Unusual External Hard Drive Issue.....Help!

C

clemsonxplorer

New Member
When I plug my external Hard drive in my computer recognizes it but won't assign a drive letter too it (neither will another cpu I tried).
It used to though. When I right click on my computer and go to manage it won't let me assign the drive letter either. I think I know what is wrong but have no clue how to fix it.
It says EISA configuration on it. Ive noticed that the hidden partion on my internal hard drive that has windows says the same thing and of course it can't be assigned a drive letter.
How do I fix this?? I have 50gb files I don't want to lose!
Thanks for any help.
 
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is it a full size hard drive in an enclosure? if so, and it's an ide, i'd check the jumpers on it. also i'd try to installing it as a slave to get the info off.
 
Both involve taking the drive out of the enclosure. When you take it out there should be a diagram on the drive that tells you what each jumper position does. To install it as a slave just set the jumper accordingly and plug it into the other connector on the cable your current hard drive is on.
 
You dont need to set any jumpers. Use 'Cable Select' or 'master'. (an enclosure doesnt need jumpers)
Click to expand...
Generally if you have a drive set to slave in an enclosure it doesn't work.
oh this is a laptop.....so i need to find a desktop to do this on?
Click to expand...
Yes you will need a PC if you want to install it as slave.
 
Bl00dFox said:
You dont need to set any jumpers. Use 'Cable Select' or 'master'. (an enclosure doesnt need jumpers)
Click to expand...

i cant back up the data immediatly because i cant get to the data.
If I dont need to set the jumpers then what do I do to get it working again or atleast get my data off of it? Will taking it out of the enclosure and putting it in a desktop work? It does have jumper settings on it.....slave, master w/ slave, and single or master. Its a western digital WD1600.
 
ive tried all the jumper settings....the way it came sees the drive but i cant get to it, slave is the same way, and master w/ slave present doesnt show up at all.
 
here is what happened before the external hard drive started doing this.
i restored my laptop and when i plugged in the external hard drive i had to assign it a drive letter, while doing this i accidentally told it to make it an active partition. It still worked after that though and I could use it, but sometime after that it all of a sudden did this to me. Could the cpu unexpectantly shutting off cause the problem? Cuz thats what happened when i was trying to windows updates. The computer suddendly shutting down is another issue if someone wants to help with that.
 
Well, I have no advice for the HDD, however you CPU problem could a few diffrent things.
1)Not enough juice; PSW is not putting out enough power/amps.
2)Heat; you could be having heat buildup and the CPU could be overheating, you could crack it open (not fun with a laptop) and try to clean out some gunk.
3)Unlikely, but possible, you could have a short in wiring somewhere.
How often does this restart happen? and what does it say after you start it back up?
 
the cpu only started shutting down after restoring it. I restored it again and it still did it (I was restoring it and changing the C and D partitions into just the C). So then I did a complete restore where it automatically split into C and D again. It hasnt shut down since but I also havent done the things that was causing it to shut down (windows updates, scanning the external drive for lost files)
 
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after search google for EISA configuration Ive found that the partitions that hold Windows are also EISA. This prevents you from getting to the files.
I still don't know how to undo this or recover the files. Anybody?
 
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