can't see drive from external enclosure

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
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So as a followup to this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2196120&highlight=

I've been trying to access this 2.5" laptop HDD from an external enclosure. I've tried 2 enclosures, 1 brand new... and I still can't see the drive popup on My Computer even though it detected and says it's ready to use. It even shows up as Hitachi in the little popup USB-info bubble. I can hear the drive's fan(?) running...

Since this was a problem drive with bad sectors, I thought to give a known good drive from my new laptop a try. It also does not show up in My Computer. Troubleshooting tips say that it may not have enough power and to plug in the 2nd USB plug and that doesn't help either. This is on a Vista64 machine so maybe it's the 64-bit OS it has problems with so I bring it to my laptop (good drive in, bad drive in the enclosure) and it doesn't see it there either. The other thing the troubleshooting said is that it may have been formatted with an incompatible file system. But that doesn't explain how my good laptop drive wasn't seen from the enclosure when plugged in either.

Enclosure being used: http://www.amazon.com/AcomData-Samur.../dp/B003BIFOLI
I don't need the eSATA cable connected too do I? Says nothing about needing that connected in the manual. Just connecting with USB as per manual. The HDD is already plugged into the SATA connector on the inside.

EDIT>> also threw Lenovo's replacement drive (warranty for the bad drive) in there which has zero data on it... drive actually appears on My Computer, but is not accessible. (The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.)
 
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jolancer

Senior member
Sep 6, 2004
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try a differnt USB port yet?

go to >start/run/"devmgmt.msc" ENTER, does its partition show in device manager? if so you can just right click/ assign it a drive lettr to show in my computer
 

rh71

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Aug 28, 2001
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I will try that but using PARTED from ubuntu, I type CHECK 1 and it says Error: Could not detect file system. If I make a file system now, do I still have the previous data?
 

jolancer

Senior member
Sep 6, 2004
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no u dont want to do that. you'l erase your data... and i only just now read your previous thread. In my opinion theres no diff between the external enclosure and trying to access it from a live usb/cd. I can only imagine you'l encounter the same issues... cause it is pretty much the same outcome your looking for /accessing your files. But since u have it in the external, now it will be easyer to go down different avenues with other programs. because from the sound of it your not going to beable to access the data threw conventional tactics. There are programs and ways out there that can access the data, as long as your drive operates and is not dead. But it takes longer to recover and theres no garentee all the data is recoverable. However I cant currently find the links to these types of programs, I had them bookmarked at one point but I have a lota bookmarks lol. If i find it ill post it. in the mean time perhaps google or someone else may post it 4u
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,853
1,048
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thx when I do PRINT list,all from ubuntu it shows me the partition, everything filled out except FILE SYSTEM.