External hard drive woes

[hickz21]

I have a HDCN u1-0 data 500gig external hard drive...i think its only on japan that has this kind of product...ive been using it for 2-3 years now...and this morning it just dont show up on My Computer...lately before this happened when im openning files from it..it becomes slower and sometimes it hangs...and today it wont even show up anymore from My Computer...power it entering it..cuz the power indicator is lite up...and when i try to dettach and attach the usb cable...the sound of windows installing a external devices is there..and the usb be can dettect the device...but when i go to administration tools/computer management/storage/disk management... i cannot see my external hard drive...and it shows disk 1 unknown not initialized.... can someboby...someone...pls...pls...pls..pleeeeeeeeeeeeees....help me...

 

[LookinAround]

Try this first. See [post=875300]How to Cleanup and Remove old USB Mass Storage Drivers[/post].

If that doesn't help suggest you go through the info provided in [post=720762]Troubleshoot: Windows Won't Recognize Your USB Hard Drive[/post]

 

[hickz21]

thanks for the info man.. ill try it..let u know what happens..

 

[hickz21]

ive done the cleanup and read the troubleshoot...

i think there nothing wrong with my usb ports...maybe my hard drive is really down...

 

[Leeky]

If your using Windows, does it show up in disk management as being present?

 

[LookinAround]

when i go to administration tools/computer management/storage/disk management... i cannot see my external hard drive...and it shows disk 1 unknown not initialized

OK. Then sounds like the filesystem on your external disk is corrupted. Look at Step 3 in the Troubleshooting Guide under Data Recovery. Try one of the recovery tools listed. (TestDisk is free and has helped recovery for many)

 

[brucethetech]

with alot of the external drives, they are just sata drive with a usb converter inside of a case. sometimes the converter goes bad even though the drive on the inside is working properly. You can usually tell because the install process usually installs a series of devices not just one hard drive so if the process stops at any point along the way you have to question whether that converter is working properly. if push comes to a shove then open the case and take out the hdd and set it up as a internal drive long enough to recover the data.

 

[LookinAround]

with alot of the external drives, they are just sata drive with a usb converter inside of a case. sometimes the converter goes bad even though the drive on the inside is working properly. You can usually tell because the install process usually installs a series of devices not just one hard drive so if the process stops at any point along the way you have to question whether that converter is working properly. if push comes to a shove then open the case and take out the hdd and set it up as a internal drive long enough to recover the data.

True, when everything goes well, i'd expect to see (and installed in the following order)
1. USB Mass Storage device driver under USB Category
2. Disk device driver under Disk Category
3. Generic Volume driver under Storage Volumes Category (tho one need click View->Show hidden devices in order to see Storage Volume Category)

But at this point, OP is seeing a "Disk 1" listed as uninitiallized which typically implies a Generic Volume driver couldn't be installed because Windows can't see a filesystem on the disk (i.e. it's uninitiallized)

OP can confirm Disk1 is their external disk by unplugging/replugging it and watch Disk1 disappear/reappear. In which case, at this point IMHO, Data Recovery is the next best step