I have a 2.5" portable hard drive (powers up through usb) and whenever i plug it into my computer, my computer wont detect it. It is very random when my computer detects it. I tried rebooting the computer with the HD plug in the computer, reboot the computer then plugging it in, all kinds of variations. It looks like it is a bad harddrive inside, but I am really hoping that this is not the case. While we are on harddrives, i have another question. I added a second harddrive to my compute awhile back and sometimes when i turn on my computer, the second harddrive is not detected, but whenever it is detected no data of info is missing, it works perfectly fine. ...I've had some really bad luck with harddrives....gone through so many already... my second question about the computer harddrive isnt a main concern, I just really want to know about the plug and play situation. Thank you.
What operating system are you using. Can you take the extrenal drive apart and plug the IDE drive straight onto PC. I have had the USB to IDE interface part of external drives go before, if the drive reads okay, you can at least rescue your data, get a replacement or new enclosure.
I have Windows Xp pro. I have not tried to take about the external drive, but i did not know that a laptop harddrive can be plugged into a computer.
You'll need a conversion kit, they cost about £5, here is the link to an example. http://www.trianglecables.com/25to35notide.html I've had a few external drives of my own go, and now test other peoples as and when required, I've had the kit for a while and I now leave it connected, so forgot they are not standard build. I noramlly find that you can see a USB device plugged in, but can not see the actual HDD, this has normally been the converter being broken. If you can't even see the fact that a USB device has been plugged in half the time, then it will be the USB side of the converter thats probably gone. At least if you prove it with one of these, you can recover and then just get another caddy. I've now gone to USB firewire caddies as they have proven far more reliable, are faster and don't give any boot issues if left plugged in. Hope this helps
