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I recently bought a cheap external HDD case to use with a laptop HDD, so I can have a cheap and simple backup external HDD.

Unfortunately the HDD does not show up in My Computer and Windows Explorer (W7). But it shows on the device manager like in this picture:

Windows 7 Device Manager shows the make and # of the drive

It all looked normal. The encasing has 1 USB to power plug cable and 1 eSATA to eSATA as the plugs and cables. Unlike the USB, I have no way to test the eSATA plug as this is my only experience; an external drive with eSATA. (Would like the speed, but only if the whole thing could work) When the USB is connected to my laptop it lights clear blue light. And it ONLY successfully installs the device driver the first time I plugged it in (via the eSATA). Here is the screenshot:

enter image description here

The 2nd and subsequent times I plug it in, there isn't any of that generic 'USB plugging' sound from W7.

That's all, the drive is nowhere to be found as a drive in explorer.

I would like to know why is this / what happened / what caused this if possible and definitely the fix.

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  • Do you see the disk in Disk Management? (Control panel-> Administrative tools-> Computer Management, then on the left, disk management)
    – LPChip
    Commented Jul 20, 2017 at 13:29
  • @LPChip thx. I saw it down there, not really listed, but it's down there. I am guessing this is because the new laptop drive is not formatted. If so, I am gonna laugh at myself for few days lol. imagebin.ca/v/3U1fn7yDcC7r
    – K4ll-of-D00ty
    Commented Jul 20, 2017 at 13:36
  • Yup, that's indeed the case. I've created an answer so you can mark this as solved and others know you no longer need help. :)
    – LPChip
    Commented Jul 20, 2017 at 15:55

1 Answer 1

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As pointed out in your screenshot:

image
(source: ibin.co)

The disk has no partitions, is not formatted, and as a result, does not have a drive letter attached.

You can fix this by rightclicking the disk, select new basic partition, then format the drive and assign a drive letter to it. (the wizard should ask you do the last 2 automatically.

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  • Hi thx for your answer. Unfortunately I can't just right klik it and format. The 5 options for 'new .....' have been greyed out. Not sure why too this time... imagebin.ca/v/3UFGprY665sq I will format it using gparted in Linux. After that and all is confirmed. I will mark your answer right. Maybe tomorro latest. Thx
    – K4ll-of-D00ty
    Commented Jul 22, 2017 at 12:07
  • The disk is marked as not initialized. Right clicking where it says Disk 1 should allow you to do that and create partitions.
    – LPChip
    Commented Jul 22, 2017 at 16:31
  • I already used Linux Gparted to format, didn't get a chance to read all this again till today. Basically, Windows wouldn't show anything not-formated / more exactly any format/partition it can't read. So thx, I will mark you as right.
    – K4ll-of-D00ty
    Commented Jul 26, 2017 at 9:17

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