Formatting a HD/"Signal Missing"

Hey Friends,

I previously posted asking if it is necessary to format an old HD so that it will work in a different machine. The HD that I want to use has programs and files that I'd like to edit. I suspect that the answer is yes. If not, please let me know.

Along the same lines, I found a humungous external HD that a friend must have backed up for me that more than likely contains all of the data that I need. If I can access it in any way, shape or form, I should be OK. The issue now is that my monitor reads "signal missing" so I can't see any of the drives. Is there a solution for this particular problem? The computer that I'm trying to get to adopt any of the other HDs is an HP Pavillion 522n. Thanks in advance.

Your monitor is not getting any output from the computer graphic connector. You need to troubleshoot that issue if you want to use that machine. Does the machine seem to have any power, do any lights or fans go on when you power it up? If not, likely could be the power supply died. If yes, then more likely the graphic card died.

Go into disk management and see if it shows up there -- if so assign it a drive letter and you should be good.

Since it shows up in disk management you should be able to right click on it in the right side of the area and give it a drive letter, then the disk will show up in Windows Explorer.

Yes, a format would erase your data.

Does the external drive already have a drive letter assigned?

So go into disk management and right click under the area to the right, not the grey area that says Disk 0, and assign it a drive letter. Does the drive show a healthy partition or unallocated space in disk management?

Also does you friend that did the backup on the external disk use Windows, or perhaps Linux or Mac, and possibly used an incompatible format?