Installed USB drive not visible in My Computer

[jb7412]

Just plugged in an external USB 2 drive and it was recognized by my computer (OS is XP Home). However, it does not show up on the list of drives when I double click My Computer. It does show up under device manager and shows it is working fine. Driver is the latest. Why can't I see it when in My Computer? Any ideas? Thanks!

[steveneven]

never used an external USB drive, so this is just a guess.

Sometimes when you add a brand new HDD to your computer, you will find that because it is not formatted it will not appear in My Computer, to get round this try the following:

click Start> Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management>

You should see a list to the left, under the heading Storage you will see disk management

You will probably see your disk in this list, Right click on the disk and choose Format.

When you have finished formatting the disk, it should appear in My Computer.

This works when adding new SATA disk drives, however I have never used an external USB drive, so you will have to post back to let me know if it works for you.

SE (Dave)

[Real-tiner]

You have to boot for the drive to appear.

[jb7412]

never used an external USB drive, so this is just a guess.

Sometimes when you add a brand new HDD to your computer, you will find that because it is not formatted it will not appear in My Computer, to get round this try the following:

click Start> Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management>

You should see a list to the left, under the heading Storage you will see disk management

You will probably see your disk in this list, Right click on the disk and choose Format.

When you have finished formatting the disk, it should appear in My Computer.

This works when adding new SATA disk drives, however I have never used an external USB drive, so you will have to post back to let me know if it works for you.

SE (Dave)

Steveneven, thx fror the response; however, I had already tried that. It does not show up under the Disk Management tab either. I'm still searching for help and will keep trying. This is pretty frustrating for something that should be extremely easy. So much for plug and play. :lol:

[oalee]

does it show up in the device manager?

[jb7412]

Thx everyone.

I solved the problem, but in a roundabout way. I plugged the drive into a machine that still had Windows 98 as the OS. Then installed using the driver that came with the drive. It worked fine with 98. I then formatted the drive. Then plugged it back into my Win XP computer and it was recognized instantly. Still not sure why XP would not recognize it..but at least it is working.

[steveneven]

Glad you got it resolved, but like you said, so much for plug and play!

Also kinda lucky you had access to the other machine.

SE(Dave)

[oalee]

lesson learned:

"All storage medias are supposed to be formatted before it can be put into any use."
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[bercomm]

Just had such a problem with hard disks I bought and pre assembled (much cheaper...).
If not formatted they will not appear although mounted. Your solution worked perfectly in my case...Thanks again.
Bercomm

never used an external USB drive, so this is just a guess.

Sometimes when you add a brand new HDD to your computer, you will find that because it is not formatted it will not appear in My Computer, to get round this try the following:

click Start> Control Panel> Administrative Tools> Computer Management>

You should see a list to the left, under the heading [b]Storage[/b] you will see [b]disk management[/b]

You will probably see your disk in this list, Right click on the disk and choose Format.

When you have finished formatting the disk, it should appear in My Computer.

This works when adding new SATA disk drives, however I have never used an external USB drive, so you will have to post back to let me know if it works for you.

SE (Dave)

[visor]

The problem also could have been because of a drive letter conflict. this happened to me some time back. I could see the USB drive in other computers but not on my work computer (I previously was able to use it on that computer. but then I added some network drives and later when I tried the USB drive, it did not show up in My computer).

Took me quite a while to figure this stoopid issue out, and then I went to Computer Management and changed the drive letter. only then did it show up.

Hope I've helped.
Visor

[SOURIN]

The problem also could have been because of a drive letter conflict. this happened to me some time back. I could see the USB drive in other computers but not on my work computer (I previously was able to use it on that computer. but then I added some network drives and later when I tried the USB drive, it did not show up in My computer).

Took me quite a while to figure this stoopid issue out, and then I went to Computer Management and changed the drive letter. only then did it show up.

Hope I've helped.
Visor

Yes, I had the same problem while displaying the ext. HDs in My Computer,
and used the same method to change the drive names after booting.

The allocation of drive designations is still a mystery - specially, in connection
with OS installation with more than one physical hard drive. For example:
logical C:,D:,E:,F: and G:,H:,I:,J: with OSs in D: and G: (dual boot). Windows
forces G: to become E:, but I want to name it (physical drive 1, partition 1)**
G: and not E:. One can not change the designation of a booting partition
afterwards. The D: in the preceding line is physical 0, partition 2. It appears
that there is only an empirical (try and see) solution. No one understands what
is going on, except perhaps the MS Gurus with no time to spare or explain.

Also, bigger external USB drives show up only after I switch off the HD and
switch it on again (with OS running & bigLBAenabled in the registry).

But for now, I have come across another mysterious behaviour: if I connect
two or three external drives, then only the last one shows up in the 'safely
remove hardware' panel. If this last one is disconnected, then nothing is shown
in the window. Unplugging the second USB drive then results in an error message,
followed by a barrage of the nagging windows '.... could not save $...' notes.
I am talking about W2k and XP. Wonder what is in store for the future (i.e. if MS
still has the upper hand)!

My present solution is to shut down the computer - but one can not always do
that if a long second task is running in the background.

Sourin

PS: I am using formatted EHDs - necessary but trivial.

** - there are zillions of reasons for it, but please don't ask me 'why?' now.

[portablehdd]

Try to uninstall the USB driver and then install it. Now it should detect .

Thanks and regards
portable hard drives

[SOURIN]

Did you try it out yourself?

SB