Solved External Hard Drive - Error - "Location not Available"

Hello,

I am connecting a 640GB Samsung G2 Portable External Hard Drive to my HP Pavilion 15 Laptop.
The external hard drive works on other desktop and laptop computers here at work, but when connected to the HP Pavilion (Windows 8.1 OS) it shows up as a Local Disk (H: but when trying to Open the drive it says:
‘Location Not Available H:\ is not accessible The device is not ready.”
What should I do?
Assistance is much appreciated...

Welcome to Windows EightForums, jhnel.

Is the drive in the correct format?

Windows key + X > Choose Disk Management. It should tell you format and partition info there.

It says Active Healthy Primary Partition

Is the drive letter ok? If not, right-click on the drive in Disk Management and select "Change Drive Letter and Paths."

You might try disconnecting/reconnecting it from the system.

i disconnected and reconnected and rebooted... still experiencing the same problem

That's just plain weird. File Explorer cannot access it. Disk Management sees it. Hmmm. What's the condition in Device Manager looking like. Perhaps update the driver?

i tried updating the driver but was told that the driver is the latest...

It's probably something to do with the disk controller. I wonder if that's corrupted. Let me research.

Go here.. Samsung G Series External Drives | Seagate

Click the Downloads button.

Download & Run the software in this order.

- ESwin SAMSUNG S.M.A.R.T UTILITY
- Samsung Format Utility <=== This will delete all contents of the drive!
- Samsung Drive Manager
- Samsung Auto Backup

Control Panel > Troubleshooting > Run "Configure a device" under Hardware and Sound.

HippsieGypsie said:

It's probably something to do with the disk controller. I wonder if that's corrupted. Let me research.

Click to expand...

I just noticed that one of my other external hard drives connected to this laptop is suddenly ALSO giving me the same error! Currently there is another external drive still connected and is not giving me that problem.
Both these other 2 drives have worked before, and have suddenly started giving me this error.
Your assistance is much appreciated

You're quite welcome

Did you run the Troubleshooter?

Are USB versions compatible?

jhnel said:

HippsieGypsie said:

It's probably something to do with the disk controller. I wonder if that's corrupted. Let me research.

Click to expand...

I just noticed that one of my other external hard drives connected to this laptop is suddenly ALSO giving me the same error! Currently there is another external drive still connected and is not giving me that problem.
Both these other 2 drives have worked before, and have suddenly started giving me this error.
Your assistance is much appreciated

Click to expand...

I think you could Uninstall your USB drivers from Device manager, reboot and the standard driver will reinstall if not then click the scan for new hardware and install the default ones. This will refresh your USB Drivers.
You say your using multiple usb external hard drives? Your could be trying to draw more power from your usb ports than they can supply? A powered hub may help with that? I know on my G75 I run into that exact problem if I try to connect too many devices I start having disconnects. In my case its dealing with USB 3.0 even using a powered hub if I try more than 2 external hard drive I'll start having issues

I uninstalled drivers and re-installed them. I tried connecting only the portable hard drive. No luck. I connected another portable drive and had no problem? His particular hd seems to only have a proble with this laptop?

More weird by each "attempt".

I found this via Bing from within my Start Screen. I must say > What an ingenious idea! Anywho, you may want to go through these steps. It may be a cable or some other hardware flaw?

Samsung external hard drive - Fixya

Hello,

I have tried everything mnow. I notice that this seems to only be a problem with two of the eternl hard drives. They both work when connected to any other computer, therefor probably not a problem with the drive itself?

This beats me. Reminds me of a few bad relationships I was in. Just plain incompatibility?

The only thing I can think of is either find one that works with the HP or contact manufacturers.

Good luck to you. Please let us know what you come up with.

Ha ha... Really a bad relationship I have decided to just use the hard drives on the other computers for now. Just frustrating me too much... If something does resolve itself in the future, I will definitely let you know. Thanks again for coming up with so many suggestions. Much appreciated

HippsieGypsie said:

It's probably something to do with the disk controller. I wonder if that's corrupted. Let me research.

Click to expand...

Hello,

I finally solved my problem. I downloaded a Partition Manager and changed the Drive Letter with that. My own Windows Manager did not allow me to change the Drive letter. My computer now sees the drive and I am able to access it.
Regards

J