Western Digital external hard drive problem

An interesting point to know and always good to mention stuff like that as never know when can prove to be useful.

May come back to it (and run a trace) but for now, most interested in the Windows Event System Log.

==> In general, see what ERRORs or WARNINGs appear and if any of them are occuring about the time we did a USB connect or disconnect (fyi. you started the trace connect 2008/12/02 15:06:49 and it run 90secs.

==> In particular, see if any entries about those two LDM (Logical Disk Manager) services. (These 2 services help get the disk into Disk Management - which isn't happening.) So would be interesting if there are event entries where TYPE= ERROR or WARNING and Source= Service Control Manager. Then you double click the entry to see event detail which tells which service and the actual error.
===> You can take a look but still good to generate a System log as a text file without any filtering (changed my mind about filtering out INFORMATION records) and post the system log text file.

I'll also be updating this post either sometime soon or much later on how to check so we can make sure your drive is really getting sufficient power from the AC adapter and we don't find a Power Management issue involved if it's drawing to much from the USB port.

i bet you never knew how many different things could trigger this problem. In fact, I didn't know that myself until looking into this!

/*** EDIT ***/
In fact, instructions to check power usage is easy. Here:
Open Device Manager. Look under USB. For each USB Hub, rt click Properties. Click Power tab. You'll see power draw/usage for each. You should also see which hub the disk is on. see attachment for example

I see that the USB mass storage device is using 2 mA. Is this about right?

A 2mA draw for the USB Mass Storage device is just fine. The drive's external AC adapter and power source are not part of the problem.

While we still haven't identified the cause, we have been able to rule several things out. To the point where I'm anxious to now focus on the 2 different Logical Disk Management (LDM) services and how different software, config and data issues might prevent them working correctly.

Question: Do you use Damon Tools? Or ever had the software installed on laptop? I've found reports that certain versions caused LDM issues.

The next two priority items
1. Windows Event System Log
Here's simpler instructions as
a) I changed my mind and don't want you to filter any INFORMATION records
b) You only need create the attachment. Not necessary you look at the file yourself (tho your welcome to if you want)
=> Start->Run, eventvwr.msc to open Windows Event Log Viewer
=> Double click on System to open the Event System log
=> click Action->Save Log File As, Save as type should be Event Log (*.evt)
=> Compress the file into a .zip file and attach to TS

2. System Change History
When you checked this last time, you saw it display No History (which is misleading). But i didn't clarify then and ask you try again as the data was less important to have then as now. So try this
=> Start->Run, msinfo32
=> Click View->System History
=> The first windows display says No History. But just ignore that.
=> Click File->Export to save it as a text file you can then attach

Here is the report from #1 in your post above. I also editied this post and added the history report.

And next....

Windows System Event Log indicates that both LDM services start/run/stop as they're supposed to.

This only rules out something which prevents the LDM services from starting/stopping when told to. That still leaves the case that some Windows device/disk/etc. data is corrupted/inconsistent/missing/etc.

Let's try a quick change and test first. Start with no SD cards or USB devices connected.

1. Run->Start, regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices. Then rt click to Export to type .reg file. Close regedit
2. Run->Start, diskmgmt.msc. Note the disks listed in lower pane. Insert the SD card. A new disk should appear for the SD card. Confirm you see the SD card mapped to drive letter E:
3. Rt click on the SD card E: volume. Select Change Drive Letter and change it to a letter you've probably never used like Z: Close out of Disk Management.
4. Repeat step 1 to create a new MountedDevices registry key export file after you changed the SD card volume letter.
5. Remove SD card. Reboot. Connect your USB device. Anything different?

You can either zip the two export files or will need to change .reg to .txt extension so you can post the files as attachments

I attached the report from #1. For #2, I do not see the SD card appear in the disk management, even after restarting it. So I cannot do #3, #4 or #5 yet.

EDIT:
I do see the SD card appear in "My Computer". However I cannot change the drive letter from there.

What drive letter do you see assigned then in My Computer? is it E?

When you are in Disk Management the top pane should be open Volumes (and drive letter) if you don't see volume list, click View->Top->Volume List

Is the SD card drive letter in the Volume List? then rt click and change drive letter from there

Yes, it is assigned drive letter E: in My Computer. I see the volume list, but it just does not display the SD card for some reason.

Here's something i just stumbled across today:
- I found several online reports of people stating problems with USB hard drive after installing XP SP3
- Which was interesting cause when looking at your System Event Log i noticed you installed XP SP3 on 11/23/08. Don't know if you can recall if this is about when the problem started
- Tho i don't the common denominator for the problem as many (myself included) run XP3 and usb drives without problem

That said

• Is the desktop PC you also tried testing on also running SP3? If you know someone running other then SP3 you might try your drive there as well
• Might also be a good time to try downloading/burning/booting from Acronis Disk Director and use that 15day free trial (it can be handy for a tool to keep as well). Question then being: when you boot from Acronis (i.e. no Windows) can it read the drive?
• If you want to continue looking at what;s up with current SP3 install i don't mind continuing (been educational for me as well!)
  • I can see the SD card mounted on E: as well in the registry export you provided. Not sure why it's not showing up in Disk Management (fyi... drive letter conflicts between things like network drives/sdreaders and USB often a problem)
  • You might also want to try downloading then run this tool. It reports on physical disks (among other things) tho not certain if it makes a difference for it to work if LDM not working. But can see and find out.

/**** EDIT ***********/
Hmm.. i wonder if Dell is hiding that drive letter. Use TweakUI to make sure you don't have any hidden volumes on your system. You can look here for how to do that

Is your USB 1.0 or 2.0, it might not matter but you never know. Also did you get any drivers for your hdd?? you might need them also..

I downloaded and ran the DiskView utility, and Under the "physical disks" category, it is only showing the internal hard drive in my laptop.

So for all we've tried doing with your WD USB hard drive,
- Windows does see it as a USB device but
- Windows does not see the device as a disk.

The distinction being
- Device is the hardware. Think of the device as what's needed for data and control information to be transferred between Windows and a hardware device. Windows recognizes the USB drive hardware when connected and installs two hardware device drivers (that's what's in Device Manager). Device manager doesn't report any errors (based on what you saw using msinfo32 tool)
- "Disk" is how the data on the hardware device is organized.

It seems Windows and the device can transfer data back and forth. But windows can't interpret that data as consistent with being a Windows disk.

I'd guess either
- There is a hardware problem with the drive and/or cable
- There's software on the PC that's interfering with that data stream between the Windows Logical Disk Manager and the USB device.

1. So let me ask again (i don't think you answered yet): Did you ever install Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120%? (even if it was later uninstalled?)
2. Try booting into Safe Mode (so minimum software/drivers) are loaded and then connecting
3. Driver filters might interfere but need get back to you with info later
4. You can still try connecting your USB to other non-XP SP3 computer or boot your computer into a non-Windows system and then try USB drive connect
5. There's also the Acronis disk director but you'd probably need some instruction and if so, there's no point in downloading and starting your 15day free clock running until you have instructions

I have never installed Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120%. I will try the Safe Mode soon.

Sorry I am being slow about things lately, I have finals for college and I haven't had much time. I will get back to this as my main focus in a few days.

No worries. Definitely focus on finals

Okay so should I go ahead and do the Acronis free 15 day trial?

no... check back here in a few minutes.. i was working on a draft about bgeneral tools for testing this problem.

Will post the draft here but as it's a draft (and parts not yet finished) can fill in the blanks for you

/** EDIT **/
OK. See below. For the initial purpose of just seeing if your computer can detect the drive when booted from CD you can use instructions (plus some i still need provide to boot up) to build Gparted-Live-CD. Then you can use gparted and TestDisk to try detection. we'll then see if need to manage the partition or if problem is all in the drive hardware

****** DRAFT FOR A GENERAL POST ********
When Windows refuses to recognize your USB hard drive

Drawing the battle lines

At some point during the Windows battle one needs to determine if the problem is due to:
==> Your computer and its installed software (Windows + all else you’ve loaded)
==> Your computer hardware (BIOS, boards, USB ports, etc)
==> Your USB hard drive (including AC power supply and USB cable)

One way to rule out Windows and other installed software

• Create a non-Windows boot CD
• Boot from CD. Your computer only loads/runs the CD based software
• Test if your computer now recognizes the USB drive AND if it’s recognized correctly. Windows and your other computer based software are now removed from the testing equation

You'll find instructions below on how to create / test with either of two different boot CDs which offer a total of three different test/recovery tools

• Acronis Disk Director
  This is a user friendly commercial product which provides for hard drive partition management and data recovery. As a commercial product it offers Disk Director as a 15day free-to-try tool you can download and create and run your yourself. It provides the option of having it integrated with Acronis True Image so Disk Managment functions can be integrated into a product that handle ghosting/backups/restores of your drive.
  
• Gparted-Live-CD
  Provides an assortment of freeware / public source code based tools. In particular, these include:
  • Gparted. A disk partition editor and recover recovery tool (the tool itself is named Gparted)
  • TestDisk. Yet another partition editor and recovery tool

I think all three tools will perform comparably for your first test: Detecting a USB hard drive when your computer has been booted from a non-Windows CD. on your computer when booted from For the first test, WhenI find each tool equally capable of working within its boot environment to detect a usb hard drive (if, in fact, it can be detected!) They vary when it comes to managing USB hard drive partitions and/or performing data recovery

• A lot of people use Acronis and Gparted to manage their partitions without problem. That said, problems still happen so i can't 100% say what's best for your case
• I've never used TestDisk but (from reading) appears it's strength is at data recovery. It may not have all the manage partition functions found in the other tools but not sure you will need them
• For my own own personal case, i use Acronis
• For more input, you might try searching “problem after gparted” vs. “problem after acronis disk director” etc.
• Consider what you need for product documentation, level of support and $ cost for your tool of choice between freeware vs. commercial products

Gparted Live-CD

Gparted Live-CD boots into Linux (another Operating System). The Gparted Live-CD includes these tools (among others)

• Gparted. Gparted is the Gnome Partition Editor. (If you like interesting acronyms: Gnome is part of GNU). You can use Gparted to help detect, manage and recover your USB hard disk partitions and data. Some usage and examples are presented later in this doc. For more detailed Gparted info
  • Gparted web site
  • Gparted documentation
  • Gparted FAQ
  • Gparted Screenshots
• TestDisk. TestDisk is yet another partition editor/ recovery program included in the Gparted-Live CD. TestDisk can also be used to help detect, manage and recover your USB hard disk partitions and data.
  
  I don’t think TestDisk offers as as many partition management functions as in Gparted or in Acronis though don’t know if you need all those options either.) I’ve read about (never used) TestDisk. Many have said it has helped recover their data but, as always, results vary from case-to-case. An example is provided later in thid document. For more detailed info:
  • TestDisk website
  • TestDisk documentation (including screenshots)

Creating a Gparted Live CD

containing a tool named Gparted as well as other usefthe name of a CD image file (CD image files have an .iso file extension ).

1. 
   Download the latest Gparted-Live-CD.iso file. (pronounced EYE - soh
   
   
2. Click here to go to the Gparted-Live-CD download page
3. The download page lists the current and past stable releases. Find the current release at the top of the list
4. Click on the .iso file in that latest release to download it. Save it on your hard drive
5. Use your burning software to copy the .iso file and burn it to CD. (Pretty much all CD burning software handles .iso files. It's typically treated as a "copy file and burn" function in the software)

Using a Gparted Live CD

///NOTE/// It is recommended to do a whole disk or partition image backup before you use GParted to resize or move your partition. Some free (GPL) disk or partition image tools, which provide live CD or USB flash drive so that you do not have to install or configure, are available:
• Clonezilla
• G4L
• g4u
• Partimage

suggest you
1. build the Gparted-live-cd
2. When you boot, have all usb devices disconnected
3. when it asks any questions just keep hitting ENTER for default value
4. When it starts, it starts in the Gparted tool on the screen and you'll see info about the internal hard drive
5. Now connect the usb drive. wait maybe 30-60 seconds. then in gparted you need to tell it to scan again for devices
6. Then see if you click on the device pulldown in gparted (u'll find it on the right of the window) to see devices. hopefully there is now a choice of two devices

and oh btw.. should it come to it.. i found somewhere that said the screw for the case on your WD HD is hidden under a rubber pad (probably used ot stand up the drvie)

I just opened the drive by brute force. It appears that the drive just snaps out of and back into place. All of the screws were tightly attached.

EDIT:
I will create the boot CD tomorrow

EDIT:
I am going to create the Gparted CD after graduation today. If that does not work I am just about at the point where I want to just dispose of this dr4ive and invest in a new one

Well congrats on graduation!

As for the Gparted-CD
- may as well test for the drive detection using both gparted and TestDisk. (JUST see if it's detected don't do anymore yet if it is deteced
- Most likely if one of those tools doesn't recognized the hard drive the other won't either. But since there both on that CD may as well try both
- I'll add some instructions for TestDisk either this evening or tomorrow
- And test on both your computers. If in fact it STILL can't be detected that it has to be related to the USB hard drive hardware
- While you probably want to get a new drive if is hard drive issue THERE IS STILL ONE LAST THING to try if only to recover your data (tho may also give you the usable drive again) If hardware problem it's probably either with the hard drive case or drive itself. You can go to a store and buy a cheap case and open old case, remove drive, and try the disk in new case. If still doesn't work you should be able to return the new case (of course, double check before buying it's returnable)

/* Edit */
And if you actually CAN detect the hard drive, your next steps start here to make sure your internals drives and as well as external USB are clean from any malware infection