external hard drive

I have a second hand external 40Gb hard drive. When I connect it PC shows new hardware installed and ready to use and it shows up in device manager disc drives but does not show up in my computer and I can not seem to "send to" it. Any ideas as it worked the first time I used it but now will not!

Hi ,

Have you tried remapping the HD ? By that I mean changing the letter of the drive in disk manager - if a CD / DVD / HD shares the same network lettering path as any other device then it simply will not show as installed and is unusable .

Right click My Computer > click manage > disk management > right click on the external drive and choose option > change drive letter and paths > change to a different letter.

This should resolve the issue .

Hi cyberjunkee

Thanks for your help. I tried your instructions but unfortunately the external hard drive does not show up in disk management. Just my main C drive, D and E drives show but not the external one. I bought it for a fiver off a work mate and he hadn't ever used it in the 3 years he had it! Think it might be corrupted/bust though it did work last week? Might have to "kiss it bye bye"?. Thanks for your help though, first time I've ever used a forum like this. It's v good, thanks again.

More than welcome , very useful site to be a member of

Try this , seeing as the drive worked previously :

Turn your computer off, then unplug the USB cable and then the power to the drive. Restart you computer, plug the power into the hard drive, wait 10 seconds and then plug the USB
into the computer. This clears the hard drive buffer. See if the drive shows up in disk management. Before formating, turn off your antivirus.

Try using a different USB port also, forcing windows to recognise the hd . Also make sure that the jumpers are set correctly ( dependent on make of hd )

Did the external HD make any strange noises when you had it working before ? Whirring or grinding noises are a surefire sign the internal motor on the HD is on it's way to HD heaven .

Also check if the external drive casing requires any specific drivers - most are plug and play but some external drive enclosures require specific drivers .

Hi...again

Tried different usb ports and re jumpers, they were no little rubber things to cover any wires so guessed didn't need any. It made a horrendous noise when it worked, a horrid whirring sound, and I thought, bugger me this is noisy!! Have tried restarting pc with it in place, reconnecting and all various combinations. Have uninstalled in device manager, reinstalled and I rather liked your expression of HD heaven!! Think the time has come!! I really appreciate the time you've spent in replying. I know alittle about pc's, all learned by messing up and learning but you're obviously very knowledgable. Thanx again. So where can I get a decent 40Gb hard drive!!!!!?????

No problems ,

If you want a decent 40 gig + HD - depending on whether it's SATA or IDE . The whirring noise you describe = bin it !! - Depending if your pc can run SATA these are actually less expensive than the old IDE drives ( attached with pin ribbons ) . You can get a decent 40 gig SATA drive from Ebay for around £20 - make sure the seller gives warranty , that way your garunteed a working and replacable drive . Retailers such as pc world , etc are vastly overpriced . My current 250 gig external SATA cost me less than £40 from Ebay .

If you need any further help just give us a holla

farewell oh 40 gig HD lol

Found a 100 gig on amazon for 39.99 so reckon i'll go with that. the now dead hd was ide but how do i know which one i need? ide or sta? sorry for being dull!!

An IDE HD has a " 40 way " connector and 3 pin power supply - the connector is like a ribbon , similar you'd find attached to a floppy drive . I don't know how old your pc is , but if you use the above D-A-L scan it will be able to tell you the motherboard in your pc , just copy and paste the results and I can check for you if the board will support SATA . The enclosure you are using should be recognisable as an IDE or SATA by the type of connector - no use wasting a perfectly good external exclosure .

BTW you can get a much larger HD for that sort of cash - 200 gig easily .