PC Not Seeing Files On External HDD

[JENeric]

Hi guys. I wonder if anyone can help me.

Had to reinstall XP the other day, due to it not loading up on my PC. The install went ok, but when I came to connecting my two external USB drives, Windows will only find files on one of them. It gives the problem drive a letter, but says 0 bytes used. The strange thing is, when I analyse the disk before defragging, it does states that 48 (out of 160) gigs of space is left on it. So XP knows there's data on the drive, it just not letting me access any of the files. The working drive is Fat32, while the problem drive is formatted to NTFS. Never had a problem with either drive before the install.

Any help would be appreciated.

[nburg01]

Let's eliminate the obvious first, when you re-installed XP did you format your drive as NTFS or FAT32? If it was FAT32 then this would explain the problem you're getting.

[stevelup]

It doesn't make any difference which filesystem was used when the OS was reinstalled...

JENeric, with your USB drive connected, please do the following:-

Right click My Computer, then choose Manage

Next, click on Disk Management underneath Storage. Expand the window out to full size and post back what you see.

[JENeric]

Thanks very much for your replies guys. I'm stuck at work atm. Won't be able to do anything until later this evening. Stevelup, I'll do what you said, and post back later.

[JENeric]

Stevelup

Right, I've done what you've said, and for the drive in question, it reads:

Volume - Recovery (all the other drives have letters, this drive doesn't).

layout- patition

type- basic

status- healthy (unknown partition)

capacity - 4.36 GB (this seems strange, as it's a 160 gig drive)

free space- 354 mb

% free- 7%

free tolerance- no

overhead- 0%

Sorry for the layout, but all the info is there. Hope you can help, and thanks again.

[stevelup]

I don't think that is your external drive, I think that is the recovery partition on your main drive.

Most HP / Dell / other big name machines have a DVD image stored in a hidden partition which lets you rebuild the machine if it dies. The size of it, and the fact that the label is recovery coupled with the fact that it is hidden (no drive letter) all point towards that.

OK. Something else for you to try... Get a command prompt up (Start>run>cmd)

Type 'diskpart', then type 'list disk'

It will give you a list of the disks which are mounted.

Copy and paste the info into a text file.

Now type:
select disk 0
detail disk

And paste the results... Repeat for each disk (select disk 1 etc.)

Post back here with that info!

Steve

[JENeric]

Originally Posted by stevelup

I don't think that is your external drive, I think that is the recovery partition on your main drive.

Most HP / Dell / other big name machines have a DVD image stored in a hidden partition which lets you rebuild the machine if it dies. The size of it, and the fact that the label is recovery coupled with the fact that it is hidden (no drive letter) all point towards that.

OK. Something else for you to try... Get a command prompt up (Start>run>cmd)

Type 'diskpart', then type 'list disk'

It will give you a list of the disks which are mounted.

Copy and paste the info into a text file.

Now type:
select disk 0
detail disk

And paste the results... Repeat for each disk (select disk 1 etc.)

Post back here with that info!

Steve

Steve. I've done that, but for the life of me, can't find a way to copy & paste the info from the the dos type promt box to a txt file.

[JENeric]

Steve, I've done it. Here's the info



Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: 14A58DF47014436

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 466 GB 0 B

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

Maxtor 6V160E0
Disk ID: C68581CF
Type : IDE
Bus : 1
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 2 C Windows NTFS Partition 145 GB Healthy System

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

ST350083 0AS USB Device
Disk ID: 51352B4D
Type : USB
Bus : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 3 D FAT32 Partition 466 GB Healthy

DISKPART>

[stevelup]

Aha.

Is your CD/DVDROM drive D: by any chance?

Looks like it is masking your USB drive.

Go back to Disk Management where you were earlier. In the bottom panel, right click on the box to the right of Disk 1 and choose 'Change Drive Letters and Paths'

If there is already a drive letter in there, select it and choose change. Give it a suitable letter - U: for USB or something like that. If there is not already a drive letter there, click Add instead.

Steve

[JENeric]

I'm really sorry Steve, the previous info I gave was incorrect, didn't have both drives connected. Took ages to find a another usb lead to connect them both at the same time. I apreciate it's late, and you might be thinking of your bed, but if you've got time, here's the correct info.



Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: 14A58DF47014436

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ---------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 149 GB 0 B
Disk 2 Online 466 GB 0 B

DISKPART> select disk 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

Maxtor 6V160E0
Disk ID: C68581CF
Type : IDE
Bus : 1
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 2 C Windows NTFS Partition 145 GB Healthy System



DISKPART> select disk 2

Disk 2 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

ST350083 0AS USB Device
Disk ID: 51352B4D
Type : USB
Bus : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 4 G FAT32 Partition 466 GB Healthy

DISKPART>

[stevelup]

Hi

That's still only showing the original disk, but it is now mounted on Drive G.

Are your two external disk enclosures identical?

Steve

[JENeric]

No, they're completey different. Can I just say, according to it's size, disk 0 is the problem drive,

[stevelup]

Disk 0 is your built-in drive. It's a Maxtor 160GB

The only other drive I have seen in any of your diagnostics was a Seagate 500GB.

What is the third disk?

Steve

[JENeric]

Originally Posted by stevelup

Disk 0 is your built-in drive. It's a Maxtor 160GB

The only other drive I have seen in any of your diagnostics was a Seagate 500GB.

What is the third disk?

Steve

Your right about the internal drive. The seagate is one of the external drives, while the other external drive (the problem drive) is a 160 gig Phillips, but that doesn'tt seem to be showing up.

[stevelup]

Please repeat the last test with only the Philips drive connected.