Can't read my USB or External hard drive what's wrong?

Michi89

New Member
Messages
2
Location
South Florida
Okay so I just installed Win 8 last night and everything seemed fine before I turned off the computer. Now, I'm a student and I work a lot from my USB/HD. I have both my usb and HD connected to the computer but the computer doesn't read them now. Its as though the aren't even connected please someone help me I depend deeply on these drives!

By the way thank you for reading and/or helping me!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 760 @ 2.80 GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radion HD5450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SDM-HS73 & S22B150
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 , 1920x1080 (dual monitor)
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 (Hp keyboard)
    Mouse
    HID- Compliant (xtreme gear)
Hello, Michi89. Welcome to EightForums. :)

I take it the HD is an external drive? USB?

They don't work on reboot? Can't see them in File Explorer? Can you see them in the Device Manager?

Please post your machine specs.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer T690
    CPU
    Intel Pentium D Dual Core
    Motherboard
    Acer/Intel E946GZ
    Memory
    2GB (max upgrade)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3000 - PCI Express x16
    Sound Card
    Integrated RealTek ALC888 high-definition audio with 7.1 channel audio support
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer AL1917W A LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1440 X 900
    Hard Drives
    350 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
    Thumb drives
    PSU
    Standard 250 watt
    Case
    Desktop 7.2" (183mm) W x 17.5" (445mm) L x 14.5"
    Cooling
    Dual case fans + CPU fan
    Keyboard
    Acer Windows PS/2
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft Arc
    Internet Speed
    54mbp/s
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Office Pro 2013 / Nokia Lumia 1520 Windows Phone 8.1DP GDR1
Can you see any of the drives in Device Manager?

When I plug in my working flash drive, I can see it listed under Disk Drives in Device Manager.

I have another flash drive (Team Group SR1 16GB) when I plug it in I get an error message "USB device not recognized". It's not listed under Disk Drives but it's listed under Universal Serial Bus controllers with a yellow "!". When I look at the properties it says the USB device returned an invalid product description string descriptor. I have no idea how to fix it. My guess it's a driver problem but I hove no idea.

When I go to Disk Management I can see my working flash drive when plugged in but not my SR1 flash drive.

Take a look and let us know what you find.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    CPU
    AMD FX-8150
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-990FX
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 980
So I update my system specs... at least to where I know. Here's the thing. Since I posted here I contacted the AnswerDesk service that Microsoft offers and both times they were able to make it read. So its not that the drivers are not compatible. One guy told me it had to do with 3rd party apps. The second guy thought it had to do with voltage issue. So what I can ascertain here is that when I look at the My Computer window although both are plugged in they don't show up at all. Digging in deeper into the computer into the Device Manager if I look within the Disk drives and portable devices they both show up but they're grayed out. I learned that, that means that they are "not connected" when they really are though. This is going to be my third time contacting the Answer desk people and I'm really getting disappointed here. Something is off and I am starting to see I'm not the only one suffering this.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 760 @ 2.80 GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radion HD5450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    SDM-HS73 & S22B150
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 , 1920x1080 (dual monitor)
    Keyboard
    Standard PS/2 (Hp keyboard)
    Mouse
    HID- Compliant (xtreme gear)
"and both times they were able to make it read" means that they work until you shut down and can't see them when you boot back up? How did they get them to work? To me, odds are it's not hardware or voltage if greyed out. I don't think it's the individual drivers for each, but it's the USB driver, assuming they're USB connected.

Please let us know how it goes?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer T690
    CPU
    Intel Pentium D Dual Core
    Motherboard
    Acer/Intel E946GZ
    Memory
    2GB (max upgrade)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3000 - PCI Express x16
    Sound Card
    Integrated RealTek ALC888 high-definition audio with 7.1 channel audio support
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer AL1917W A LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1440 X 900
    Hard Drives
    350 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
    Thumb drives
    PSU
    Standard 250 watt
    Case
    Desktop 7.2" (183mm) W x 17.5" (445mm) L x 14.5"
    Cooling
    Dual case fans + CPU fan
    Keyboard
    Acer Windows PS/2
    Mouse
    Wireless Microsoft Arc
    Internet Speed
    54mbp/s
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Office Pro 2013 / Nokia Lumia 1520 Windows Phone 8.1DP GDR1
When you look at those drives in device manager Do they have drive letters assigned to them? I have one external hard drive in an enclosure that connects via USB. I plugged it in and nothing happened. Looked in device manager and it was there but it didn't have a drive letter. Once I assigned it a drive letter it was visible on the Computer screen. Odd thing was every time I unplugged it, it would loose its drive letter and I'd have to do it all again. After giving it a higher drive letter instead of the next one available it works fine without having to do any extra steps. :confused:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
USBhdd is a device but cannot find it as disk

I have a similar problem with an usb hdd that is listed as a device but does not come up in My Computer

I have not found the solution in this thread, so could Anyone have a new look at it, please_
see attached print screen it's the Iomega HDD

The C,D,E,F are partitions on 2 internal HDD

I have tried it on 2 pc's
Thanks
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    WIN 8 pro 32b
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ACER ASPIRE 5920
    CPU
    Centrino 2 core T8300 2.40ghz
    Motherboard
    Acer U2E1
    Memory
    3 G DDR2 333
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia 8600M GT
    Browser
    IE10, FireFox, Chrome
    Antivirus
    ESET Smart Security
From the windows screen, type disk management. This should allow you to start the program to "create and format hard disk partitions"

In this new program window you should see your usb drives. Right click the drive and then select "change the drive letter and path"

Give it a new drive letter.


Hopefully you should now see this drive is available from windows explorer
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win 8
    Computer type
    Laptop
Hi all, I think I have something similar going on but I'm also not able to figure out what exactly to do to fix it... I am trying to use my old laptop hard drive (NTFS) as an external drive with my new Windows 8.1 laptop and while I can see it in File Explorer and Device Manager, I can't read any of the contents. It's as if the drive is empty and I know it's not! I can browse the files as expected on my Windows XP desktop at work. Any tips would be most appreciated! -K
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
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