External Hard Drive won't power up

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  1. Posts : 1,442
    Windows 10
       #1

    External Hard Drive won't power up


    I have an old usb 2.0 external drive enclosure with a ~150GB Hitachi drive, that works fine. I took a 500GB drive from a working Linux system, placed it in the enclosure and when powered up nothing happen, the discs don't spin.

    Is it a problem between window and linux, or something else?
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  2. Posts : 8,099
    windows 10
       #2

    If its not spinning its a power fault you would only see the drive in windows under disk manager
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  3. Posts : 13,987
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #3

    Also, the Linux default-formatted disk most usually can't be read by Windows. The opposite is possible as most versions of Linux can read NTFS drives.
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  4. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #4

    Hi there

    try connecting the USB drive via a POWERED HUB -- there probably isn't enough power in the standard USB to drive the HDD --even from a so called "Charging Port"on the mobo or laptop.

    Even in Windows a Linux HDD will still "Spin" - you'll probably see something like "Unitialized" or "RAW" disk -- can be re-formatted easily enough if you need it for Windows.

    That size HDD though make it GPT.

    If there's "non standard" controller software in the enclosure then you probably won't be able to get the HDD to work that way -- also your new one might be SATA whereas the old one is probably an old IDE HDD - who knows if Windows even supports those any more.

    Cheers
    jimbo
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  5. Posts : 13,987
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #5

    jimbo45 said:
    That size HDD though make it GPT.

    If there's "non standard" controller software in the enclosure then you probably won't be able to get the HDD to work that way -- also your new one might be SATA whereas the old one is probably an old IDE HDD - who knows if Windows even supports those any more.
    Because I use those type adapter cases on different computers I have no need to use MBR or GPT, don't need them to be bootable, storage only.

    And Win10 does support such cases, have 3 using the Y-Cable to get Data and Power with one leg and additional Power from a second USB port with the second leg of the cable. I also have a 750GB and 1TB WDC Passport drives that need only a single USB port, it all depends upon the power requirements of the HDDs put in the cases as noted on the drive's label as to the needs. With the 2.5" Notebook drives, anything over 0.5A/500ma requires the additional power.
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  6. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #6

    Try putting your ear next to it. If it goes beep-beep-beep and it isn't spinning then you don't have enough power.
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  7. Posts : 1,442
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Thank you all for your suggestions. Let me tell you more about the situation.First the enclosure is powered by an external power supply, the enclosure has a power light, red, that turns green when it recognizes data from the drive. The HDD is a SATA drive and the enclose is also SATA.The drive is connected to the laptop computer through a USB 2.0 powered hub, that plugs into a USB 3.0 plug on the laptop.I verified no spin (or beeps) using a stethoscope. Later today I’ll put the drive back into the old desktop and see if it still spins, maybe I some how killed it.
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  8. Posts : 856
    Windows 10 Pro 21H2 build 19045.2193 Dual Boot Linux Mint
       #8

    jimbo45 said:
    whereas the old one is probably an old IDE HDD - who knows if Windows even supports those any more.

    Cheers
    jimbo
    Just chipping in here, Win10 does still support IDE.
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  9. Posts : 1,442
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Put the drive back into the desktop, turned it on and Ubuntu came right up! I didn't kill the drive, there must be some incompatibility issues with the enclosure and HDD. I now have a 500GB boat anchor.
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  10. Posts : 13,987
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #10

    rboppy said:
    I now have a 500GB boat anchor.
    So that's what my dozen 3.5" and 10 2.5" usable drives on the parts shelf are?
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