Windows 10: Unable to see External Hard Drive using USB - SATA Connector

The power went out while doing a Windows 10 update. I purchased a USB to SATA connector, connected it to another Windows 10 PC's USB port. The external hard drive that I removed from my other PC is not showing in Windows File Manager.

:)

 

restore older data to new Win10 PC

Simpler. It basically converts the SATA connector in the hard drive to a USB connector. Then, just plug and play.

 

deleted unallocated partition

In my experience the operating system only sees one partition on an usb connected external drive. I suspect that your disk had two or more partitions.



You may have to physically connect your external hdd to a sata connector of your motherboard in order for disk management to see the unallocated space and allow you to reclaim it.

 

Hello JohnRoss1969 Welcome to the Ten Forums!

The common problem is simply a drive not being seen at first when either replugged back in or moved to a new host machine until it is initialized in the Disk Management tool. This has been a common cause since XP days for any new drive external and even for adding in a new internal drive as well. Solution?

In most cases with an external enclosure and drive in it to be known to be good the quick and easy solution is a fast trip into the Disk Management tool itself to find the volume on the drive that should be seen as an unknown and right click on that to select the Change drive letter option and select a letter not already in use. J or K make for a good pair since flash drives and other internal drive like you dvd and storage drives will grab up the D, E, F, G, H, letters on the spot depending on how many there are. Here two permanent storage/backup drives see S and T used instead while another drive in a fan cooled usb/eSata type enclosure will see either J presently or K. That has "K"(c)onfidential type files stored there like online orders. etc.

If the volume isn't found right away when scrolling the window there you can go up to the menu bar>Action tab and select the Rescan Disks option to refresh the list of partitions/drives. If the size of the partition on the external drive is larger then the C drive then spotting it becomes a simple task. When and if the rescan is needed and the partition does appear you can simply scroll further down the Action tab's menu for the All tasks and use the Change drive letter option there or right click on the volume directly to see a drive letter assigned which will then see the "File Explorer" no longer Windows Explorer icon on the main task bar suddenly appear and start flashing. Your av program will also prompt to scan the new drive found as well.

 

You say the power went out while updating, was this the primary drive (C drive/system drive) in your PC, and now you're hoping to fix it? I highly doubt that the drive has failed, your volumes/partitions are probably fine but corrupt. Was a driver installed when you plugged in the external drive? Did you try using different USB cables? Cables can vary in quality from cheap to excellent. Did you try different USB ports? Does the external case need its' own AC power source, or is it fully powered via the USB cable? If it needs external power, be sure to provide it.

I would also try downloading a small Linux distro (like Parted Magic), install it to a USB stick, then plug the drive in there to see if it's recognized. You don't need alot of experience to do this, even if you know nothing about Linux. Be sure to pick a user-friendly distro.

It could also be that your USB ports have issues. I have a particular external HDD that is very finicky and frequently disconnects while copying files. Using different cables/ports helps a bit, but not much. The drive works fine on a friend's desktop, so it's probably just something with my hardware or whatever.

If you ever get it to come up, be sure to run a checkdisk (chkdsk) command to find/fix any errors.

Not sure what else I can say that might help, good luck!

 

Anon Vendetta and Night Hawk,

Thank you for your help.

I ordered the adapter cable online for a 3.5 hard drive, they sent me one for a 2.5 laptop hard drive. My mistake for not checking the label on the bag when I picked it up in the store.

I just reordered another one. Hope they send the correct one try his time.

Again, thank you for your time

 

You might want to hang onto the 2.5" cable in case you end up needing to hook up a laptop drive some time. I will now be looking at few enclosures for the 2.5" since one laptop suddenly went doa as far as the display leaving me with that plus a spare I can use to back up the new laptop's drive with.

 

The 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives use the same type data and power cables, it's the PATA drives that are different. When a 2.5" drive is removed from a Notebook/Laptop there are adapters or portable cases one can get that can allow plugging into USB port, I use them frequently when working on various computers. There also are adapters or cases that can use an eSATA port.

 

Not all 2.5" drives use the power cable typically seen with a 3.5" while the 15pin data cable remains the same. With laptop drives those slide into a pin shaped connector having an opening at the end of the drive while the 3.5" see that end exposed until either is place in an enclosure. Some also see the IDE type molex 4 pin power plug as well as depending on which make and model enclosure or docking station you go with being another option. I was looking at both earlier to consider which to go with while mostly the 2.5" only picked out will be for a laptop running on the usb port rather then the usb/eSata Sata I II III IDE combiniation and running up a nice price tag of $175 with one seeing a cabinet of drawers! ICY DOCK ICYCube MB561U3S-4S 4 Bay USB 3.0 SSD External Enclosure - White - Newegg.com

Of course others will run much much higher like over $5,000! How about one for nearly $20,000!!! *Eek HP D2700 QK771A 25 900GB 6G SAS 10K SFF Dual port HDD 22.5TB Bundle - Newegg.com

In contrast however you can find one for home use running about $20-$50 depending on who makes it that will be dependable and not simply cheap garbage when it gets a good review! For example Thermaltake as a brand seems to always see a good rep and a combination USB 2.0/eSata docking station can be found for a good price. Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5 eSATA - Newegg.com

That vendor even carries 5.25/3.5" enclosures!

 

Thanks for the additional information.

This is the connector I purchased that's made by StarTech.com. It cost me $24.00 locally.
USB 2.0 to SATA IDE Adapter | Drive Adapters and Converters | StarTech.com

 

I'm little skeptical about that one from first look here! When running a quick search lately for a fan cooled enclosure since the Acomdata only saw a couple of vents on that I ran a Sabrent USB2.0/eSata model I grabbed at Amazon which unfortunately is for 3.5" only Sata II+III while the other I have was 2.0 only for both IDE and Sata II + III. The product page for that can be seen at Sabrent USA

That brand also carries a combination converter not only for 2.5 and 3.5 but also for SSD and even 5.25" drives. Sabrent USA

The problem is I tend to get skeptical on the quality factor when you see too much bunched together over having something specific for each. Even with the fan added in however that new enclosure gets warm to the touch when simply left running for any good period of time. That was one of the early drawbacks seen with the self contained external drives by the way where the drives would end running hot and fail on people! Those were mainly usb or usb/1394 firewire however since the eSata enclosures and adapters were later to come.

 

What I am trying to do is retrieve the data off of the drive that lost power while updating Windows 10.

I am not trying to keep that same drive as a permanent external hard drive. If I can retrieve the data I will put it back in the tower & reinstall Windows.

I now have a Seagate 1TB external drive, backup power supply, that I will connect in case this happens in the future.

 

If you already have an OS drive in the case you could toss it temporarily unformatted and try to use recovery option while already connected to the onboard sata controllers internally without the go between which may or may not still be good. That would show if the drive itself however hasn't seen an ut oh moment and gave out on you?

I doubt a sudden power outage would instantly trash a cable while that can't be ruled out for the converter you have there only the disruption despite the sata connection at one end was still usb at the other where neither should have been harmed. A glitch now being seen in Windows? Far more likely!

Now if I take the update as upgrade and the drive isn't showing up in the File Explorer(previous Windows Explorer) windows at all that indicates the drive still hasn't been initialized at all as of yet. And like I was first mentioning a trip into the Disk Management would likely be needed to get this resolved. Installing the drive temporarily in a second case would simply provide the means of directly backing things up from the drive while plugged directly into the board rather then externally by way of the usb bus since your converter lacks eSata. That provide direct access by the onboard sata controllers while a drive remains outside of the case or laptop when that option is seen.

For the fast and easy backup sticking it inside the other case would see a much faster backup from the drive. I run two external drives and the transfer rates for any volume of data fall noticeably! Even with a 128gb flash drive trying to transfer files and folders over from one desktop to another or onto a laptop at another location takes a bit of time!

But you were also indicating one other thing about that being an OS drive for the second system where simply sticking it back in where you got it from and booting from 10 media live would allow you now to finish the upgrade or even seen a clean install of 10 go on since the upgrade first is no longer required to see a 10 install activated. Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First - Windows 10 Forums

If you are not worried about softwares just personal files those should found in the Windows.old folder as far as the Program Files, Program Files(x86), and users folders are concerned. A clean install doesn't effect anything else on the drive except the ProgramData and Windows folders as well as writing over an existing Windows.old folder. Files and folders outside of those still on the drive are still found intact following any clean install since those would be non MS created folders either created by you or some app that installs outside of one of the two Program Files folders.

Even if you are only able to get a fast temp install of 10 to go on not planning to carry all the programs over you would then see immediate access to the contents on the drive other then anything system protected. You could then back things up and even consider a total wipe if found necessary to see another fresh copy of 10 go on more permanent. That would of course replace any and all of the incomplete folders from the previous upgrade attempt as well as see a fresh install of 10.