Hard Drive Not Recognized (Page 2): Yes. I just held it up to my ear, like a phone. It's doing something in there.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

wmontgomery wrote:

The electronics is turning on the light, but can you actually hear the drive startup and spin?

Yes. I just held it up to my ear, like a phone. It's doing something in there.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Busbum wrote:

Jerry,
Try taking it out of the case and connect it to the laptop, to see if the enclosure is the problem...
HTH

Once it's out of the case, I can't connect it to anything, and I don't want to swap drives in the laptop again.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

kymarto wrote:

You should take out the drive and put it in another case. The disc controllers fry sometimes, or you might have a break in the traces where the USB socket is connected in the case.

I must have another case around here, so I'll try that.

xerxesix Loc: Portland, OR

I have had the same problem. Go to disk management and if hard drive shows with no letter select change drive letter and paths and assign a letter. Unfortunately you may have to do this every time you after starting up

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Are you trying to adapt an internal Mac HD for use as an external drive? Maybe that’s the problem.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Indi wrote:

Can you put own another computer and format it.
Used to be so easy in the old days when you could FDisk.
There’s an idea. Can you attach it to an old computer that has an old version of Windows and FDisk it there?

You can still use fdisk a number of other DOS commands, even in Windows 10. Just right click on the start button in the lower left and choose “power shell” which will open a command line window.

Jerry, if you go into disk manager in management tools, can you see the drive? And do you want to recover data from the drive or just want to format and use it going forward?

fotoman150

Use chkdsk in command window to eliminate bad sectors and then the computer will see it again.

A YouTube search will bring up directions. It may take overnight and it may say some sectors cannot be repaired. Ignore this and let it work.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

fotoman150 wrote:

Use chkdsk in command window to eliminate bad sectors and then the computer will see it again.

A YouTube search will bring up directions. It may take overnight and it may say some sectors cannot be repaired. Ignore this and let it work.

How do you apply chkdsk if the computer doesn't think there's any disk there? Even in the command window you need a drive letter. Not even sure how you would use fdisk if you don't have a drive letter. And the OP stated that the disk manager doesn't see it.

There are two possibilities: (1) the case interface between the disk and the computer is toast; or (2) the disk is toast.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

DirtFarmer wrote:

How do you apply chkdsk if the computer doesn't think there's any disk there? Even in the command window you need a drive letter. Not even sure how you would use fdisk if you don't have a drive letter. And the OP stated that the disk manager doesn't see it.

There are two possibilities: (1) the case interface between the disk and the computer is toast; or (2) the disk is toast.

I suspect that the HD is designed so it can’t be used outside of its OEM Mac. There’s likely a handshake routine with the Mac when it boots up through the mother board. Just my guess. The OP might try putting it back in the Mac and see if it works.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

DirtFarmer wrote:

How do you apply chkdsk if the computer doesn't think there's any disk there? Even in the command window you need a drive letter. Not even sure how you would use fdisk if you don't have a drive letter. And the OP stated that the disk manager doesn't see it.

There are two possibilities: (1) the case interface between the disk and the computer is toast; or (2) the disk is toast.

On some systems, even if the file structure is unreadable by the operating system, the disk is still visible (Linux - "df" command or dmesg), it just isn't mounted. But since the OP mentioned that he was moving this drive between Winderz and Mac, it was probably in a mutually compatible format.

(I did say "probably" because both operating systems have a non-native ability to read each other's proprietary file formats)

fotoman150

DirtFarmer wrote:

How do you apply chkdsk if the computer doesn't think there's any disk there? Even in the command window you need a drive letter. Not even sure how you would use fdisk if you don't have a drive letter. And the OP stated that the disk manager doesn't see it.

There are two possibilities: (1) the case interface between the disk and the computer is toast; or (2) the disk is toast.

Good point. Not sure.

GEngel-usmc Loc: Spencerport NY - I miss Lakeland, FL

Probably a 5400 rpm drive, so kind of silent running. Case power light only says power connected to case, not to drive motor (rotating platters). I know it’s not the $27, just data, etc. Now curious!
I use a 2.5”/3.5” Docking Station for bare drives and by touch can feel a drive starting up or not. On a 2.5” laptop drive at 5400 rpm you can also rest a screwdriver tip against the case and put the handle end against your ear for the startup vibration or sound. No rotation, no sound (in a Docking Station) the Drive is dead-either bad rotor or drive electronics main board. Why a Docking Station? A docking station removes your case, case cables, and case power from the equation, to the drive itself. Good/bad - yes/no simplifies it. Just replaced two of my six backups this way. Fast diagnosis.
Fun learning experience...
PS - Docking Stations work for me as all my backup drives are Bare Drives w/o external Cases.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

You can tell if a drive is spinning by holding it and rotating it slowly - you can feel the gyroscopic effect of the spinning platter.

GeneS Loc: Glendale,AZ

My last one like that, it was stuck in park mode.
They can be opened and unstuck.
Google it

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

All of what I am about to suggest presumes that the drive is healthy & operational.

On a desktop, add it as an additional drive, connected directly to the motherboard, open the BIOS and see if is recognized.
If it is, reboot and assign it a drive letter in 'Disk Management'.
At this point you should see it as a functional drive.

Take a known good drive through this process to prove that the process works.