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External hard drive not recognized
Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 8:50 am
by photoman4343
i have a 4tb Western digital portable external hard drive that I use on my windows 10 laptop and desktop. When I plug it into the USB port, the PC does not recognize it. Windows explorer is trying to determine what it is.
I do not mind reformatting it, but since I cannot get any PC to recognize it, what can I do to get around this problem?
Joe
Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:32 pm
by E.J. Peiker
It means that more than likely, the control electronics in the disk are fried or possibly the disk went bad but it's usually the control electronics. HD's give off an immense amount of heat and the mass market external drives do not dissipate that heat which is why I advocate using a thrid party fanned (actively cooled) housing and then just buying a bare drive to put in it. This is a drastically higher reliability solution as the vast majority of failures of the "normal" external drives fail due to heat over time.
Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:54 pm
by DChan
Perhaps the best thing to do with those portable external harddrive is simply to use them for backup, data storage, and don't run anything from it.
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:25 pm
by photoman4343
Thanks for the info EJ. DChan, I used the WD external as a backup only. Everything on it is on another drive too.
I do think the idea of a case with a fan that will accept a drive is what most of us should use. When I have looked for a case, I never felt comfortable with the tech info presented to know what case to buy and what drive to put in it. If anyone has any recommendations I would welcome them.
Joe
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 3:05 pm
by E.J. Peiker
This one works well. As for HD, just make sure it's a 7200RPM drive in whatever capacity you need from one of the reputable manufacturers. Also, never ever move a hard drive or bump into it or anything while it is on and spinning.
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E1681718224 ... 6817182247
Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:46 am
by Alan Melle
Another vote for the Rosewill E.J. recommended. I have four of these for external and off-site backup and they work very well.
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 1:15 pm
by photoman4343
Thanks EJ and Alan. I will get the Rosewill case you have recommended. To make sure I get the right model hard drive, am I right to assume it is an internal hard drive, 7200RPM? I am not sure if it should be NAS or not NAS.
At micro center, here is one or two I was considering getting:
https://www.microcenter.com/product/603 ... hard-drive
https://www.microcenter.com/product/488 ... hard-drive
Any thoughts about hride specs besides 7200 RPM are welcomed
Joe
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2019 2:02 pm
by Woodswalker
I've been able to salvage at least one external hard drive by buying a new enclosure for $35 which houses the circuitry, ports etc. It's not difficult to do this yourself. Once my old hard drive was in the new enclosure it appeared on my screen again and I'm still using it. I have a shop called Memory Express which had the goods and made the suggestion in the first place.