External HDD will not re-connect

Verve

New Member
I have a Western Digital external (WD5000MT) which is having problems re-connecting when I unplug it from the USB port.

I safely remove it but the problem is that the computer will not detect it when I try to plug it in again. The only solution is to restart my computer. Western Digital website says that it only uses the drivers built into Vista, so there's no help on their site. How can I get my drive to reconnect without having to restart?
 

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
When you plug it back in after removing it does it appear in Disk Management? Right click on computer pick manage, expand the storage tree then click on disk management. If it is there try assigning it a drive letter.
 

Verve

New Member
It doesn't show up in Disk Management when I plug it back in. I assigned it a drive letter (R:\) when I first got the hard drive.
 

Verve

New Member
Yes. All three ports get the same result.

When I plug it in, it still gives the windows "do-duh" sound like it's being detected (and i see it in the Safely Remove window). However, it doesn't show up as a drive in My Computer.
 

paulcheung

Active Member
Do you have to plug and unplug a lot of times? if not just restart the computer and leave the external drive there as it is.
Best regards.
Paul
 

Verve

New Member
Do you have to plug and unplug a lot of times? if not just restart the computer and leave the external drive there as it is.
Best regards.
Paul

Not sure what you mean. My goal is to be able to put it back without restarting. Its just a pain to reboot when somebody wants something off the drive.

Any more ideas?
 
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