I recently salvaged an HDD from an old cable box and got a USB adapter to connect it to my PC for reformatting. However, after plugging it in, it isn't showing up at all in file explorer, device manager, or disk management. The adapter has a power indicator light that shows it's working, so I'm unsure if I got the wrong adapter or if the hard drive itself is too outdated to work properly.
1 Answer
Check if your USB connection is using USB 2.0 or 3.0, as this can sometimes affect detection. If it’s on 3.0, that should be fine, but make sure everything is plugged in securely. If you're still having issues, the drive itself might be the culprit, especially since you pulled it from a cable box, which could have some locking mechanisms.
I connected it using a 3.0 port, so that shouldn't be the problem. It might be worth looking into whether cable box drives have specific firmware or locks preventing access.