Hamokhamok Posted November 18, 2006 Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 I will try my best at explaining the problem I have and perhaps someone else has had a similar experience/problem and may wish to put forward some suggestions. The 300 GB HD isn't used all that much but the other day I plugged it into my PC via USB port and found that I couldn't access it. Under Computer Management (through the control panel) Disk Management the drive is seen. The problem is that it hasn't been allocated a Drive letter. Unfortunately I'm don't have the option to allocate a letter unlike the other drives. The Option is not available. The following is what is displayed when I plug the HD into the PC Disk 2 Basic 279.47 GB Online and 279.47 GB Unallocated Right clicking on the information gives me the following options New Partition Properties Help A few questions ---- Has anyone seen this problem before ? If so what was the way around it ??? I'm fearful that I may have to try and recover the files using a company expert in such things. The only problem is that I believe it can be costly. Any suggestions would be helful here too. My worst fear is formatting the HD and losing all data, about 21GB's worth. The data in the main are photos and other personal stuff. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzzz Posted November 18, 2006 Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 Depending on the OS you are using using, you might try "restore" to an earlier time or "scan" the HDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted November 18, 2006 Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 I had a similar problem. I replaced the external USB hard drive case and all was well. Make sure the hard drive case is suited for the size of the hard drive. I was using a slightly undersized case, which worked OK for several months, then stopped working. The new case has a built in fan to keep the hard drive cool. Pan Tip, 1000 Baht or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamokhamok Posted November 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 To answer both your questions. OS is XP Home. The HD is a MAXTOR One Touch II 300 GB drive. The One Touch facilty I don't use because I found it to too much of a problem. The files that are on the Maxtor were just copied on i.e. it is not a standard Backup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamokhamok Posted November 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2006 I don't think I can Restore to an earlier version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Hamok, as suggested before try the drive in a different case. You may take out the drive and put it in the computers case. Not guaranteed that this works. If you can't get the drive to work within windows there are a few last straws that might help. Another way to get access to the drive and maybe copy the files from there is to boot the computer with tools like Ultimate Boot CD, Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows, Knoppix. Ultimate Boot CD is a collection of helpful tools. Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows will boot you into a Windows-like environment (without installing anythin) where you can access your drives (and hopefulle the faulty one, too). Knoppix is a linux os that boots from CD/DVD without installing anything. Can also be used to rescue data when Windows refuses to boot. There is one advice that you should have got earlier. Never store unique data in only one place. An external drive is perfect for backups, perfect to carry large data. But never the only place you store the data. After all things one carries around tend to drop. Blame Newton or Murphy. Good luck with the drive carlton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzzz Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Detecting and repairing disk errors You can use the Error-checking tool to check for file system errors and bad sectors on your hard disk. Open My Computer, and then select the local disk you want to check. On the File menu, click Properties. On the Tools tab, under Error-checking, click Check Now. Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box. Notes To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer. All files must be closed for this process to run. If the volume is currently in use, a message box will appear prompting you to indicate whether or not you want to reschedule the disk checking for the next time you restart your system. Then, the next time you restart your system, disk checking will run. Your volume will not be available to perform other tasks while this process is running. If your volume is formatted as NTFS, Windows automatically logs all file transactions, replaces bad clusters, and stores copies of key information for all files on the NTFS volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlton68 Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 zzzzzzzzzz that's absolutely right. Just that Hamok can't assign a drive letter to his external drive. Therefore he can't use the tool within windows to check the drive for errors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzzz Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Something could be wrong in the C drive that is causing the problem, so scanning or restoring the C drive may be an option also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzzz Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 OP states that right click on the info gives him the following options: new partition, properties, and help. Right clicking on properties may give him the option to scan. Also click on help may give you more option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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