Weird drive problem - cannot "see" laptop drive

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ohaya
Posts: 229
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:40 pm

Weird drive problem - cannot "see" laptop drive

Post by ohaya »

Hi,

I have a Toshiba laptop, a Satellite L455-S5975, that originally came with a WD 250GB 2.5" SATA drive.

I recently got a new 500GB drive, and replaced the original 250GB with the 500GB drive. I am a longtime BING user, so I installed BING on the new drive, and everything was good.

The problem that I'm having is with the original 250GB drive, which is now not installed on the laptop. I wanted to copy stuff off of the old 250GB drive, plus, after that, I figured I'd stick it into a 2.5" enclosure and use it as a spare external drive.

To copy files from the drive, I have one of those drive docks, where you can drop a drive into it, and access the drive via USB.

However, when I did that, I couldn't see the drive either in BING or in Windows.

So, I got a new 2.5" enclosure, that has both USB and eSATA output, and I put the 2.5" drive into that enclosure.

However, even with that, when I connect to the drive via USB, neither Windows nor BING can see the drive.

HOWEVER, if I hook up the enclosure to a computer, or to another laptop that I have that has an eSATA port, I can see the drive ok.

In other words, with this 250GB drive, I cannot see the drive via USB, but I can see the drive via eSATA.

As I said, it's a WD 250GB 2.5" SATA drive, and I can't figure out what would prevent the drive from being visible via USB. The only thing I can think of is that, since this was the original drive in the Toshiba laptop, maybe Toshiba does something, or does something to the drive (e.g., maybe some weird partitioning) that would prevent anything from seeing it unless via the SATA interface.

Does anyone know why this might be the case?

I'd really like to get this drive to work with the USB, so that it can be useable for storage.

Thanks, and, BTW, a little belated Happy New Year to you all!

Jim
a1pcfixer
Posts: 183
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:13 am

Re: Weird drive problem - cannot "see" laptop drive

Post by a1pcfixer »

Ohaya,

> However, when I did that, I couldn't see the drive either in BING or in Windows.

Connect AND power ON that drive, THEN bootup Windows.......can you see/access it
now?

Try other USB ports.......same results?

Any switches on that enclosure for USB/eSATA?

Do ANY USB drives work correctly in that enclosure?

FWIW; if you have the choice, use the eSATA interface as the USB is waaaay slower
in data transfers. I have a 17" Gateway laptop w/eSATA + HDMI (love those), yet my
daughter's Toshiba 15" has only USB. So hers takes f-o-r-e-e-v-e-r to backup,
while mine flies through!
--

Jim L.
Using - Virtual Access(OLR)
http://www.virtual-access.org
6.3.0.5 Windows Vista Service Pack 2 build 6002

ohaya
Posts: 229
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:40 pm

Re: Weird drive problem - cannot "see" laptop drive

Post by ohaya »

Hi,

I'm currently copying over some files from the 250GB drive to my new 500GB. I had to plug the 250GB (via the new enclosure) into another laptop that has an eSATA port on it, and shared the partition and then am transferring files over networking.

Once that gets done, I'll do some more testing, but to answer your questions/comments:

1) I already did what you suggested, i.e., connect the enclosure and power on the enclosure, and then bootup Windows (tried multiple times) and Windows doesn't see it (e.g., in Computer Management ==> Disk Management, the drive doesn't show up).

2) I've tried multiple other USB ports, on different laptops and PCs, and can't seen the drive if it's only plugged in via USB.

3) No, no USB hubs at all.

4) I haven't tried other drives in the same enclosure, but remember that the drive wouldn't appear when I plugged it into the drive dock thing and tried USB.

5) I know that eSATA is faster. The problem is that the Toshiba laptop has only USB ports. Plus, I really want to be able to have some use of the old 250GB drive in the enclosure later.

I'll post back after the copy I'm doing now gets done.

Jim

P.S. I've also tried enabling "USB2.0" in BING, and when I do that BING just hangs.
ohaya
Posts: 229
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:40 pm

** SOLVED ** Re: Weird drive problem - cannot "see" laptop d

Post by ohaya »

Hi,

Ok, this is going to be a little embarrassing :).

I was doing more testing, and as part of that, I tried using a different USB cable, and when I did that, it worked fine (could see drive in both BING and Windows), and I though "AHA!".

So, then I switched back to the original cable that came with the enclosure, and I noticed that it wasn't going in as far as the cable that worked, so I pushed on it a little harder, and it "clicked" into the connector :)!!

I then tested (again, this was with the original USB cable) and VOILA, it still worked!

So, bottom line: It looks like the enclosure USB port and cable have some kind of detent, and you have to make sure to push the connector all the way in. Once that's done, it works.

The part that threw me off was that even with the cable plugged partially in, the power LED on the enclosure was lighting. I had *assumed* that meant that the cable was plugged in, but apparently that's not enough.

Later,
Jim

P.S. In case anyone is wondering, the enclosure is a Vantec Nexstar 2.5" USB/eSATA enclosure.
a1pcfixer
Posts: 183
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:13 am

Re: ** SOLVED ** Weird drive problem - cannot "see" laptop d

Post by a1pcfixer »

Ohaya,

> So, bottom line: It looks like the enclosure USB port and cable have some kind of detent, and you have to make sure to push the connector all the way in. Once that's done, it works.

Ahhhhh-ha!
She was right.....go deeper!

I must live a gifted life as far as PC's go. Rarely have I ever had bad cables, and except for WinME,
none of MS's OS's ever given me much trouble. Where many claim the last MS OS was bad for xx reasons,
most haven't given me much trouble. I'm multi-booting Win98SE/W2K/WinXP-Pro/Win7-Ultimate on a PC I
built 8 years ago, with 5 HDD's (and an Iomega ZIP drive!). On that one I managed to break a SATA cable end.

The Timex Sinclair 1000 however, was a migraine generator.

At any rate, good to know ya found the cause of your troubles!
--

Jim L.
Using - Virtual Access(OLR)
http://www.virtual-access.org
6.3.0.5 Windows Vista Service Pack 2 build 6002

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