003.

 

I did a full backup but before going further but decided to stop in to see if there had been any further comment.

jctay

I am glad you noticed that the (I) drive related to the printer and should not be touched. I saw the mention in properties of HP psc 2175 and I know that is my printer but had no idea what it might be relating to for sure. I do that very easily sometimes. I read your article link but the Registry is a place I have never gone alone. I avoid going there like I avoid touching my (I) Drive in Windows Explorer-see below.

Tatou

Your mention of TweakUI is very interesting. I have never done anything with TweakUI (not sure if I have ever heard of it) and do not know if, or why, anyone else who has worked on my computer would have done anything with it. However, in the June edition of Smart Computing (I seldom read very tech things) by coincidence I happened to read, before coming to this forum today, the following Q & A that referenced TweakUI. It is the first Question.

http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2f2009%2fs2006%2f02s06%2f02s06.asp&articleid=55797&guid=B37B23FD4B3C4358ACF3DABF10008D35

Brian

I tried your test. First I opened up Disk Management so I could at least see what happened before I plugged in the external HD. I then plugged in the external HD, heard the insert tone, but did not see any change after waiting a while and doing a Refresh. Once again I was able to get a screen capture but did not post it for nothing changed. The computer did freeze, could not get out of SnagIT, and I had to re-boot.

I am very aware of the (I) Drive in Windows Explorer and I am careful to avoid it. If I remember correctly, I have clicked on it or the (+) in the past and the computer freezes up and I have to re-boot.

 

Roger, another test for you.

Shut the computer down. Disconnect the HP printer from your computer. Pull the computer AC power plug from the wall, for 5 minutes.

Reconnect computer power but leave the printer disconnected from the computer. Boot into Windows and try connecting an external HD. Does it still cause your computer to freeze?

 

Have you tried assigning a drive letter in Device Managfement?

Can you snapshot your Device Manager?

 

Brian

I tested exactly as you suggested and had Disk Management on screen so I could watch for a change. When I connected the external HD I heard the insert tone but could see no change. As always, I can move the cursor and do just a few things but quickly the computer locks up. As is typical I can start shut down using the Windows Task Manager but that only takes me so far then I have power off.

snifferpro

Attached is a screen shot of the Device Manager with one additional window open. The screen shot was made before shut down and running the test Brian suggested above.