My external hard drive works in only my laptop and is not detecting in other laptops..... Please help me... So that my hard d

[Mahendra117]

My external hard drive works in only my laptop and is not detecting in other laptops..... Please help me... So that my hard drive works in other laptops too.

 

[Laptop_Nerd]

Hi,

I would suggest backing up the file of the external HDD into the laptop that is working with the external HDD then reformat the external HDD.

Here are instructions on how to reformat the external HDD.
http/support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=291

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Mahendra117,

I would agree with Laptop_Nerd. You need to back up the data stored on the drive and reformat it.

In case the issue persists, you will need to provide some more information on:
- What are the operating systems of the other laptops?
- USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 ports?
- Is the drive somewhere to be recognized? (Device Manager, Disk Management, BIOS)

Let us know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

 

[floriann software]

I bought this week an external hdd (Seagate Expansion, 3T); it worked at the store with a win 10 laptop, and at my office with a win 8.1 laptop, but.... on my older desktop (IBM-Lenovo ThinkCentre) running win xp it is NOT visible. The USB ports ARE working, as I use various memory sticks and other external hdd (Toshiba Canvio). The new drive DOESN'T appear in the device list of Disk Management section.
Any ideas, suggestions, actions?
Thanks in advance for your patience, F

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there floriann software,

First of all, I would say that it is always a better idea to open up a new thread, instead of engaging in an old one.

Apart from that, as the drive is recognized on other systems except for the XP one, then it comes to drivers. Make sure you go to the MOBO's website and update the drivers.
Is the drive initialized as MBR. In case it is initialized as GPT, I would advise you to back up all the data and initialize it as MBR. Win XP has some limitations on that: https/support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2581408

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[floriann software]

And yet... The Toshiba Canvio external Hdd, formatted with a single partition worked with ALL his 3TB capacity, on that XP computer!
The mistery grows...

Actions that can be taken: 1) Move data somewhere else and re-initialization as MBR (probably the disk is pre-initialized as GPT)
2) Upgrade of the OS to some GPT compatible (it must be a win at least 8, 8.1 or 10? will the other MBR hdd work with one of these? The 8 and 8.1 are generally avoided because of the inavoidable "live tiles", win 10 seems to be rather "curious" for my taste....; w 8.1 handled that older hdd, will w10 work?)
3) Dump completly M$. Use some Linux distro; there 2 problems (at least) arise: a) drivers for peripherals, especially video unit, and b) compatibility (does the linux os access my hdd, or some special program is needed? There is some reserve for using a new, unknown OS....
The M$ article subtly suggest "buy (EVERYTHING: computer, OS, peripherals) new" (or at least that's what I understood from it...)

 

[floriann software]

After reviewing those 3 possibilities:
1 This means to transfer (again) about 2 TB of archives; a lot of time and I don't have (yet?) the space. I'll try to avoid that, as it is a momentary solution.
2 The main problem is the compatibility between the hardware and the (new) software. These OSes have grow to insane dimensions, and are asking for
insane amount of ram... I tried win7, but it is slow, the ram is too small (1-1,5G), so I presume win8-10 have also problems; and I don't wish to pay a lot of money for newer hardware...
3 The linux might be a solution, but because it's so rarely used, a lot of drivers are missing... And there is the problem of the differeces in commands...

Still deliberating...