Railfan Technology > Computer not recognzing external HD - any ideas?

I'm trying to save some images to the external hard drive, but for some reason the computer (it runs Win10) isn't recognizing the external.  Any ideas from those more tech-savvy than me?

Has it ever recognized that drive, or is this a new problem?

Posted from iPhone

It recognized that drive a few days ago; its a new problem. 

System restore didn't seemto help either; when you plug in the external, it makes the chirp sound like its picking it up, and then opens the window saying its installing files to be able to use the external, but then the window closes and nothing else happens.

pennsy3750 Wrote:
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> It recognized that drive a few days ago; its a new
> problem. 
>
> System restore didn't seemto help either; when you
> plug in the external, it makes the chirp sound
> like its picking it up, and then opens the window
> saying its installing files to be able to use the
> external, but then the window closes and nothing
> else happens.
At that point, you should be able to click on 'computer' from the START button and it should show the device as an additional <hard drive/removable device/etc> as an extra drive letter.  I'm not sure how to do that in Win 10, though.  I'll be Win 7 until I die!   From there, simply copy the files you want from your HD to the external drive.

Windows 10.

Windows icon. File explorer. This PC. From there the screen will show all available drives and storage devices.

You don't ever need to do a system restore for an external hard disk drive problem. That will reset your operating system and in fact might delete a driver needed that was included in an update or a patch.

idontstairs Wrote:
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> Windows 10.
>
> Windows icon. File explorer. This PC. From there
> the screen will show all available drives
That's exactly what I'm doing, but the external is not showing up.


BRAtkinson Wrote:
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> At that point, you should be able to click on
> 'computer' from the START button and it should
> show the device
You're right, it should.  But its not, which is making me regret having Windows 10 in the first place.

Have you tried moving it to a different usb port? That frequently helps.
​Also of course, a reboot.

Believe it or not, somehow this was a prophetic discussion for me.  Just this morning, I put a USB thumb drive into one of the two USB3 slots and the computer didn't do anything.  So I moved it to the other slot and it worked fine.  And yes, I completely power down my computer every night!  Perhaps my doing selective Windows updates (to avoid forced Win 10 upgrade and other foolishness) before using the thumb drive may have made something screwy.  Sometimes a complete power down (not just reboot) will reset whatever electronic and/or Windows 'switches' and things will get back to normal.

re the USB drive working in another port, the old adage was "dismount software first, then hardware." Even though usb drives are considered hotswappable, stuff happens. Adobe seems to be worst offender at preventing  a software dismount (aka as "eject")

​re windows 10, my experience with the swap from 7 and 8 has been good to great--- done with several different PC's of different ilk. 
​And worth the effort. I like the expectation that there will be no further OS's (Operating System).

arrowspatial Wrote:
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> re the USB drive working in another port, the old
> adage was "dismount software first, then
> hardware." Even though usb drives are considered
> hotswappable, stuff happens. Adobe seems to be
> worst offender at preventing  a software dismount
> (aka as "eject")
>
> ​re windows 10, my experience with the swap
> from 7 and 8 has been good to great--- done with
> several different PC's of different ilk. 
> ​And worth the effort. I like the expectation
> that there will be no further OS's (Operating
> System).


Occassionally USB ports get I/O conflicts and a port wil "hang". Typically this is resolved by moving the USB device to a new port and allow the system to do its recognition process and then following it up with a full reboot (not a logg off) with the device still in the new port. If this doesn't resolve the isue you can go into the control panel, device manager and remove the USB ports from the device list and then do a full reboot. If the system does not recognize the USB ports and reinstall the driver for them, then the USB controller is fried. Replacement USB controllers are easy to install and are cheap.

Win 10 bashing - As someone who works on Win 10 daily and has installed it on many legacy machines, I have found no performance or stability issues. I still run my old scanners and software that my Win 7 and XP machines used. The update model used by Microsoft is no different than what Apple uses with its IPhones and Google uses with Android, so I can not understand why so many b@@@@ and compalin about it. I rather have an up to date OS that has the latest patches and enhancements over a system that has been open to hackers and script kiddies for years allowing them to exploit evey hole they can find for bragging rights and profit.

>
> Occassionally USB ports get I/O conflicts and a
> port wil "hang". Typically this is resolved by
> moving the USB device to a new port and allow the
> system to do its recognition process and then
> following it up with a full reboot (not a logg
> off) with the device still in the new port. If
> this doesn't resolve the isue you can go into the
> control panel, device manager and remove the USB
> ports from the device list and then do a full
> reboot. If the system does not recognize the USB
> ports and reinstall the driver for them, then the
> USB controller is fried. Replacement USB
> controllers are easy to install and are cheap.

I had a problem with my computer recognizing a usb 3.0 card I installed. Strangely, this happened some weeks after the installation. I reinstalled the drivers using the CD provided, although sometimes the MS provided drivers work as well or better. Anyway, the problem has not occurred since then.
>
> Win 10 bashing - As someone who works on Win 10
> daily and has installed it on many legacy
> machines, I have found no performance or stability
> issues. I still run my old scanners and software
> that my Win 7 and XP machines used. The update
> model used by Microsoft is no different than what
> Apple uses with its IPhones and Google uses with
> Android, so I can not understand why so many b@@@@
> and compalin about it. I rather have an up to date
> OS that has the latest patches and enhancements
> over a system that has been open to hackers and
> script kiddies for years allowing them to exploit
> evey hole they can find for bragging rights and
> profit.

I'm with you on this. I've upgraded from Vista to 7 to 8 to 8.1 and now to 10 with nary a problem.In the past there seem to have been some Windows versions that were generally considerate to be less than stellar, but I can't say I've ever had any serious problems with them, and I've been using Windows in various versions for 25 years. Perhaps I live a charmed life... 

This may or may not work for u
Try While the Ex drive is plugged in a reboot into safe mold and see if the drive shows there

I have an Western Digital external HD that sometimes won't register with my Win 7 machine.  I just unplug it from the wall, wait a minute and replug it in.  I don't have to do anything with the USB plugs.  Works every time.

Erik

And its Trainboy03 for the win!  Not sure why I didn't think of that, but it worked, so many thanks.

Glad I could help!  Sometimes it's the simple things.

Erik

pennsy3750 Wrote:
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> And its Trainboy03 for the win!  Not sure why I
> didn't think of that, but it worked, so many
> thanks.