usb hard drive wont recognize.

[OKLAHOMAS BEST]

i was doing a system restore to make everything go back to factory defaults and i had my external usb hard drive connected to it. i thought the system restore thing only affected the c drive. it wouldnt let me finish the system restore for some reason then i unplugged my usb drive then the system restore worked. after that i checked to see if the data was on my usb drive but it wont even recognise it. i dont know if my data is on my usb drive or not. what should i do to get my computer to recognise my usb drive and see if my data is there? my drive was a WD my book essentials 2.0

 

[Lexluethar]

Check to make sure your USB drivers are properly installed.

Plug it into another computer to see if possibly the drive or USB cable was damaged / corrupted when you unplugged it.

 

[KurrentEweser]

What system restore are you talking about? A restore from a recovery partition on your hard drive? What does your USB drive actually have on it? As far as I know Windows doesn't use external drives for restore points if that is what you are talking about.

 

[Lexluethar]

What system restore are you talking about? A restore from a recovery partition on your hard drive? What does your USB drive actually have on it? As far as I know Windows doesn't use external drives for restore points if that is what you are talking about.

I agree, which is why i was confused. I thought maybe the driver for the USB device was 'rolled back' because of the system restore, or it shorted since he unplugged it.

 

[OKLAHOMAS BEST]

i used the alt f10 restore to factory defaults thing. i tried my usb drive in my xbox 360 and it wont even show up on that. when i plugg it into my computer it makes a sound on my computer but it doesnt show up in where my hard drives are. in device manager i can see my drive then i try to update the driver and it says the driver is up to date. do you think i shorted it out? when i plugg it in i heard it moving inside like it did when it worked. i did a diagnostic test for the usb drive and it said its working perfect, wouldnt that confirm my drive is not broken?

 

[KurrentEweser]

This forum has many posts about WD external drives with problems. I'd blame the drive before blaming the computer and the Xbox.

 

[OKLAHOMAS BEST]

it worked up until it did the restore to factory defaults, there must be something i can do to make it work.

 

[Lexluethar]

Considering it is a USB external hard drive there isn't much you can do. You could use file recovery software, but if the hard drive is totally head not much can be done.

 

[philbar71]

well you could rip the hdd out of the exclosure and throw it in to your pc and get data off there.

 

[Lexluethar]

well you could rip the hdd out of the exclosure and throw it in to your pc and get data off there.

Negative.

If it is truely and enclosue then you could do that assuming the USB calbe isn't shot. MOST usb drives you purchase are one unit. Meaning you literally hae to dismantel the entire drive to get to the platters, then you have to use special tools to read the platters.

There is a HUGE difference between an external enclosure and a USB external drive. Take one apart and you'll see what i mean.