# Solved: Lenovo Not Recognizing External hard Drive



## earguy (Aug 16, 2013)

I am trying to perform a Window Easy Transfer and all was well until I tried to transfer data from my Toshiba 3.0 USB external hard drive to the other computer. It won't recognize the drive. Apparently others are having this challenge to. Other than selling my client an expensive 60GB flash drive, has anyone had this problem with the Lenova Think Pad Edge E420 running Windows 7?

All that trouble for nothing and I don't want the expense of a transfer cable. Is there a driver update? I went to the Lenovo site and found it really uselessor maybe I am just useless.

Thanks


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Why do you have to sell your client anything if you are just using it for transferring data? Don't you have another USB drive or a network you can just copy the W.E.T. data to his laptop? There's a lot of ways to transfer data to the new laptop including pulling the drive out that won't cost your client more money which generally makes them unhappy.

Here's the link for the Lenovo support & drivers site: http://support.lenovo.com/en_CA/downloads/default.page?selector=expand

You can also use the Lenovo ThinkVantage System Update utility to automatically scan and update the drivers for you, it should be preinstalled or available as a download from the Lenovo site: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?LegacyDocID=TVSU-UPDATE

Have you tried all the USB ports? Is it the E420 or the E420s with USB 3.0?


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## earguy (Aug 16, 2013)

The unit says E420. The Toshiba is 3.0 (USB cable) so I assume the Lenovo isn't 3.0 compatible. Thanks for the link. I was all over Lenovo's site. I tried to have the site scan the laptop but it wouldn't. I don't have it in front of me at the moment. I did try all USB ports. My research on the internet suggests that this is a common problem with some IBM laptops.

You're right about removing the HDD. Truthfully, I was so frazzled by the problem it didn't even cross my mind. I was hoping for a simple transfer but so goes things.

Thanks again.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

The plain E420 doesn't have USB 3.0 ports, the newer E420S does. But USB 3.0 is generally backward compatible with USB 2.0. You may want to look at firmware updates for the USB drive, sometimes they get released to address compatibility.

The System Update Utility is not something that runs off the website, it's something you install on the laptop to check and install updates and new programs/drivers, it's generally pre-installed.

Also IBM hasn't made laptops in years, the company that makes these is called Lenovo.


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## earguy (Aug 16, 2013)

I went to Lenovo's site yesterday and downloaded the program that would scan the system for neecded updates. I did flash BIOS and made a few other installs, but other than that nothing else seemed to answer the delimna. When my customer came in she then informed me that she had been having trouble for some time not being able to connect any USB device to her computer and having it work. Anyway, I am still interested in continuing researching this issue (but will mark this thread solved, of course) just to find a fix. thanks for your help people. I appreciate it.


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