External HD not being recognized

[Jeff5886]

Hello,

I have a 1tb WD external hard drive. It worked fine up untill yesterday. When I pluged it to to some new computers at work, the computers will recognize the drive and begin to auto install it. Then I get the message saying "Your new hardware is ready for use". But then, its not visible in my computer nor can i see it in disk managment. I am using windows XP. Any help would be great.

Thanks
Jeff

BTW I have only used this drive on one other computer and it worked fine. Now, it wont work on any computers. I cant try it on the laptop it worked on before though. Also i have tried diffrent USB cables and still no luck.

 

[CCT]

"I cant try it on the laptop it worked on before though."

What does this mean? You no longer have the laptop or what?

Does it have a power supply or USB ps dongle?

What do you mean by "the computers will recognize the drive and begin to auto install it" - p&p just makes the alert noise and there it is! What's to install?

 

[Jeff5886]

I no longer have the original laptop that it worked on.

Yes it has its own power supply.

When the hardrive is inserted to the computr via usb, windows automaticly installs the new hardware. This means that it installs the drivers so that the new hardware can be used.

Ok so can anyone help!

 

[CCT]

The WD people here: http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=353 say: "Easy to set up, easy to use - Installation is a snap because you don't really install this drive, you just plug it in and it's ready to use."

 

[Jeff5886]

Thats just my problem. Everything works and "istalls" just fine but I cant see it under my computer or disk managment

 

[CCT]

And nothing in Device Manager?

 

[Jeff5886]

Ok now in device manager i see the hard drive listed in 2 catagories.

under the USB cattagory it is listed as a mass storage device
under hard drives it is listed as WD

but i still cant find it in disk managment or my computer

 

[CCT]

So you right click it under Hard Drives (Disk Drives?) and select Properties then Volumes and Populate and what drive letter etc shows?

 

[Jeff5886]

So you right click it under Hard Drives (Disk Drives?) and select Properties then Volumes and Populate and what drive letter etc shows?

There is no drive letter listed it just says unknown.

 

[CCT]

So, it is toast - if under warranty return it - data is lost BUT at least you get the drive replaced.

If out of warranty, you can remove the drive from the case and slave it inside (dongles are available to buy) and try to recover anything critical.