[skriz130]

Hey all,

I switched to Windows 7 a couple of months ago and I haven't had any problems. However, today I tried to connect my Seagate Freeagent external hard drive, its a 320 GB eSATA drive with USB 2.0 and my laptop doesn't recognize it. It always worked before when I had Windows Vista. I tried to use Disk Management to see the if I could find the drive, but its not there, I've also used partition wizard home edition. Essentially I've run out of ideas and was wondering if anyone could help me out. Thanks in advance!

[Megabite]

Is this a desktop?

[skriz130]

Its a Dell XPS M1530 laptop.

Thanks for the quick response.

[Megabite]

Have you tried the external on other PCs to see if recognizes it.....if you get a PC to see it you could get the data off and then reformat it might help.

The reason I ask if you had a desktop is you can take the external drive out of the enclosure and hook it direct to a desktop using the internal connections

[skriz130]

So, I just tried it on my desktop (in its enclosure) and it worked just fine, all the files are there and uncorrupted. But I don't think there is enough space on the desktop for all the stuff on my external (the desktop is a bit old).

Sorry, its a NFTS file system. I don't know if that changes anything.

[Megabite]

Is this a USB connection....and is the external drive an older model?

[skriz130]

The connection from the external to the computer is a USB 2.0. It has its own power supply. And its about...2 years ago for christmas.

[Megabite]

Understood....... so when you plug it in nothing happens...in all USB ports?

Do other USB devices get recognized OK?

[skriz130]

Nope, nothing happens at all. In all USB ports. And yes, i have an iPhone and it works fine.

[Megabite]

Odd.....

[skriz130]

Yep. Thats the thing, its really odd that it works in one place and not the other. Why would it work that way? Any ideas?

[Elvandil]

Does anything appear in Device Manager when you plug it in?

Have you tried plugging it in and turning it on before you boot the machine?

[skriz130]

As soon as I plug it in it turns on, it doesn't really have on-off button per say. Its a virtual button (like the first ps3) but it hasn't worked for ages. So, i left it on, turned off the laptop and rebooted my laptop and it didn't show up.

Nothing shows up in device manager when I plug it in.

[Elvandil]

Did it turn on when you booted up?

Do you have a different cable you can try (long shot)?

Any other USB devices plugged in? If there are, remove all other USB devices. Do you have any other drives connected to USB?

[skriz130]

It was on during the whole boot process. I've not tried a different cable, but I don't have any other cables for that external hard drive. I've only tried it with nothing else connected, the only thing I ever connect is my iPhone and it works just fine.