Disk Management and external hard drive issue

Felisius · Jul 18, 2022

Hi everyone. I really hope that someone can assist.
My external hard drive didn't show under "My PC" so i started Googling and tried to fix it myself...big mistake.
I accessed 'disk manager' and started fiddling with letters, formatting, adding volumes etc.
There is a drive that i cannot delete and my external hard drive cannot receive files when attempting to copy from Mac...
Long story short. I do i restore my original disk manager settings and why cant i not copy any files onto my external hd anymore?
The name of my external hd also changed to 'new volume'...?
I'm totally out of my depth here and would really appreciate any advise.
Thanks

Windows Sniper · Jul 18, 2022

Felisius said:
The name of my external hd also changed to 'new volume'...?

That sounds like you formatted the disk, and possibly overwrote the data.

Recuvva may be able to assist you in restoring it.

Felisius · Jul 18, 2022

Windows Sniper said:
That sounds like you formatted the disk, and possibly overwrote the data.

Recuvva may be able to assist you in restoring it.

Thanks. I definitely formatted my external hard drive. My issue is that when i connect my external to usb a pop window appears which states that i dont have authority to access the drive and i cant seem to delete the extra drive that i created by accident.
This is the situation:
-I seemed to create a drive(local disk) called B: which i cant access or remove under 'my pc'
-My external(D) does show now after i created a new volume...dont ask me how i did that haha
-Does the letters matter?
-Why cant i suddenly not copy files onto my external hd from my Mac?

Much appreciated brother

LeLibran · Jul 18, 2022

Macs just don't like disks which have been formatted on non-Mac systems. In my experience, most Mac users would only ever recommend using the Mac's own "Disk Utility" to prepare external drives which are to be shared between Macs and Windows PCs. Such disks should be also formatted as exFAT for best compatibility with both systems; and not a 'native' Mac/Windows only format.

'Fiddling' with a disk intended for sharing using Windows utilities, including Disk Management and file recovery software, will almost certainly lead to failures and possible corruption if you then try to use the disk on a Mac computer.

Felisius · Jul 18, 2022

LeLibran said:
Macs just don't like disks which have been formatted on non-Mac systems. In my experience, most Mac users would only ever recommend using the Mac's own "Disk Utility" to prepare external drives which are to be shared between Macs and Windows PCs. Such disks should be also formatted as exFAT for best compatibility with both systems; and not a 'native' Mac/Windows only format.

'Fiddling' with a disk intended for sharing using Windows utilities, including Disk Management and file recovery software, will almost certainly lead to failures and possible corruption if you then try to use the disk on a Mac computer.

Thanks. Would i be able to reset my disk manager settings by reinstalling Windows or how should i go about? And is my external hard drive broken now?

clam1952 · Jul 18, 2022

Doubtful that you have broken it.
The additional drive may be a partition on your messed up external drive? I'd suggest you could probably sort the drive out using MiniTool Partition Wizard or Disk Genius with which you you can repartition and format it with exFAT using either, both are free.

Berton · Jul 19, 2022

I have 2 x 4TB External USB HDDs, both came formatted as exFAT. The package was marked as for use by PC and Mac, hence the formatting. Mac OS X [and maybe the newer macOS] can read NTFS drives but can't write to them unless using added software, I got mine from the Apple Store. Can't say about macOS as my MacBook Pro died just as it came out. Many won't have the process I use to clean drives as I do it with the drives in a Dock attached to a Linux computer with GPARTED program installed. There also is the Bootable GPARTED LiveCD that is the same, runs a 'lite' version of Linux.

Felisius · Jul 19, 2022

Thanks everyone for the advise! After much frustration i realized that my external hard drive(Seagate 1TB) settings just needs to be reset to the original settings. I only have 2 partitions now where there used to be 3. Do i set both to primary allocations?

idgat · Jul 19, 2022

Why has the secondary drive got a systems partition ? Was it connected when Windows was (re)installed ?

Disconnect secondary drive and re-boot ? Does Windows start OK ?

If so, delete that partition and expand the D:\ partition to cover the whole drive.

You get a better "picture" of what's happening, and being able to do it, with 3rd party disk managment software
All freeware ...
- AOMEI Parution Assistant
- MiniTool Partition Wizard
- EaseUS Parition Master

Berton · Jul 19, 2022

Felisius said:
Thanks everyone for the advise! After much frustration i realized that my external hard drive(Seagate 1TB) settings just needs to be reset to the original settings. I only have 2 partitions now where there used to be 3. Do i set both to primary allocations?

I find the External or Portable drives need only one partition but there's no reason not to have 2 or more depending upon how much separation of files one wants such as Music on one partition, Pictures on another, etc. However, using one for backing up the internal drive probably is best left to the backup program doing it.

idgat · Jul 19, 2022

Folders are better rather than multiple partitions.

And remember, internal drives may be convenient for backup in case of source failure, but not much good if connected when the computer gets infected (virus, malware ... and worst of all ransomeware. The whole lot goes down.)

Megahertz · Jul 19, 2022

Windows Disk Manager isn't a good disk manager as it doesn't show all partitions. I suggest you install Minitool Partition (free).
To use the external drive on Mac and Windows it must be formatted as exFat, not NTFS.
- With Minitool delete ALL partitions on the drive, create a new partition and format as exFat

Felisius · Jul 19, 2022

Megahertz said:
Windows Disk Manager isn't a good disk manager as it doesn't show all partitions. I suggest you install Minitool Partition (free).
To use the external drive on Mac and Windows it must be formatted as exFat, not NTFS.
- With Minitool delete ALL partitions on the drive, create a new partition and format as exFat

Thanks a mill! Will give it a go. Every time that i insert my external drive a pop up window appears with a error saying that i don't have authorization to access. Super annoying. This is the disk that i created and cannot seem to delete the potato. Will Minitool sort this out? I just want the bloody thing to show my external and not the faulty drive. This is making me faarkin crazy guys

idgat · Jul 19, 2022

Felisius said:
Every time that i insert my external drive a pop up window appears with a error saying that i don't have authorization to access. Super annoying. This is the disk that i created and cannot seem to delete the potato. Will Minitool sort this out? I just want the bloody thing to show my external and not the faulty drive. This is making me faarkin crazy guys

It's not a magic potion, it won't override any user restrictions set by Windows. That error message sounds like it something outside the purpose of partitioning software. There could be something else blocking your access (e.g. are you an Admin level user?)

Is this a new thing? All your above posts indicated you have/had access to enable you do things to it.

clam1952 · Jul 19, 2022

Disk permissions set to previous user / Computer as owner? Maybe Check the permissions and check who the owner is.

Felisius · Jul 19, 2022

Thank you everyone for the assistance. By some miracle i managed to sort the issue out. Megahertz's and clam 1952's advise worked perfectly!
I owe you all a beer :party:

Megahertz · Jul 19, 2022

Felisius said:
Thank you everyone for the assistance. By some miracle i managed to sort the issue out. Megahertz's and clam 1952's advise worked perfectly!
I owe you all a beer

I like my beer very cold. :wink:

Disk Management and external hard drive issue

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