....and this USB drive is perfectly OK for XP.
On some windows forums they are musing about this and that in a very confusing ways.. and the situation is simple - whatever I do, w7 system can't access the drive that was accessible before, and still is for XP (and linux, running on my Samsung TV).
Does somebody knows how to fix this?
Thanks in advance!
1) Plug in the USB Drive, do not format it.
2) Start/Computer, right click / Manage
3) Click on Disk Management
4) Look for the Drive in the list at the bottom
5) The disk should appear and list the partition type (NTFS, FAT32, ext4 etc...)
sfc is used to test for corrupt windows system files. it should not be used for non-system external drives unless the drive has the operating system on it.
Thanks guys for the replies
The first thing w7 was to format drive, I refused
Then it was as per attachment..
According to w7, it is G, RAW healthy and empty... which is not of course (it is NTFS and it is full of data files).
And I clearly remember I was using this HD with the same laptop couple of years back without problems
BTW, why is this happening? It seems many people have this problem, and the guys who should give support (Microsoft) are nowhere near.... why there is problem under w7 and not elsewhere?
I tried testdisk on w7, but it doesn't offer me FAT32 partition... it detected RAW only
However now I am wandering - could this disk partition be "repaired" from XP, under which it works without visible problems?
EDIT
Correction: The USB drive is actually NTFS, not FAT32 as indicated earlier in the post.
On XP, testdisk detected Intel/PC partition.. at least it is not RAW.
Should I go with this?
EDIT2:
I joined cgs forum with that question.. will post here about the further developments :-)
I've seen the same problem with a USB stick, W7 wouldn't read, insisted on formatting, I put the stick in an XP machine the data was still there and readable. As a precaution I backed up then reformatted the stick. W7 also has a nasty habit of insisting that USB sticks need to be checked for consistency, then breaking the contents if you let it go ahead.
Thanks guys,
The description in link definitely looks like my problem, including access to drive from XP machine.
I will try to backup first.. this 2TB disk is 3-4 years old and contains all my astro and terrestrial photos.. I do no want to loose them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OICURMT
Best article I could find regarding your problem...
According to the article you need to use TestDisk (now 7.0) and run the process offered so that you can firstly detect the actual original partition that is now "RAW" to convert/recover it back to its original state of whatever it was; since you indicated earlier that it was Intel/PC in WindowsXP then you can follow what the author showed.
Can you still see the drive contents (files/folders etc) when this drive is attached to an XP 'puter? If yes then it is best to copy the whole lot of your files out first to another media and then do the TestDisk process IMO...
.....Can you still see the drive contents (files/folders etc) when this drive is attached to an XP 'puter? If yes then it is best to copy the whole lot of your files out first to another media and then do the TestDisk process IMO...
HTH
Cheers
Bill
Yes, that is the case.. and exactly what I decided how to proceed just a moment ago
Thanks for confirmation!
Thanks guys,
The description in link definitely looks like my problem, including access to drive from XP machine.
I will try to backup first.. this 2TB disk is 3-4 years old and contains all my astro and terrestrial photos.. I do no want to loose them.
So.. What I need to do is to select Intel/PC and proceed with creating a new partition table, as described in the link, right?
If you originally formatted it under Windows XP then yes.
If you originally formatted it under Windows XP then yes.
It came from shop already formatted (Officeworks, WD 2TB).
Normally an average user would think, disk is either good or bad, right?
Not quite so.
I am wondering now, what if w'7 (or whatever) fails again to access it again in the future?.. I will definitely keep XP on my desktop, or install Linux on at least one of my machines.
BTW, I was thinking about getting some sort of storage controller, perhaps a box with couple of HD’s that are accessible via LAN.
My ADSL modem has USB, where I am having 1TB HD for exactly that purpose. The issue is the speed, data transfer seems to be too slow, so I am not using it very often (BTW, this drive has the same issue with w’7, can’t be accessed from USB port directly).
It came from shop already formatted (Officeworks, WD 2TB).
BTW, I was thinking about getting some sort of storage controller, perhaps a box with couple of HD’s that are accessible via LAN.
A NAS (Network Attached Storage) you mean. Can be made easily free but in your case just buy an off the shelf unit. Synology are a great brand.
Re pre formatted drives, you should ALWAYS format (NOT Quick Format) any new hard drive you add to your system, internal or external. It'll take a long time for large drives but its a good test to ensure the drive didn't come with problem sectors and you can easily return for exchange.
Ultimately the problem you had was because you didn't use the "safely remove device" from the windows taskbar, you probably just pulled the cable out of the usb socket. Windows for a while now "opens" a reserved write session to usb storage devices, so when you save a file it might not be saved at that time, gives you the illusion of fast performance and gets you back to your program sooner. by using the safely remove device icon from the taskbar it ensures Windows completes any writing tasks it needs to make. When you yank the drive it may have only half a task written and you end up with a corrupted drive and all the fun youve been through. just do it properly to avoid in future.
A NAS (Network Attached Storage)
... Ultimately the problem you had was because you didn't use the "safely remove device" from the windows taskba...
Hi Sil,
Thanks for your reply, likely that was the cause of my troubles...
However, I never noticed the loss of any files (maybe they were not important so I simply forgot?).
And the question still remains, why the drive is OK for XP, but not for W'7? Is it because Winows are not compatible with themselves?
BTW, I was thinking about getting some sort of storage controller, perhaps a box with couple of HD’s that are accessible via LAN.
My ADSL modem has USB, where I am having 1TB HD for exactly that purpose. The issue is the speed, data transfer seems to be too slow, so I am not using it very often (BTW, this drive has the same issue with w’7, can’t be accessed from USB port directly).
Use a NAS only for stuff you want online and accesable 24/7. I use an RN10400 (4 drive bays) into two redundant RAID volumes. This is the way to go for a home server setup. Note that a NAS drive is not a backup system... if something goes wrong (e.g. fire, water, break in) you'll still lose your data.
For backups and ease of access for HDD that you keep in your safe, I use a hard drive cradle.
I have two, a Themaltake BlacX Duet 5G (USB3) and a Channel+ FUDSE30-HCR with an integrated Media Card Reader (USB2/eSata).
The Thermaltake is on my NAS and the Channel+ is on my desktop.
Yep, it is USB2, the same as on desktop.
However, HD via USB2 on desktop seems to be much faster compared to the same HD via USB2 on ADSL modem.
Gotta ask then... are the LAN ports on your ADSL modem 10/100 or 10/100/1000?
USB2 speed is 480Mbps. If you LAN ports are 10/100 then you are running at ~20% of the USB2 throughput (i.e. it'll take five times longer to download from the modem).
OIC!
Last edited by OICURMT; 09-06-2016 at 01:04 AM.
Reason: speed correction
This may not be case with your ADSL modem but the file sharing from an external HD on the original Raspberry Pi 1 was limited by the CPU speed.
I would not be surprised if an ADSL modem has similar CPU limitations.
Windows 7 wants to format external USB HD...
Thanks mate, I will try.
