hello
When I plug in my external hard drive via my usb port on my laptop computer, I do not know where to go to be able to access the drive. I would like to locate where it is and then create a shortcut for my desktop. I want to use it to backup things, graphics, etc. but I cannot find it! I know it is plugged in, connected to my laptop (the light is on) but where do you find it?? I went through my computer, right click and it shows it there,but again, how can I get the silly thing to OPEN UP so I can see what I have and be able to back up more data to it?

Thanks so much. I'm sure that it's a mouse-click fix and you smart folks here will thing I'm a goofball because I can't find it!! It's driving me bonkers!!!

Thanks SO much

Blondie

Hello Blondie.

My apologies, but I'm not quite understanding your problem.

When you double click the drive, what happens? Do you get an error message? When you right click, then select open, what happens?


Simple enough I guess.

• Double click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
• Find your drive and note the drive letter in brackets. Example: (J:).
• Right click on your desktop and select New> Shortcut.
• The Create Shortcut window will open. Type in the drive letter followed by a colon. Example: J: .
• Click OK and you are done.

Note that if you plug in multiple drives, this particular drive's letter may get bumped down making the shortcut point to the wrong drive.

With Regards,
The Panda

You say you see it in 'My Computer' what drive letter is it's designation? you should be able to double click it's drive designation i.e. 'F' drive, and see it open with the dialog box labeled with the new drive designator. If you don't have anything on the drive yet you will open a blank dialog box. And it will stay blank till you put something in it.

As an example my secondary drive is labeled DISK2_VOL1(F:) I left it this default label (Laziness) but yours could be labeled differently.

Ok...I'm sorry...I was not clear in my explaination. I have 2 desktop computers and my laptop set up in a home network, using router/wireless. When I double click on my computer, it shows Shared Documents, below that is Hard Disk Drives and it says local disk (C:), below that is Devices with Removable Storage and it has DVD/CD-RW Drive (D:) and the last entry is Network Drives and it has Data on Livingroom (F:). The last one...the "F" goes to one of my desktop computers in my home network. When it is on (up and running) this is how I access it (that computer). When it is NOT on and I have my external HD plugged in via the USB, I can select that and it will open my external HD. I had this problem a few days ago and I found that if I shut down the 'living room' computer, I could access the external HD. Now, I have my 'living room' one shut down and i still cannot access this external hard drive. I don't even see it in there at all. I know I must have my home network set up stupidly wrong. I just want to know where to find the external hard drive that is plugged into my USB port and open the goofy thing. Is this about as clear as mud?? I'm sorry....I'm not computer smart at all, so I'm not very good at explaining it. Please let me know if you need more information. I have a Dell Inspiron 1700 laptop that the external HD is connected to. Thank you SO MUCH for your insight and wisdom. It is greatly appreciated.

Humbly
Blondie

So, is the problem that when your desktop computer is on you can't see the external USB drive?

First, make sure that the Desktop computer is on and the USB drive is NOT connected.
Then unmap the network drive F: by opening Windows Explorer, selecting the Tools menu, and select "Disconnect Network Drive"
Then remap the network drive and select another letter (such as Z:) for that drive. Make sure to check to box to "Reconnect at logon"
Then reboot the system.
Then, plug in the external USB drive and see if it's recognized. If it is, chances are it's also assigned the drive letter F:
If it still isn't recognized, go to Start...Run...and type in "diskmgmt.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter
Navigate to the drive and right click on it. Select "Change drive letter and paths...", and change the drive letter to F:
It should be visible now, if not post back and we'll work on it some more.

Thanks so much!! That fixed it!!!

I appreciate all your help!

Blondie

Glad that you got it fixed, thanks for letting us know!