Old laptop disc in enclosure not identified on desktop

donnyboy69

DavidG1

I assume you have tried running the "new simple volume wizard" by right clicking on the  Unallocated, not initialised window in disk management.

Initially run a SMART test to check the disk hasn't developed a hardware fault, download and run crystaldiskinfo from here to test the disk
Crystaldiskinfo

If the disk hardware is OK I would use diskpart to try to initialise and clean the disk:

open an Administrative command prompt or powershell prompt
type the following
diskpart
list disk

This will list all the hard drives in the system with a number

type "select disk x", where x is the disk number that you want to clean.

Make absolutely certain you have selected the correct disk. If you have selected a drive which contains data or the operating system that you want to keep and you proceed beyond this point, that data/OS will be erased.

At the diskpart prompt, type "clean" and hit Enter. You will not be given a chance to opt out. Once you hit Enter, the disk will be erased.

You can now type exit and you should be able to initialise the drive in disk management, by right clicking and start the new simple volume wizard

donnyboy69

Thanks for your response DavidG1. I followed your instructions. When I invoked Disk Management a popup box appeared for Disk 2 with 4 options; Initialize Disk, Offline, Properties, Help.
Initialize Disk was "greyed out" & selecting it had no effect as expected.
When selecting "Offline", a message came up "the device is not ready"
Strange. Any further advice will be greatly appreciated.
Regards. Don

DavidG1

sounds as though the drive or the enclosure is bad (unlikely if the enclosure is new)

noiseboy72

Did the drive work in the old laptop, or was this reason it was retired?

donnyboy69

Hi noiseboy72, the laptop just wouldn't boot a month or so ago, so I guess the disc could have been busted. I thought I might be able to bring it back to life.

DavidG1

Nope - simply putting a dead drive into an enclosure won't bring it back to life

donnyboy69

There was no evidence that the disc was the reason the laptop died & it was worth a try to see if it could be used again. I realise that a dead drive is dead & cannot be resurrected. Thanks for all your advice.
Don

noiseboy72

I agree, for the cost of the cable or enclosure, it's worth trying. You can always get another SSD drive to go into the box and it gives you a cheap, fast external storage device.