Connected IDE drive to USB, but it won't show up.

A

andrewanimation

New Member
Hello,

My parents' computer wouldn't start up anymore, the monitor saying that message about no sync found, or something similar, as if it couldn't even detect a computer, but the computer is super old, so I figure it just died of old age, but there's some data on the hard drive in the computer that they'd like to save, so I bought an IDE-to-USB cable (with power adapter for the hard drive) and connected it to my computer's USB, hoping to see the hard drive pop up on my computer, so I could just copy the data off the drive.

The hard drive is spinning, and my computer gave me messages at the bottom right, saying that it detects a mass storage device, a hard drive, and even knows what kind it is, a Maxtor 9 (1728D8) drive, and, when I go to Safely Remove Hardware, it lists the device as a Maxtor 9 1728D8 USB Device, but I can't see it anywhere in My Computer. And I thought to look in 'Disk Management' in Administrative Tools, and it automatically asked me if I'd like to initialize the unknown and uninitialized 'Disk 1.'

Should I initialize it, or would that delete the data I'm trying to copy? Or, what else should I try?

Thank you!
 
Hiya
I am having the same problem but with a new SATA 80gb drive - I bought it new with a SATA to USB cable and enclosure to use as a external portable drive - mine too recognised the hardware and installed it but doesnt show in 'my computer' Have also tried disk management without success. If you get any joy let me know.
Ta
Martin

Oh yeah - I didnt even see my new drive in disk management so didnt get option to initialise or assign????
 
Why not just hook it up to the computer with the standard IDE (or SATA in the 2nd case) cable? Sometimes USB adapters act stupid, but hooking up the hard drive the original way ought to work.
 
I'm not sure I have that ability, because I'm hooking the IDE drive up to a much newer computer that I believe only has SATA cables, plus I'm not knowledgeable enough about the inside of the computer to risk messing up my own computer in order to install this hard drive internally.

I think my question at this point is: Does 'initializing' the disk also erase it? Or is it just a way to 'import' or recognize it?

Martin, I think you need to go into Disk Manager, find your new drive at the bottom, probably with a grayed-out appearance (a sort of patchwork of lines) and then Create a Partition on it, then Format it, and then you'll be able to see it in My Computer.
 
andrewanimation said:
I'm not sure I have that ability, because I'm hooking the IDE drive up to a much newer computer that I believe only has SATA cables, plus I'm not knowledgeable enough about the inside of the computer to risk messing up my own computer in order to install this hard drive internally.

I think my question at this point is: Does 'initializing' the disk also erase it? Or is it just a way to 'import' or recognize it?

Martin, I think you need to go into Disk Manager, find your new drive at the bottom, probably with a grayed-out appearance (a sort of patchwork of lines) and then Create a Partition on it, then Format it, and then you'll be able to see it in My Computer.
Click to expand...

Thanks mate - new hard drive installed - now shows twice in my computer - one i can access and the other I cant - at least I can back up my music, photos and docs and reboot the laptop for the first time in months - thanks for your help.
Martin
 
yay! :D 83 posts and that's the first time i helped someone^^

i hope the one that shows up has the whole storage capacity, though. that, i suppose, would be good enough

if anyone can answer my question, that'd be great. it's whether or not initializing a hard drive through computer management erases the data on the drive or not. i could try it myself and see, but i'm trying to be as careful as possible

thanks
 
andrewanimation said:
yay! :D 83 posts and that's the first time i helped someone^^

i hope the one that shows up has the whole storage capacity, though. that, i suppose, would be good enough

if anyone can answer my question, that'd be great. it's whether or not initializing a hard drive through computer management erases the data on the drive or not. i could try it myself and see, but i'm trying to be as careful as possible

thanks
Click to expand...

One good turn deserves another. SO I tried to put a file on the drive and then initialise it again to see if this would answer your question as to whether you would lose data but i couldnt see how to re-initialise it after it had been initialised, if that makes sense! Maybe I would have to uninstall the drive and then re-install. I dont know. I'm not that into the mechanics of it. So unfortunately I cannot help you any further. Sory mate but thanks.
 
Once it's been initialized the first time windows shouldn't give you the option to do it again. Initializing it will erase the drive.
 
Thanks for trying that, Martin=) I appreciate it. Well, I tried the initialize option, before I had Cromewell's response, but it gave me an error anyway and couldn't do it.

Anyone know why this IDE drive isn't showing up? It came from a fellow Windows XP computer, so I assume it was already 'initialized' there.

Thanks=)
 
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