USB Drive Not Recognized

[travis60]

My external drive stopped being recognized by Windows explorer.
I use XP Pro and one moment everything fine and next thing I know I can't access anything.

Already re-booted, tried a different USB Port, nothing.

Windows shows the drive is there but no accessibility.

 

[hpfreak]

Try connecting the drive to another computer. If it still doesn't work. It may be the enclosure malfunctioning, or the hard drive is dead.

If it does work, then I have steps that might get it working on your XP Pro computer.

 

[marbski]

update the driver of the usb controller....

 

[pjmelect]

It sounds like the drive has died, but before you do the freezer trick (which in my experience does not work) try the hard drive with another USB interface or connect the drive directly to the computer. De-fragmenting a drive or even running Check disk puts a very large strain on a weak hard drive and should only be done once any data has been removed.