My HP vista computer isnt recongizing my WD external drive
- Thread starter chelsis
- Start date
- Status
reinstall the drivers
ok so it does show up on computer management as disk1 unknown not initialized with a little red arrow pointing down next to it. I right click and i have no option to format it. I also have a lot of stuff on my external drive that i dont want to lose. I have the options of initializing but when i try that its an error. properties shows up if i uninstall would that work? but how do i reinstall it? when i plug back in will it just install it? i dont have the cd to install it.. sorry i am not the brightest when it comes to all this.
dustin_ds3000
Posts: 918 +49
ok i thought the WD external drive was new. have you tried to use it on a different computer
Are you saying that your external drive is shown as the system drive (C) or disk (0), bypassing the internal hard drive of the computer, and you want this to happen, but can't get it to function properly now?
Did you do something since the last time it worked properly, or did you have a power failure while it was on?
As suggested....go to Device Manager......, right click on the drive shown under "Disks" and update driver....this should do nothing to your data. If that doesn't fix it, then right click on the drive again and select search for new hardware and you pick the drive from a list when the wizard takes you to that area. DO NOT format at any time.
Since this is a Vista machine you have the option of using Diskpart...a cmd driven application to fix disk problems. Don't go there until you have tried the above.
Did you do something since the last time it worked properly, or did you have a power failure while it was on?
As suggested....go to Device Manager......, right click on the drive shown under "Disks" and update driver....this should do nothing to your data. If that doesn't fix it, then right click on the drive again and select search for new hardware and you pick the drive from a list when the wizard takes you to that area. DO NOT format at any time.
Since this is a Vista machine you have the option of using Diskpart...a cmd driven application to fix disk problems. Don't go there until you have tried the above.
i have updated drivers and it says driver is updated. I am trying to right click on it and it only shows me initialized disk (which i have tried and it errors), properties, and help. When I plug in my external drive it shows up in disk management as disk 1 unknown not initialized with red arrow pointing down next to it. i dont know how to diskpart. i known how to get up cmd.
IMPORTANT: Make sure you have the right Disk number (#)
Go to START
Go to RUN
type in cmd (command-prompt opens up)
type in chkdsk #: /R (where you should put drive letter in place of #--space before #, and after colon---example: chkdsk 1: /R)
Then it will start checking your drive, be patient here because it can take a long long time for this to finish depending on drive size. It may look in the beginning of the scan that nothing is going on, but after a few minutes it will state "THE DRIVE FORMAT IS NTFS...or FAT32 ...something like that--- and from then it starts scanning for a long time. Took me about 4 hours to check the total 750GB drive! It is checking available space and fixing any links that are present and don't belong there. This does not fix major boot records, so if you have that problem chances are you will be able to see the drive now, but still have to fix the MBR. If your purpose is to save information on the drive and you get a screen that says format the disk, say no or x out the box. In the end it should work again properly.
I don’t know how this works when you have no clue what the drive letter is, I was lucky to see this still in my disk management, but only for an instant when I unplugged the power supply while the USB was still connected...it appeared under disk drives in MY COMPUTER...but only for an instant.
If you know what it was (drive letter) before it screwed up on the computer you were using, then it is probably the same letter. However, if you improperly disconnected the drive, and a new drive letter, already assigned to something else, becomes your new drive letter you have to change back to what it was, or change the drive letter of the assigned (CD/DVD) to something else and worry about changing things back after you get the drive seen again.
If you have some interference with normal Windows functions working properly, go to Device manager (not Disk Management) and right click the drive and select disable (if this is the only operational drive, disregard this). This could be the non XP link that has it running in a loop or in direct contention with Windows programming. After running the repair (cmd), repeat the process in Device manager to update drivers, and look for new hardware if it is still not operational.
Device Manager--- "check for new hardware". You should see a screen that allows you to select the driver. In that collection, it should be the manufactures name of the drive, like Seagate blah, blah----select that and you should be back to normal.
PS--you stated your internal drive stopped working....was it labled "system" drive? It should have been. If your external is called Disk 1, then Windows has assigned your disk (0) (system to your internal drive. You can repair that drive the same way using the cmd: chkdsk 0: /R
Go to START
Go to RUN
type in cmd (command-prompt opens up)
type in chkdsk #: /R (where you should put drive letter in place of #--space before #, and after colon---example: chkdsk 1: /R)
Then it will start checking your drive, be patient here because it can take a long long time for this to finish depending on drive size. It may look in the beginning of the scan that nothing is going on, but after a few minutes it will state "THE DRIVE FORMAT IS NTFS...or FAT32 ...something like that--- and from then it starts scanning for a long time. Took me about 4 hours to check the total 750GB drive! It is checking available space and fixing any links that are present and don't belong there. This does not fix major boot records, so if you have that problem chances are you will be able to see the drive now, but still have to fix the MBR. If your purpose is to save information on the drive and you get a screen that says format the disk, say no or x out the box. In the end it should work again properly.
I don’t know how this works when you have no clue what the drive letter is, I was lucky to see this still in my disk management, but only for an instant when I unplugged the power supply while the USB was still connected...it appeared under disk drives in MY COMPUTER...but only for an instant.
If you know what it was (drive letter) before it screwed up on the computer you were using, then it is probably the same letter. However, if you improperly disconnected the drive, and a new drive letter, already assigned to something else, becomes your new drive letter you have to change back to what it was, or change the drive letter of the assigned (CD/DVD) to something else and worry about changing things back after you get the drive seen again.
If you have some interference with normal Windows functions working properly, go to Device manager (not Disk Management) and right click the drive and select disable (if this is the only operational drive, disregard this). This could be the non XP link that has it running in a loop or in direct contention with Windows programming. After running the repair (cmd), repeat the process in Device manager to update drivers, and look for new hardware if it is still not operational.
Device Manager--- "check for new hardware". You should see a screen that allows you to select the driver. In that collection, it should be the manufactures name of the drive, like Seagate blah, blah----select that and you should be back to normal.
PS--you stated your internal drive stopped working....was it labled "system" drive? It should have been. If your external is called Disk 1, then Windows has assigned your disk (0) (system to your internal drive. You can repair that drive the same way using the cmd: chkdsk 0: /R
- Status
Latest posts
-
The Best GPU for Every Price Point- themastergoose replied
-
Biggest gamma-ray burst ever recorded came from a "regular" supernova- hahahanoobs replied
-
New Affordable AMD B650 Motherboard Roundup- Avro Arrow replied
-
10 Things We Hate About Nvidia- Endymio replied
