HDD

edited July 2012 in Hardware
my external HDD was write protected, so I went to disk management and put it offline and then online again. Afterwards I couldn't access my hard drive, it shows data error (cyclic redundancy check)

Comments

  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    If this is a USB HDD, you might have to:

    1. Turn computer off;

    2. Unplug from power cord and USB cord the external HDD (if it does not have a power cord AND USB cord, skip the part about power cord in this step);

    3. Wait 30 seconds;

    4. Plug HDD back in;

    5. Turn computer back on.

    From now on, with USB external HDDs, it is sufficient to click the little USB connector plus White check mark in green ball icon(to the right on task bar and just left of time, or hidden behind a little up arrow pointer just to left of icons there which you click to show more icons), then choose the external HDD's eject line by clicking on it. then you can disconnect your USB HDD from the computer.

    WHY: Using Disk Management may undo drivers for your external HDD(disable in this case, to Windows, does not merely mean turn off), like disable device can do sometimes. when you power cycle computer you usually will cause Windows to reload drivers automatically for your USB HDD if you let it, and it will work again. Windows, with modern Windows, will often remove the disabled driver for same thing for USB storage devices when it installs. If you disable the driver in Disk Management, you will get to power cycle the computer to get the driver re-activated in Windows.

    WHY in Techese: Hot swap only works if you tell Windows you want a hot swap in the right way. Disabling a device unactivates Windows use of the device (rule in tech terms). Windows detects new devices each time it starts up. It detects USB devices by causing listening for device signals on USB at Windows startup. Steps

    If you "eject" the device on USB, you can merely unplug the cord and wait 10-30 seconds, then plug the cord back in if you later want it working and do not want to power cycle your computer as above. True hotswap works that way for almost all external HDDs.
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