External HDD not recognized

The problem here is super simple. I have an old laptop HDD that I recycled into external storage. I decided to use the same SATA external enclosure on a different hard drive from another laptop to format it. That went fine.

However, when I made the switch back to the original HDD, it stopped being recognized. The light was showing activity, you could hear and feel the disk moving, but in Device Manager it showed code 45 -- not plugged in. I tried all USB ports, and even bought a new enclosure that offered the same behavior. So now I know the enclosure isn't the problem. New case, new adapter, new cord.

Is there any way to have it working again? I feel like I could be missing something too obvious, but I'm unable to see if I am. Until I find a solution, of find there's no solution, I'll be over in that corner in the back banging my forehead against the wall for not making copies of more immediate needs. I was too confident. sigh

ETA: I should mention that it's literally not showing up anywhere. I did recall reading about unpartitioned drives showing up, things of that nature. I just want to clear all that up.

 

Do you see it in Disk Management?

Did you swap drives with power applied?

Did you ground yourself before switching drives back and forth?

How old is the HDD? What brand and model?

Can you connect it to anyone's desktop system to check it further? If you can, see if you can download the manufacturer's diagnostic utility for it.

Yeah; back up first (to two places...) then experiment/change what was working.

Good luck.

 

Hmm, I subbed via email, but no notifications. Oh well.

• 
  
• Yes, it shows up as "was" connected, hence the code 45, which is "not connected but recognized."
• I always unhook before fiddling with hardware.
• Yes, always!
  
• HDD is maybe 2.5 years old or 3? It worked while hooked up off & on for almost 2 years, no hitches. It's an older HP harddrive that I recycled for external use. I forget the detailed model, but it's a very basic, low-end one you'd find in any discount store these days.
  
• I haven't checked it on another desktop yet, but I'll definitely try tomorrow. That was my next step, actually. I try to exhaust what I can before moving to another PC.
• Normally I do back up twice, but this time... heh. Figures. -headdesks-

If there aren't any replies, I'll just post via new comment with updates. The enclosure is from Insten. I couldn't find a utility for it, but I did look. Usually those can help me sort things out easily. I'd bought from the same seller over a year ago and P&Ped with no problem. Different brand, same innards.

 

You don't want the utility from the enclosure manufacturer. You want the HDD utility instead (the code it might return will mean something to the manufacturer of the drive).

Good luck.

 

Find someone with a desktop computer. Laptop drives have same connectors as desktop drives, it will plug right in. You can use cd/dvd drives cables for example.
If it doesn't work on that desktop, then the drive is dead. If it works, the enclosure might be at fault.

 

I had actually did that today. I was so busy this passed week that I couldn't come here to post or to try it on another desktop.

Result: It isn't recognized at all there. Not even in hidden hardware in the device manager, like my own desktop does. Both the old and the new enclosure do have the drive spinning, the light blinks like it's "thinking," and it acts like it's alive. So is it really dead? It sounds like a software issue I'm unaware of.

 

Some of the mehcanical aprts could be working but the drive could still be dead. It's possible the controller is dead, can't do anything but supply power to the drive.

 

Out of curiosity, how is it possible for a new enclosure to show up separately in device manager if the hard drive itself isn't recognized? My guess is the USB portion installed as a plug & play, but I'm curious if my guess is correct.

 

Maybe I should rephrase the question. I'm curious about how plugging in a brand new HDD enclosure shows up in Device Manager if the actual hard drive is dead. Is it the plug & play feature? I apologize if that question sounds too simple to answer, but I didn't go to school for this. I can only rely on tutorials and forums like this one for further learning.

 

A USB enclosure has a controller chip in it. That controller chip handles all of the data traffic between the USB port and the SATA port. When your computer tries to communicate with the hard drive, it is actually communicating to that controller chip.

That controller chip doesn't know that the hard drive connected to it is defective. The hard drive connected to that controller chip powered on, and *appears* to be behaving normally for the moment (before any data was read or written to that hard drive). So the controller chip tells your computer that all-is-well, and its ready to start accepting read / write requests.

That is why the drive enclosure shows up in windows device manager. Everything *appears* normal before any read / write requests are made. It's only after a read / write requests is made to that problems show up.

It's like a car with a defective transmission. You can start the car and run it at idle, and everything will *appear* normal. But you won't know anything is wrong until you put the car in gear.

I should also point out that not all hard drive failures behave in this way (just like how not all car troubles behave in that way). If the hard drive has a problem where it doesn't power on at all, then it will be known right away that there is a problem.

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