cloned Crucial back to USB backup use problem

Sounds to me like you need to install the backup disk into the laptop to have it boot.  MS restricts booting from external disks in most cases.

Booting works OK when installed to computer. 

What I try to do is to use the disk as USB backup drive {no need to boot}, but once connected to USB, my computer can not even recognize it as external drive so can not use. 

If you wish to use the drive as an external disk for storage of data only then you need to clear all data from the disk first. 

Enchantech wrote:

If you wish to use the drive as an external disk for storage of data only then you need to clear all data from the disk first. 

...yes but how can I do it properly?

If I put the disk to the USB enclosure, computer won't recognise it at all so can do nothng with it.

what are the steps to take after booting the laptop with the disk (it works normally when installed to laptop as normal boot HD)?

just hoping that would not loose the disk for good...

Enchantech wrote:

If you wish to use the drive as an external disk for storage of data only then you need to clear all data from the disk first. 

...yes but how can I do it properly?

If I put the disk to the USB enclosure, computer won't recognise it at all so can do nothng with it.

what are the steps to take after booting the laptop with the disk (it works normally when installed to laptop as normal boot HD)?

just hoping that would not loose the disk for good...

If you connect the cloned drive in an external USB enclosure after the laptop has been booted to Windows desktop, then if it isn't being shown in Explorer, this will be because no drive letters have been given to the drive and partitions on the drive.

You can download a copy of the free MiniTool Partition Wizard software and use this to reformat the external drive or to change drive letters for the drive / partitions.  The tool should be able to 'see' the external drive even if Explorer doesn't.

Steve Smith wrote:

If you connect the cloned drive in an external USB enclosure after the laptop has been booted to Windows desktop, then if it isn't being shown in Explorer, this will be because no drive letters have been given to the drive and partitions on the drive.

You can download a copy of the free  software and use this to reformat the external drive or to change drive letters for the drive / partitions.  The tool should be able to 'see' the external drive even if Explorer doesn't.

I installed minitool and played with it. I actually showed the partitions on the disk, which I deleted and then formatted the disk

however, the disk is still not visible in file explorer of windows, and even minitool does not give any task options available to do anything for that disk. 

I am lost...any idea whats happening, and whether there is anything to be done to save the disk?

Marko, if disk 2 in your image is your external USB attached drive and is showing as 0.00 GB then I would suggest trying a different external USB enclosure, dock or adapter as it is likely that the current enclosure is at the heart of this issue!

I use a StarTech.com USB 3.1 to 2.5" SATA Hard Drive Adapter - USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps with UASP External HDD/SSD Storage Converter (USB312SAT3CB), Black that I bought on Amazon for laptop drives (2.5" HDD or SSD) which works very well without needing any additional power supply.

Steve Smith wrote:

Marko, if disk 2 in your image is your external USB attached drive and is showing as 0.00 GB then I would suggest trying a different external USB enclosure, dock or adapter as it is likely that the current enclosure is at the heart of this issue!

 Yes I will try that once I get out my quarantine...anyway, behaviour is quite strange. 

I have been using USB enclosure that I have used long time, with several disks, without any problems. I put this SSD in that very enclosure, and cloned HD of my old slow secondary laptop to that using Acronis2K. That worked OK, and the computer booted with the cloned, however lost audio function and did not manage to get it work, so put the old disk back, and thought I would just format it and use it as backup drive.

But as said, it is not visible in file explorer. It actually is visible as disk in windows disk management, but it fails to do anything. Minitool failed to do anything also.

Then I put it back to the laptop it was for, and it worked as before (no audio). Then I put it back to the enclosure, and windows still not recognise it---but now minitools shows it and its partitions. I clean/delete the partitions, hoping that would help somehow...but end result was that it just shows as 0byte drive, and no app can do nothing with it. Maybe I shold have done something else, not experienced with this kind of issues at all. Anyway, back to square 1.

Next week once out of quarantine, I will try different enclosure to see how that shows. And also try to connect it to my Mac, you never know how that works out.

Total mystery to me.

Another possibility is a faulty USB cable - I had this happen with my NexStar dual USB 3 dock.

Ian

got new USB enclosure and voila the disk started to work as it never would have had any issue!

thus, seems my old enclosure has something that inhibit it to get properly recognised by windows. A bit strange as the enclosure is working ok with my regular backup drive, and also other disks I occationally put in. Also, the cloning of the old laptop using that enclosure worked OK (with the exception of audio functionality lost in the process).

Maybe it has something to do with the age of it (is old), and the crucial SSD instead of conventional HD that I only used before with it. Go figure.

Marko, glad that the new USB enclosure is working for you.  All these devices have internal electronics which then rely on correct device drivers to work properly, which can change over time.  I have a mix of old and new enclosures, docks and adapters because of hitting similar issues!