Issue with hot swapping external hard drive

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I've bought a dual bay external enclosure and I've stuck 1tb and 2tb drives in there. The 1tb drive I've been able to remove and plug start into my PC and windows recognises it ok, whereas the 2tb one isn't recognised and I'm asked to format it. When I do a quick format and assign a letter, windows can then see the device, but then then external enclosure can't see it when I plug it in there and asks me to format it again. So basically the 2tb only works in one location internal or external at a time and I have to format it to get it to work in the other location. The 2tb is brand new and so is the enclosure.

Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated! :)

**Update** disk management in windows was showing the drive has only have 238Gb on it, so I deleted the partition and it saw the full 1.8Tb and I'm now running a full format through it.
 
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Full format completed in pc but drive not accessible when plugged into the USB enclosure. Going to try the drive in another enclosure and try a different drive in the new enclosure to eliminate the issue.
 
Hornettek X2-U3 Dual Bay USB3.0 hard drive enclosure HT-3210U3 bought from Amazon.

And apologies, I probably used the term hot swappable in error. I always turn the devices off and reboot the machine after I've plugged the hdd into the pc or the enclosure, so technically I'm not hot swapping. I've noticed that when plugged in through the USB it always tries to recognise it under drive F, which was a previous linux based drive that I had my old data on from a NAS device. I might try a system restore to get rid of any changes made to the disk management settings (if that's even possible?).
 
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Ozei said:
I had the same problem with a StarTech enclosure (which looks very similar to your HornTek).

If I initialised/formatted a 4TB drive in the PC, it wouldn't be recognised if I put it in the StarTech. If I initialised it in the StarTech, it wouldn't be recognised if I put it in the PC.

Here's the discussion - http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/th...-drives-im-confused.529893/#post-6106507. See posts 1 and 4.
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ah yes as per that thread if GPT then that may cause problems.
 
How can I tell if it's GPT? Is it something I can set myself? Also by the sounds of it, I couldn't see the conclusion or solution in your thread Ozei, did you smash the device against a wall like I'm about to!!? :help:
 
When you initialised the 2TB drive for the first time, did Windows ask if you wanted to use MBR or GPT?
 
I honestly can't remember. i think I plugged it into the enclosure and it saw it as a new volume and loaded ok and the problem only arose when i plugged it into the pc.
 
2tb WD Green
 
Ah, ok. The reason I asked was that StarTech's support people told me that some Seagate drives had shown this problem and Seagate had issued a firmware update to resolve it.
 
I had a look at the horntech link and it says theres a firmware upgrade to get it to recognise 3tb drives, no obvious links but worth a shout I guess.
 
The only conclusion we came to is shown from post 22 onward - i.e. I could swap a 2TB drive between the StarTech and the PC (regardless of where it was initialised), but I couldn't do the same with a 4TB drive.

If I were you I'd try this test:

1. Put the 2TB in the PC and initialise using MBR - then move it to the HornetTek and see if it's recognised by Windows.
2. Put the 2TB in the PC and initialise using GPT - then move it to the HornetTek and see if it's recognised by Windows.

3. Put the 2TB in the HornetTek and initialise using MBR - then move it to the PC and see if it's recognised by Windows.
4. Put the 2TB in the HornetTek and initialise using GPT - then move it to the PC and see if it's recognised by Windows.

If none of those work, you can't swap the drive between the HornetTek and the PC. It'll have to stay where it was initialised.
 
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hsuffyan said:
I had a look at the horntech link and it says theres a firmware upgrade to get it to recognise 3tb drives, no obvious links but worth a shout I guess.
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Yes, worth a try before trying my post 15 (we crossed posts).
 
Ozei said:
I could swap a 2TB drive between the StarTech and the PC (regardless of where it was initialised), but I couldn't do the same with a 4TB drive.
Click to expand...

You're having exactly the same problem with 2TB drives as I had with 4TB drives. I could swap 2TB drives ok - you can't, but you can swap 1TB drives ok.

So the same thing is happening with the StarTech and the HornetTek - the only difference is the cut-off point (the size at which a drive becomes unswappable).
 
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Ozei said:
You're having exactly the same problem with 2TB drives as I had with 4TB drives. I could swap 2TB drives ok and you can swap 1TB drives ok.

So the same thing is happening with the StarTech and the HornetTek - the only difference is the cut-off point (the size at which a drive becomes unswappable).
Click to expand...

Thank you, your posts have been very helpful. Like you suggested, I'll try the firmware before I try swapping the drives as I'm hoping I can raise the cut-off point to anything above 2tb.
 
hsuffyan said:
Any suggestions for a reasonably priced alternative?
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I'm not sure Jonathan's problem is the same as yours - your HornetTek seems to be working (his weren't) and the problem is an initialisation thing.
 
hsuffyan said:
How can I tell if it's GPT?
Click to expand...

1. Go to Disk Management and find the drive. Right-click on the box on the LHS (highlighted yellow), then click Properties.
2. In Properties, go to Volumes tab - MBR or GPT will be shown where arrowed below.

3898-1397216963-506d24fb3f597e7bc53fc9641ee8ff4a.jpg


hsuffyan said:
Is it something I can set myself?
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Yes.

1. Find the drive in Disk Management, right-click on it (the main diagonally striped area) and delete the volume. (Backup data first, if there is any!)
2. Right-click again and see if you get the option to initialise. (I can't quite remember but you might have to close & reopen Disk Management). The 'initialise box' looks like this:

3899-1397218145-c3fb026742a58733ef652d51df929656.jpg
 
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Ozei said:
I'm not sure Jonathan's problem is the same as yours - your HornetTek seems to be working (his weren't) and the problem is an initialisation thing.
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It's true. It's a different error. My point was that I don't think Hornettek drive cases are very good ;) The fact that several people experienced data loss with them, then the manu told me they were "baffled" by these reviews, then I got sudden data loss would make me cautious about recommending them.

It may be a Windoze thing or a driver issue. But based on my experience of them my money is on faulty kit.

hsuffyan said:
Any suggestions for a reasonably priced alternative?
Click to expand...

Actually...no. I only use Macs so my choice may be more limited than yours but I've looked for a decent multi drive USB housing and failed to find one I liked. Multiple Icy Dock single drive housings seem better to me.
 
not had any bother with startech but i dont move the drives around (dont really see a valid reason for needing to personally). multi drive enclosures arent really designed with that in mind.
 
neil_g said:
not had any bother with startech but i dont move the drives around (dont really see a valid reason for needing to personally). multi drive enclosures arent really designed with that in mind.
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Same here - no problem with the StarTech, but I don't move the drives once they're in the enclosure ('cos they're backup drives).
 
JonathanRyan said:
.......The fact that several people experienced data loss with them, then the manu told me they were "baffled" by these reviews, then I got sudden data loss would make me cautious about recommending them.
Click to expand...

This may be sufficient reason for the OP to send his HornetTek back (even if it's working properly). Either way, I'd ask the manufacturer if they can explain the initialisation thing - I don't understand why it's doing it with a 2TB drive (that doesn't need GPT) when his 1TB drive is swappable between enclosure and PC.
 
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Actually.....I wasted a lot of time thinking one drive wasn't being recognised. Is it the drive or the bay? I.e. have you tried each drive in each bay and determined that the fault follows the drive not the bays?
 
The firmware update didn't work, complete waste of time, no instructions, help or troubleshooting available. I've booked a refund and have bought an IcyBox dual bay enclosure, which Amazon delivered today (Sunday) courtesy of an Amazon Prime trial :banana:

I've tried both 2tb drives in the IcyBox and the PC and they both work. Problem solved. Thank you all for your help and guidance! :ty:
 
In view of Jonathan's experience you've probably made a wise choice in sending it back.

Which IcyBox did you get?

(PS. Sunday delivery? Blimey!)
 
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Yeah, ordered on saturday and it came today!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I4E2FYI/ref=pe_385721_37038051_TE_dp_1 - IcyBox IB 3620U3.

My only gripe with it is the fans cannot be disabled and hdd's can't be bolted to the frame/chassis of the enclosure. You have to be careful when moving the enclosure, to ensure it is held vertically upright as I reckon the hdd's can dislodge themselves from the SATA connectors and push through the front cover and end up on the floor.
 
According to page 17 of the manual (link), the fan can be replaced - which probably means it can be unplugged easily. The drives are likely to get fairly hot though if you do.

I see what you mean about the lack of HDD fixings - they should have put a key-latch on the door, or release catches on the drive rails.

Still, it's pretty decent value at £49.
 
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