Plug and Play not recognising external HDD

[keepitreal]

I am trying to move some data from one HDD to another and have used a USB external case before with no problems... this time i plugged in the HDD and as windows xp started recognising and doing its "adding new hardware wizard" thing, I unplugged it by accident.

Now whenever I plug in that HDD it is recognised as a Mass USB storage device but it does not show up as a disk drive under "my computer"

I've tried uninstalling the device under device manager and then plugging it in again so xp recognises new hardware but it always installs the same way.

I've read through aother answers to the same problem and this doesn't help - ie right clicking my computer and finding the disc under storage to format it... it doesn't appear there and it has already been formatted before - i need to move some data!


Help!?

[wideboy]

Try it in another USB socket or go to Device manager and remove/uninstall the USB controllers (not just the drive). Shut down Windows and let it reinstall the USB hardware then plug in your external hard drive.

Any chance of trying the HD on someone else's machine?