LaCie Hard Drive not recognized by Windows 7

Anonymous
2010-02-13T02:14:12+00:00

I have a LaCie external USB hard drive (formatted FAT32) that shows up as a device in the control panel but does not appear as a drive or other device in the Windows Explorer.

The drive contains my music library. Any advice on how to find/access this drive?

Thanks.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2010-02-13T23:17:38+00:00

Hi,

 Do you see any yellow\red exclamation mark in device manager?

 I would suggest you to open Disc management and check if the drive is detected there, here are the steps:

1.      1. Open Computer Management by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Security, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking Computer    Management. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

2.      2. In the left pane, click Disk Management.

If it the hard drive recognizes in the disc management and if there is no drive letter assigned, I would suggest you right click on the drive and assign a drive letter and check if it helps:

1.      1. Right-click the drive to change, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

2.      2. Do one of the following:

·         To assign a drive letter if one has not already been assigned, click Add, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.

·         To change a drive letter, click Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.

·         To remove a drive letter, click Remove, and then click Yes to confirm that you want to remove it.

Refer this link for more information:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-add-or-remove-a-drive-letter

Please respond back with the status of the issue and let us know if you have any issues.

Azam – Microsoft Support.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-11-19T22:27:31+00:00

    Hi, I have tried to clean the LaCie drive but it didn't work. Once Win 7 tries to do anything to the drive, like read, write, forma, .... etc the drive doesn't work, meaning these commands fails. when I power on, the drive properties seems fine but when I try to format, write or read, none of the commands work.

    Thanks for your suggestions though. I wish it would have fixed the problem but no such luck.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-18T18:12:12+00:00

    http://www.lacie.com/ca/support/support_manifest.htm?id=10270&guideid=10109

    This link worked PERFECTLY. I had the exact issues many here were having with LaCie Design by Neil Poulton 1TB drive. It used to be hooked up to my Bell HD box but recently I hooked it to my HP Laptop running Windows 7.

    Hope it works for the rest of you!

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-15T12:14:44+00:00

    Hi there, 

    I have followed your instructions and think I have located the hard drive but it won't let me open it. I'm not fantastic with computers and really hope you can help. I have just bought it and it just won't connect to my PC, but it will work with MAC. Any ideas?

    I thank you in advance!

    Alice

    (LaCie Rugged Mini USB 3.0/ USB 2.0 500GB Hard Disk Drive - 5400rpm)

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-08-21T19:31:19+00:00

    The article mentioned above does not help me resolve the issue.   I have a Lacie Hard Disk 1TB Design By Neil Poulton.  I tried installing in a Windows 7 32bit ACER Aspire 5732z notebook computer.   Windows seems to load the drivers automatically; but the hard drive is not displayed when browsing the drivers through MY COMPUTER.  On the other hand, if you click on the GREEN ARROW to safely remove the hardware, the option to EJECT the drive is shown.  So Windows 7 sees it.  If you click on OPEN DEVICES & PRINTERS, then the drive is displayed.  But you can only access the device's PROPERTIES through this option.   I followed the article mentioned above, but when you get to the DISK MANAGEMENT section, I can see DISK 0 (showing 2 partitions, one is the C:\ and the other is unassigned / no drive letter - i think is a back up partition).   Then, I also see DISK 1, ONLINE, which by the size of the drive (UNALLOCATED), I can guess it is the Lacie Hard Disk.  If you right click on the DISK 1, there is no option to assign a letter or volume assingment.   I am still learning Windows 7 so I am not sure if there is a different way to get this letter assignment accomplished.   Some of the options that are available is to create NEW SPANNED VOLUME, or NEW STRIPPED VOLUME, or NEW MIRRORED VOLUME, or CONVERT TO DYNAMIC DISK, or CONVERT TO GPT DISK, or OFFLINE, or PROPERTIES, or HELP.    I have to read more about these options and get familiar with them.  Hope that someone can help with this information.  Any feedback will be appriciated.  Thanks.

    I have precisely the same issue, which occurs on 3 different computers.  I cannot lose data on this drive, so there is only so much I can do.   The solution at the top is not the source of the problem and I thought of the drive letter issue, since that is a common problem with drives that appear in the device list and have a volume, but do not show in the My Computer section.

    Is there another issue that could lead to this problem?

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