External Hard Drive Not Showing Up after Disconnect/Reconnect

[Eric]

I am using a desktop PC running Windows Vista.

I generally store very little information on my internal hard drive and therefore usually use one of several external hard drives. Currently, one of my hard drives is giving me an annoying issue. Whenever I plug it into the USB adaptor, the computer will recognize it and it works correctly. However, if I disconnect it, and then come back later and connect it again, the computer will only recognize the virtual CD and not the actual drive. Meaning, it does not show the drive letter under "My Computer" or disk management. It only shows the virtual CD.  I can fix this by completely rebooting my computer, but this is pretty frustrating.

All of my other hard drives work and I can connect and disconnect them freely without this problem. This only occurs with one specific external drive.

1> Plug in, works fine, recognizes drive and virtual CD.
2> Unplug, come back and plug back in, only Virtual CD shows.
3> No drive under "My computer" or Disk Management, only the virtual CD (which I don't use).
4> Other external drives do not give me this issue.

Also, this Ext. ED is a black WD portal type. It runs off USB power. My other hard drives are the same type and work fine.

Any help would be appreciated. I will be unavailable to reply for approx. 45-50minutes after posting this, but will get back soon after.

Thanks.

[patio]

IMHO its not the fault of the external HDD...it's the virtual drive software...

What app is it that created it ?
Check their Docs for troubleshooting issues.

Meanwhile re-boot and get the external fully recognised.
From Disk Management give the external HDD a Volume Label...

Then rite clik it and assign it a drive letter at least 2 letters away from the virtual drive.
Save changes exit and re-boot and you should be good to go...

[Eric]

Ok, I'll try it and edit this post when I'm finished.

Also, regarding your question, as far as I know, an app did not create the virtual CD. It came pre-loaded on the external drive and offers options such as locking the drive. I've never used it. I looked into removing it but it seemed more trouble than it was worth so I generally just ignore it. If it is the culprit, I might try finding instructions to remove it later.

Rebooting now.~

Edit:
Ok, the External HD already has a volume label is currently 7 letters away from the Virtual CD.


Should I still change the drive letter and reboot again?

[patio]

I'ne heard nothin good about the WD software for external HDD's...
Everything from losing file access to a total data loss...
If it were me and i had enough free space i'd copy/move the data elsewhere...do a complete format and wipr the drive.

[Eric]

Well, that may be true, but I've had this PC and this external HD for several years and the software has never posed a problem other than asking to be run when the drive is plugged in. I'm not sure if the software is related to the problem or if for some reason Windows isn't recognizing when I've disconnected the external HD and therefore doesn't show/recognize/do anything when it is plugged back in. I'll wait to see if there's any more suggestions before buying another HD just in case...