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Author Topic: Laptop no longer recognizes external hard drive  (Read 3377 times)

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Mark1

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    Laptop no longer recognizes external hard drive
    « on: June 24, 2008, 08:45:17 AM »
    I have a Western Digital 160GB external hard drive that connects via usb port. Recently when I connect the external hard drive to my laptop (Dell Latitude D505 with Windows XP) it no longer starts automatically. The unit does power up and come on, it just doesn't show up under "My computer" as a drive that I can access (although it does show up under Device Manager as one of the disk drives).

    I've run diagnostics on it and it says it is working properly and I even hooked it up to a friends computer and it works fine so it's not a problem with the hard drive itself. This problem started over the weekend after my son loaded a Creative Zen Stone mp3 player software and connected that to my laptop. After that it stopped recognizing my external hard drive. Any suggestions? Thanks so much.

    Carbon Dudeoxide

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    Re: Laptop no longer recognizes external hard drive
    « Reply #1 on: June 24, 2008, 08:51:35 AM »
    If you find out the exact model of your External Hard Drive on the Manufacturer's website, locate and reinstall the drivers.

    Mark1

      Topic Starter


      Newbie

      Re: Laptop no longer recognizes external hard drive
      « Reply #2 on: June 24, 2008, 09:03:56 AM »
      No drivers for my model are available on the Western Digital website as it says that for Windows XP that the drivers are already installed. The only driver available for download for my model of external hard drive (Western Digital My Book Essential model WD1600C032) was for Windows 98SE. I went to the Microsoft Windows download site and it showed that I already had the most updated driver for that hard drive on my system. What should I do now? Thanks!

      Carbon Dudeoxide

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      Re: Laptop no longer recognizes external hard drive
      « Reply #3 on: June 24, 2008, 09:14:18 AM »
      At this point, I would try using System Restore to a date BEFORE your son loaded the Creative Zen mp3 software.

      drmsucks



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        Re: Laptop no longer recognizes external hard drive
        « Reply #4 on: June 24, 2008, 09:54:06 PM »
        @Mark1 - Have you tried a different USB port?
        If you don't have time to do it right
                        ...when will you have time to do it over?