Win 7 cannot see external USB and firewire hard drives

[CYgecko]

I used to back up to an external hard drive. which I can connect via USB or firewire. Now windows backup cannot see the drive when I plug it in using either connection. The drive doesn't show up under 'Computer'. Today I realised that this applies to all my USB hard drives - USB flash drives are OK, but anything with a hard disc in it is not recognised by windows.

I want to install Win 7 SP1 but I want to take a backup first, which I can only do via my home network, which will take forever.

I can't see any issues in system information in the control panel.

[Blencogo]

Hi CYgecko.

Have a look in Disc Management: -

Control Panel -> Adminitrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management

Scroll Down.  Is there a drive which does not have a drive letter allocated?  If Yes, right-click on it and assign your external HDD a drive letter.

[CYgecko · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the information. I found another way of fixing it, which was advised by Microsoft when I tried to install Service Pack 1. When I tried to install the service pack, it came up with error 0x800F0A12, so I followed the link to the help site, where it told me to:

1. Click the Start button   , and in the search box, type command prompt.

2. In the list of results, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.        If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Type bcdedit, and then press Enter.

4. Make a note of any error message you receive, and expand the section below that corresponds to the message.

The response to 'bcdedit' was - "The boot configuration data store could not be opened. The system cannot find the file specified."

The fix is to do this:

1. Click the Start button   , and in the search box, type command prompt.

2. In the list of results, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.        If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

3. Carefully type mountvol /E and press Enter.

4. Restart your computer, and try reinstalling SP1.

This may be what fixed my problem. I'm not sure, because the next thing i did was to apply windows updates and install the service pack. My laptop is working fine now.

Thanks again for your prompt response, I appreciate it.