External HDD problems

[aekyall]

I have a Seagate Goflex 320G external HDD that I used to use for Windows backups until I installed a second internal HDD in my desktop which I now use (identified as T:). This was a couple of years ago. I now want to use the Seagate as a external drive again but, for some reason I cannot fathom, my computer will not recognise that the Seagate HDD exists (the power lights on the drive do light up)! I've tried different USB connections but with no joy. Thinking the drive was probably 'dead' I tried it in my HP laptop (which only has Linux 20.2 on it) using same USB connector lead and, lo and behold, the laptop immediately recognised the external drive and I'm able to write/read files to it. I reformatted the drive to FAT32 and tried again with my desktop - still no joy.
Could anyone suggest why my desktop, running Windows 10 (H), will not recognise the drive - and possibly suggest how I can proceed?

[HansV]

Assuming you use a USB connection, have you tried a different USB port on the PC?
Sorry, didn't read your post carefully enough

[JoeP]

Have you checked device manager to ensure there are no problems there?

If you have "fast startup" enabled you could try disabling it and rebooting. See How to disable fast startup in Windows 10 for instructions.

[aekyall]

Joe, Fast startup isn't enabled but to make sure it had 'stuck' I enabled it and then disabled it and then rebooted. No joy. Device manager seems to be functioning but isn't seeing the Seagate HDD. I'll ask a friend to try mounting it on their Windows computer to see if it will work there.
Many thanks,
Keith

[StuartR]

I guess this won't help if it doesn't show in device manager, but it's worth looking in Disk Manager to see if the disk can be seen there, sometimes one computer can't see partitions created by a different one.

[Argus]

It's not clear what you did with the Device Manager. You could also try another round with the Device Manager, when the external HDD isn't connected, and click Show hidden devices on the View menu, since Plug and Play devices will not show up when not connected.* If you find any entries that you can link to the external HDD you can delete these**, close Device Manager, and try again connecting the HDD.

* You will probably see plenty of "ghost" devices not connected at the moment.
** In the old days there were some rare cases where hardware wasn't recognized, by old configurations, when connected, and deleting a Device Manager entry, "offline", helped.

[aekyall]

I guess this won't help if it doesn't show in device manager, but it's worth looking in Disk Manager to see if the disk can be seen there, sometimes one computer can't see partitions created by a different one.

Stuart: I had previously looked in disk management from the control panel option and the Seagate wasn't there! However, read on!! ............

Well, it did - sort of!!!!! I opened the search box and started to type "disk management" - a info box immediately opened in bottom right hand corner saying "there's a problem with this disc .............. but before I could read the rest it disappeared!

I continued typing in "disk management" and it came up with the option "create and format hard disc partitions" which gave me access to all my HDDs plus , the Seagate HDD!!

I've opened File Explorer and it is showing the Seagate HDD. However, I don't seem able to save anything to it. The right hand corner box came up again and said there's a problem click to resolve (or some such words). I did that and Windows said all was okay and there wasn't a problem with the drive, but I still can't write to it. I've tried formatting it to NTSF but Windows says it couldn't complete the formatting. So, although I can now see the drive I still cannot use it!! Plus, it doesn't seem to be there all the time!! There is obviously something not right either with the disk or perhaps the connecting lead (I've tried two different ones but sure if either is the original that went with the drive). I've now run out of ideas!!

[aekyall]

Argos: Did as you suggested and there was an entry for the Seagate which I deleted. Was then able to complete the format of the drive but the problems still remain. Also, the drive keeps appearing/disappearing from the disk management display so I suspect either the disk is on its way out or there's a problem with not having the correct (original) connecting lead (?). Or perhaps something else??
Thanks for help

[StuartR]

This does sound like a hardware problem. That could be the drive, the cable, or the USB port. You should be able to tell which by swapping things around.

[aekyall]

Thank you all for help. I'll play around with some bits and pieces and see what transpires!!

[aekyall]

Just to tidy the thread up! I'm not sure I really understand why but all now seems to be working okay!! Haven't used any different leads, but on one (of many) tries at connecting it and getting it 'seen', it showed up in Windows Explorer so I tried to save a document file to it but it immediately told me I didn't have read/write privileges. Corrected that and tried to save the document file again. This time it told me there was no mapped path to the drive!! Corrected that and it worked okay!! When I came to eject the drive I clicked on my "safely remove hardware and eject media" icon and it offered to "eject FreeAgent Goflex".
I've left it alone for 24 hours and just now I plugged it back in and it was immediately recognised and it functions as it should!! Fingers crossed all is now well with the world - Many thanks to all for the help. Still confused but ............ onward and upward!!

[StuartR]