Toshiba External Hard Drive not showing on new PC?

[VikingIdiot]

Hey there. I have an issue with my Toshiba External Hard Drive not showing up on my new PC. Shows up just fine on my old PC, but doesn't so much as show up in drive management on my new pc. The only real difference between the two systems being the new PC is much faster, and it has 3.0 USB hubs instead of 2.0 USB hubs... I'm about 98% the files are there, the new PC just isn't picking it up.

I'll note, though I don't know how much it has to do with anything, my drive when plugged into my old PC will show as a white light and blink white, where on my new PC it is a solid blue color and doesn't flash. And again, on my new PC, doesn't even register or show up as a partition. I will also note, every other USB item I've plugged into the same USB port functions (mouse, keyboard, speakers, thumb drives) and I've tried multiple other ports.

It isn't the kind that requires an external power source (just like a giant thumb drive). It has 500 GB's total, and had about 700mb or so free last I had it open on my old PC. This is a link to the same make and model as mine. https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA64?th=1

Any ideas on how to access my stuff on my new PC? 

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[DaveLembke]

Do you have any thumb drives to test on this USB port to see if its a bad port on new computer? It could be possible for 2 of 4 wires to make connection to power the drive but no data communication on the other 2 wires. If other data devices such as a thumb drive work fine then it is likely a driver issue where the controller in the external hard drive Windows doesnt have the proper driver to mount this drive.

Solutions to gain access to your data at the new computer are:

- Locate the driver needed for Toshiba External USB drive support for your OS and install it so it knows how to mount this drive on new PC.
- Move the hard drive inside to a different external drive caddy that the newer OS supports the drivers for
- Remove the HDD from the Toshiba external case and mount it direct to a SATA Data and Power connection to a desktop computer
- Connect to the old computer through a network share, and have this older computer connected to the Toshiba external drive and then from newer computer access the data on the Toshiba drive through the network share with new computer connected over network to old computer. Old computer has no problems with driver support to mount this drive and so you have access to the data.
- Use a newer external hard drive that new computer can use, connect this to old computer and copy entire drive from old drive to new drive and now you have it accessible on new computer.
- Connect Toshiba drive to old computer and connect a say 64GB USB stick to the old computer and copy data needed to the 64GB drive. When done properly dismount the USB stick and connect it to new computer and now you have access to your data for specific data you needed that was lesser than 64GB in size. Larger flash drive could be used, but external hard drives are cheaper for large storage capacity.

*Myself if faced with this, I would probably just connect to the old computer with a network share to this drive as the cheapest solution to getting the data to the new computer. Or use a USB stick at old computer and copy the data needed from external to the USB stick and use the USB stick on the new computer.

Lastly... if the USB power is weak on the new computers USB port and this is a small external hard drive where its powered directly from the USB port, you could have a condition where the drive cant function because not enough power to spin the drive up and function. This is one main reason why i personally avoid the smaller external hard drives that are powered off of USB. I have had troubles with them and weak USB power connections. So I go for the ones that have the power adapter to not be powered off of USB and have their own power source independent of the PC that they connect to.

[VikingIdiot]

Yeah, I've got some thumb drives and I've tested them on all the ports on my new PC, and they open up just fine. Just my EHD having the issue, and I'm not sure why because it opens up fine on my old PC still.

I'll give some things on the list a try. I'll update you with my progress. Thank you! I didn't have a clue where to start.

[Computer_Commando]

I assume the Toshiba External Hard Drive is powered only from the USB?
Powered or un-powered hubs?
USB 3.0 needs more power than USB 2.0.

I have no problems with USB hard drives on older laptops with USB 3.0.
The drive won't work on newer machines with un-powered hubs.  They power on but are not "seen".

[VikingIdiot]

Hey! I tried a couple things and nothing really worked, and then I took into consideration the power levels needed for 3.0 usb ports, and funnily enough, I had a USB extender laying around for a very short-corded mouse I had a long time ago! Sure enough, I plugged the extender into the 3.0 port, and plugged my External Hard Drive into the 2.0 ports at the other end of the extender, and bingo, my files exist again!    Super simple work-around until I get a better External Hard Drive with a separate power supply.

Thanks so much for the help! It's not the perfect solution, but certainly the easiest!

[DaveLembke]

Awesome to hear you got it to power up and mount to the system to access your data.