The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Cannot transfer 2.5" HDD into External Casing

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by c-c-k, Nov 14, 2004.

  1. c-c-k

    c-c-k Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5

    I recently upgraded my D400 laptop HDD from 40GB 5400 rpm to 80GB 5400 rpm.

    When I inserted my old 40GB HDD into a 2.5" Sarotech external HDD casing, neither my laptop or desktop is able to recognize it. It only appears in the device manager but not in My Computer.

    But, if I reinsert it back into my D400, it works fine ....

    Also, I had a similar problem with my 3.5" 120 GB IDE HDD which was my secondary HDD on my Dell desktop - I cannot remove it and use it in an external HDD casing or even use it as my primary HDD. It can only function as my secondary HDD....
     
    c-c-k, Nov 14, 2004
    #1
  2. Brian

    Brian Working at 486 Speed NBR Reviewer

    Reputations:
    947
    Messages:
    8,970
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Perhaps the enclosure needs to be powered?

    Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com
     
    Brian, Nov 14, 2004
    #2
  3. c-c-k

    c-c-k Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    It is powered up OK.

    When I plug the USB HDD into my laptop or desktop, initially it says that the HDD is recognized and even goes to the extent of stating that it is ready to be used but it does not show up in My Computer.

    It is only visible in the Device Manager - but when I populate it under Volumes, it is of unknown type and unreadable. Partition type is not applicable with no capacity or space.

    If I try as you mentioned, it still does not appear under Disk Management

    No initialize and Convert Disk Wizard appears - how do you get to this ? So, I cannot get anywhere past step 3.

    I even tried formatting the whole disk with it as the primary HDD in my laptop - I think that if I proceed to install Windows on it, it will even work but not as a secondary USB HDD.

    The strange thing is that if I take out my new 80 GB HDD and use it as a secondary external USD HDD on the laptop or desktop, there is no problem.......................

    Same thing applies for the 120 GB 3.5" HDD.


    Another thing is sometimes under Device Manager, it mentions something about incompatibility because of Windows ME or 98 which I have never used.

    Also, I have not removed the Dell Partition but then the same partition is on the 80GB HDD.

    I did use PowerQuest Drive Image 7.0 to transfer the data from the 40GB HDD to the 80 GB HDD
     
    c-c-k, Nov 14, 2004
    #3
  4. mathlete2001

    mathlete2001 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    58
    Messages:
    865
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Did you take the pin converter off of the old laptop hard drive?

    What OS are you running?

    * Inspiron 8600c * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo * 2x512 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * 60GB 7200RPM HDD *
     
    mathlete2001, Nov 14, 2004
    #4
  5. c-c-k

    c-c-k Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    8
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Yes, I took the pin convertor off to place onto the HDD which I slotted into my laptop. By the way, how do you take it off properly without bending the pins especially the ones at the end - don't seem to be able to pull it off evenly.

    I'm using Windows XP Professional SP2 with all the latest updates...
     
    c-c-k, Nov 14, 2004
    #5