External HDD isuue

[Bruinator]

hi, 

 

At first, I was seeing my external HDD on my laptop without issues but now I am not. I then tried it on my desktop and couldn't see it on there either. I then tried it on my test desktop and it saw it on there but I had to format it on there. After doing that, I placed it on my desktop and it saw it but i had to format it on there as well. When I tried it on my laptop, it still doesnt show up. I checked it on computer management and it doesnt appear there either.

 

Is there away to fix this so I can use the external HDD on my laptop again? If yes, what do I need to do to fix this plz?

 

TIA

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

what brand is the exclosure? Or was it bought as an external? What brand? WD, Seagate, etc?

[xMorpheousx416]

I ran into a similar issue not too long ago.

 

When plugged into the USB 2 port, it showed up fine.

When plugged into the USB 3 port, it asked to be formatted.

When plugged directly into a SATA port (shucking) it too, asked to be formatted**. (If you're not familiar with shucking, it's removing a drive from an enclosure and using it as internal, not external)

 

Which was weird, because as you have done.. I had already started using the drive on the USB 2 port, (the 3's were busy at that time).. and I had put many files on it. Still had the proprietary files/security software that came with it. 

 

I assumed it was either a bad USB 3 cable that came with it, or perhaps something with the onboard conversion hardware that is attached to the drive (SATA to USB 3 interface).

 

I don't know how old your drive is, but it may be possible to run a test on it by itself if you wish to remove it from the enclosure and put it in one of your computers. I know you want to use it for the laptop, but at least you'd know if it was an actual drive issue, or something between it and the laptop.

 

**there's a whole other story behind this debacle as well, but off topic from yours

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

 

These SATA to USB boards will encrypt your data, so you can't use it internally in a computer unless you format it. If the external IS USB3, USE USB3, end of story.

[Bruinator]

On 24/08/2021 at 17:22, Mindovermaster said:

what brand is the exclosure? Or was it bought as an external? What brand? WD, Seagate, etc?

Not sure of brand of an enclosure. Was an internal from my laptop asus x550za. Brand is toshiba mq01adb100

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

OK, so it's a toshiba external. Since you said you formatted it already, you probably lost everything.

 

Are you sure you plugged this into a USB3 port? Each time you moved it to another system? Because a USB2 port may not pick up all the HDD data/partition.

[Bruinator]

On 24/08/2021 at 18:54, Mindovermaster said:

OK, so it's a toshiba external. Since you said you formatted it already, you probably lost everything.

 

Are you sure you plugged this into a USB3 port? Each time you moved it to another system? Because a USB2 port may not pick up all the HDD data/partition.

my laptop is 6 yrs old without usb 3. It was an internal HDD from this laptop which i converted to an external. There was nothing important on the drive either. I use it for images only which i moved to another PC before i formatted this drive.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

There should be a sticker saying what the external is. Not that hard, bro.

 

But being the age, I'd say it's just your HDD failing..

[Bruinator]

On 24/08/2021 at 19:10, Mindovermaster said:

There should be a sticker saying what the external is. Not that hard, bro.

 

But being the age, I'd say it's just your HDD failing..

https://imgur.com/7grnCCp

[Bruinator]

ok, I went into computer management today and I finally saw the external HDD offline. It had an error msg of " this disk is offline because it has a signature collision with another disk that is offline". I just selected the down arrow next to offline and turned it online and it works fine now.

 

I have never seen that before. Does anyone know what that means?

 

TIA

[Bruinator]

On 24/08/2021 at 19:10, Mindovermaster said:

There should be a sticker saying what the external is. Not that hard, bro.

 

But being the age, I'd say it's just your HDD failing..

Anyone seen this error before?

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

On 25/08/2021 at 09:17, Bruinator said:

Anyone seen this error before?

I have no idea. Please wait for more than 2 hours..

[shockz]

I'd honestly diskpart, select the disk, and clean it. then start fresh. Since you already formatted it anyways, the data is most likely lost anyways.

 

Not really relevant to your situation, but this explains a collision error: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/disk-signature-collision-problem

[jesseinsf]

I see that you have already formatted it (which erases all your data). Now, like others that have said here about the "Diskpart", if cleaning the drive with Diskpart doesn't work and other drives don't work either when connected then there is something wrong with either the OS installation or there is something wrong with the computer's hardware.

 

How to use DiskPart to clean and format your drive.

[Bruinator]

Guys, the drive is working now. I am just curious to what caused the error.

[xrobwx71]

On 24/08/2021 at 16:41, xMorpheousx416 said:

(If you're not familiar with shucking, it's removing a drive from an enclosure and using it as internal, not external)

No, it's sticking a knife into an oyster to open it.  Many times a bloody palm come with it.  

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

It sounds like a collision between GUIDs or some other form of unique identifier for drives. 

I have actually seen a few similar-sounding reports in the past few days, so I wonder if there may be a recently-introduced issue in Windows with external drive identification in some circumstances.  That is just a guess on my part, though.

 

If that is the case, as test, you could try entering the Device Manager (filename: DEVMGMT.MSC), selecting View | Show hidden devices from the main menu bar, then going to the Disk Drives tree, expanding it, and then uninstalling all of the entries for grayed-out devices.  For example, the devices circled in red on this screenshot:

 

 

NOTE:  Do not delete any device drivers if prompted to do so, just the grayed-out entries for the devices.

Then, repeat the operation of removing grayed-out devices from the Portable Devices tree, the Storage Volume Shadow Copies tree, the Storage Volumes tree, and the Universal Serial Bus Controllers tree. 

When finished, restart the computer, log back in, and plug the external USB hard disk drive back into the computer and see if it is now recognized.

 

As usual, working with system tools like the Registry Editor and Device Manager can result in a non-working system if used improperly, so be sure to back up any important data beforehand.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky