[Solved] External hard drive not registering on PC

[mikejball]

Hi guys,

 

I recently bought a new laptop and put the hard drive of the old one in an external one so I could transfer the files. Now every time I plug it in (via usb) it doesn't come up on My Computer and I cannot access any of the files or programmes on it. Any ideas?

 

Thanks

[Jelly Bean]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

Are you saying you removed the old hard drive from another laptop and installed it in an external case?

Did the other laptop die?

What OS did the old one have as your new one has Windows 8?

Does the hard drive show in "Disk Managment"?

If yes you need to assign a letter to it,one that is not already assigned to another type drive.

Open "Run" type in this command diskmgmt.msc and hit enter on your keyboard.

 

Please let us know if the drive shows in there and how it is listed.

 

Thankyou,JB.

[mikejball]

Yes to the first and second, the motherboard was fried but the hard-drive perfectly intact. OS was the same. No it doesn't at the moment, it did come up as disk G, but not anymore.

[mikejball]

It was working about a week ago, but now, like I said, my pc wont even register it.

[Ray1000]

Mike,

 

Have you opened the enclosure to ensure the drive is still connected?

 

Can you hear or feel it start when you plug it in?

 

After a second or two can you hear the read mechanism activate?

 

Ray

[mikejball]

Ray, that solved it. Thanks for your help.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Mike glad that is all it was, it can sometimes only be a slight knock that will disconnect the drive from the plug inside the enclosure.

Good call Ray and thanks.

 

I will mark this solved.

 

Nev.

[Ray1000]

Thanks Nev,

 

If my enclosure is anything to go by the hard drives are hanging in mid air ... putting a short piece of draft excluder of similar around the bottom edge will solve the problem.

 

Make sure to choose something that only has the adhesive on one side.

 

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj161/JRD81/CIMG9887.jpg

 

Ray