Harddisk seen as cdrom

[dannyict]

Strange problem, external harddisk is seen as cdrom without media, tried on different computers but still seen as cdrom. Anybody had this before or know what to do? Thanks

 

[FremontPC]

What brand of external? Have you tried it with a different cable?

 

[dannyict]

Brand is medion hddtogo 2tb, tried different cable and powersupply

 

[FremontPC]

Does it have data on it? If it's a new drive, you may need to partition it and format it in Disk Management first. Sometimes they'll put a virtual cd image on there with some included software.

 

[dannyict]

harddisk was used before, has data on it already. When turned back on it appeared as cdrom. No idea why.

 

[FremontPC]

Sounds like maybe the interface went bad, if you're seeing this across multiple computers. Maybe try booting from a linux cd to see if it says something different.

 

[dannyict]

Tried with parted magic, does not even see the drive

 

[Calx]

firmware update? Just clutching at straws

 

[Moltuae]

Have you tried removing the HDD from the enclosure and connecting directly via the SATA interface?

 

[fabs]

The controller may be toasted. Taking the drive to another enclosure should do the trick

 

[dannyict]

thanks for all the suggestions, no firmware update. Still in warranty so can't open it. Think it's the controler also.

 

[TurricanII]

When you say it is seen as a CD-ROM does that mean you can still access the data on it? If you have copied an autorun.inf file from another disc to the root of the hard drive then that might change the icon shown for that drive in Explorer

 

[Tom_Sand]

thanks for all the suggestions, no firmware update. Still in warranty so can't open it. Think it's the controler also.

If the customer needs the data pull it from the caddy anyway, I doubt the warranty will cover you for the data on the drive so it's not like you can send it back for them to get the data. They are usually only held together with plastic clips from what I have seen

 

[frase]

Have you checked compmgmt.msc>Disk Management for active discs

 

[Colin]

I have had some Western Digital Drives that are Password Protected and the icon when you plug them in shows a CD rom with a autorun to unlock the drive, once the password is put in then the correct hard drive is in the drive listings.

 

[dannyict]

Gently took the haddrive out the case (was 2 screws) and it's recovering the data now, not seen as cdrom anymore. So it was indeed the controller in the case.