• usb external hard drive

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    WSlonestarone
    AskWoody Lounger
    October 23, 2014 at 12:48 pm #497008

    Hello – All,
    I’ve taken one of my old ide xp hd put it in a sabrent enclosure…Now, I can’t open and see anything on the hd.
    IN disk mgmt. on system win7-64 it shows up there as (S), so windows is seeing it, why can’t I open/use it???
    Is this an initializing problem? It’s labled as disk 5 letter S!! So what’s left to do?
    Thanks for help/suggestions.
    Jon in Dallas

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    • WSSudo
      AskWoody Lounger
      October 23, 2014 at 12:55 pm #1472295

      Have you tried opening a command prompt as an admin and entering chkdsk s:

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      • WSlonestarone
        AskWoody Lounger
        October 23, 2014 at 1:05 pm #1472299

        to Sudo15,
        NO, but I’ll do that now and report back..
        Thank you

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        • WSlonestarone
          AskWoody Lounger
          October 23, 2014 at 1:24 pm #1472302

          It opened files in chkdsk s: says everything is ok. Still I can’t open see anything on the drive. What’s on this drive is an old ubuntu distro. I’ll remove it and put on windows 10 when it’s rc compliant…

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    • WSSudo
      AskWoody Lounger
      October 23, 2014 at 1:27 pm #1472305

      Will it boot up with it ?

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      • WSlonestarone
        AskWoody Lounger
        October 23, 2014 at 1:35 pm #1472308

        NO, it won’t. in disk mgmt. it states windows back up on it, that’s not true . NO back at all on it. Just ubuntu distro.. The way the drive opened in my xp box was the mbr gave a choice of windows or ubuntu..I don’t see anything like that now in disk mgmt. just files!!

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    • WSSudo
      AskWoody Lounger
      October 23, 2014 at 4:55 pm #1472343

      I don’t know if WinDirStat will pick up Drive S when you have it plugged in, but if it does then it will list all of the files on it after it’s collated from the respective drives.

      Just click on Downloads in the left pane and then use the FossHub mirror link.

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    • browni
      AskWoody MVP
      October 23, 2014 at 5:05 pm #1472347

      Can Windows read a Ubuntu drive?

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      • WSnate01pa
        AskWoody Plus
        October 23, 2014 at 8:18 pm #1472375

        Can Windows read a Ubuntu drive?

        Windows normally cannot read a Ubuntu drive if it is formatted under EXT2 or EXT3. There are utilities available which do allow you to READ but not WRITE TO such a drive.

        If the OP used the whole drive under Ubuntu, he should use a Ubuntu live CD to read the disk. He can also use GParted to totally clear the entire disk and then create an NTFS or Fat32 partition on it. If the disk is OK, Windows will now recognize it.

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        • WSlonestarone
          AskWoody Lounger
          October 24, 2014 at 11:43 am #1472495

          Windows normally cannot read a Ubuntu drive if it is formatted under EXT2 or EXT3. There are utilities available which do allow you to READ but not WRITE TO such a drive.

          If the OP used the whole drive under Ubuntu, he should use a Ubuntu live CD to read the disk. He can also use GParted to totally clear the entire disk and then create an NTFS or Fat32 partition on it. If the disk is OK, Windows will now recognize it.

          Thanks all for your help, I thought ubuntu was the problem. I have that and mint installed in virtual box and use every day, but couldn’t figure how to access my usb drive in ubuntu.. However, in disk mgmt. the drive says its ntfs , so linux shouldn’t be the problem, right??
          Thanks for all the help suggestions
          PS even gparted wouldn’t find the usb drive.

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    • WSSudo
      AskWoody Lounger
      October 24, 2014 at 12:25 pm #1472501

      Does WinDirStat as linked in my Post #7 see the files ?

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    • Berton
      AskWoody_MVP
      October 24, 2014 at 12:58 pm #1472506

      However, in disk mgmt. the drive says its ntfs , so linux shouldn’t be the problem, right??

      I use Linux Mint 17 and have no problems reading or saving files to NTFS-formatted disks.

      Before you wonder "Am I doing things right," ask "Am I doing the right things?"
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    • WSlonestarone
      AskWoody Lounger
      October 24, 2014 at 1:50 pm #1472510

      I too have mint 17 installed in VB and use every day. In its disk utility is says this drive is bootable and hpfs/ntfs file system.
      Still won’t open anything. Windows disk mgmt. states the drive is ntfs and healthy. Won’t open anything!! I found the same info when I booted up an ubuntu disk 1304 … In windirstat, which i don’t understand at all,,,it’s so complex. the dirve is listed and bootable it says ….Won’t open anything…

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    • WSlonestarone
      AskWoody Lounger
      October 25, 2014 at 1:17 pm #1472589

      Well, I just formatted the darn thing. Decided if I could put anything on it, and it worked. So that’s it, I guess..Backed up some files and opened them.

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