Folder that was copied from one PC to a portable HD doesn't show in another PC

I have an HTPC at my living room and it has a 3TB Western Digital portable hard-drive that stores all my media files. The HTPC is running Windows 7 32bit.

Yesterday I connected the hard drive to my laptop running Windows 7 64bits and copied 102GB of data in several files (each not exceeding 1.2GB in size) onto the HD. When I was done, I safely removed the hard drive from the laptop and connected it to the HTPC, but I couldn't find the folder I've just copied - it seems like I copied nothing (all other files that were previously there remained untouched)

What could be the problem? I suspect it has to do with the OS change (32bit vs 64bit) but I have no clue of how to fix this. I can see the folder in the laptop if I reconnect my hard drive to it.

Jonathan Perry

Posted 2013-04-25T08:56:30.080

Reputation: 173

It sounds like you moved the files instead of copying them. – Ramhound – 2013-04-25T12:12:31.653

I dragged them from my laptop onto the HD. I see them on my laptop and on my HD (when it's connected to the laptop), but not when I connect the HD to the desktop PC – Jonathan Perry – 2013-04-25T12:22:17.177

Probably a silly question, but are you sure the folder's not hidden? One PC could have the Show hidden files setting turned on. – Karan – 2013-04-25T14:58:38.393

Nope, that's really weird... – Jonathan Perry – 2013-04-25T17:33:22.127

1How did u format your HDD? NTFS? Does it have NTFS user-related permission set? – Andrew – 2013-04-25T21:42:54.813

As Andrew has mentioned, you should check the permissions of the folder. Plug it back into the laptop and make sure the permissions aren't out of wack. Are you familiar with permissions in Windows 7? http://www.wikihow.com/Change-File-Permissions-on-Windows-7

– dtmland – 2013-04-25T22:17:48.340

Answers

I had also experiencing like that. I have western digital My passport 1 TB. I copied a video file from 64bit pc (drag and move) and then inserting into a certain 32bit laptop didn't show up the file that I took. Both computers are windows 10 os running. So I seek supports from WD through Internet. Run those softwares that WD had provided for user. And Wahla! The video that I moved is back.

Foxbat Mig

Posted 2013-04-25T08:56:30.080

Reputation: 1

-1

I don't know how to post questions under your question rather than posting like I for sure know the answer...

I'm not sure if this is helpful, but if the external HDD was formatted by the 64bit Win7, it may have created a GPT Partition (assuming the 64bit is running UEFI rather than legacy BIOS) This might cause a problem for the 32bit computer to be able to read the data if it's running legacy BIOS, which can only read MBR partitions. Does the 32bit system see the HDD as a 3TB drive, or as a 2TB?

Ben Plont

Posted 2013-04-25T08:56:30.080

Reputation: 410

It's showing as a 3TB hard drive. My HTPC is an old Pentium 4 with 2GB of RAM but runs that hard drive smoothly. I suspect it has to do with the fact that the hard drive is Western Digital MyBook and it has its own software running in the background. The laptop used to copy the files didn't have that software installed, so this could also be a cause. All systems and HD are formatted as NTFS without the user related permission set. – Jonathan Perry – 2013-04-26T15:49:45.267

GPT drives have a MBR, but some legacy software might not be able to read the info on the drive. Here's the MS FAQ About half way down the page there is a section header WINDOWS DISK SUPPORT. Check out the second question & answer. Does that describe you problem? I'm not sure if the 32 bit windows 7 has the same problem, but I wouldn't be surprised...

– Ben Plont – 2013-04-26T16:32:20.320

I'm not quite sure it's the same thing, since I have another PC with Win64 and when I copy from that PC to the HD, I can see those files in my HTPC. Anyway, what I eventually did was copy the files to another HD I had, and then connected that HD to the HTPC and copied the files to the 3TB HD. It's a pain, but it was only a one time thing so it's not that bad. This is indeed a mystery... – Jonathan Perry – 2013-04-28T06:25:13.957