Can't see disk in Windows explorer

Question

I purchased a new 4TB HDD and put it in an enclosure for external use. I formatted that HDD using the disk management tool (as GPT rather than MBR) and assigned a drive letter to it. I was able to use the HDD just fine. I found out, however, that on the box of the enclosure was listed "supports hard drives up to 3 TB." I was kind of apprehensive about continuing to use this enclosure, so I got a new one which supports 4TB hard drives.

However, with this new enclosure, I now cannot see the drive in Windows Explorer. When I go to disk management, I can see it listed as a Healthy GPT Protective Partition. When I right-click it, though, the only option is "Help."

Here's what I've tried:

When I use the diskpart command line tool, I am able to see the disk with list disk. However, list volumes on the disk returns "There are no volumes." list partition returns

Partition ###   Type           Size      Offset
-------------   -------------  --------  ------
Partition 1     Primary        3726 GB   4096 B

I also tried using the program testdisk. I tried the following: For Please select the partition table type, I chose [EFI GPT]; I then chose Analyse, then got Bad GPT partition, invalid signature. Trying alternate GPT. invalid signature., then did Quick Search when it said Try to locate partition. It located an MS Data partition, and I was able to explore it and copy files from it.

So why can't I see it in Windows Explorer, and why can't I assign a drive letter to it? And why is it not associated with a volume in the diskpart utility?

EDIT: Here are the products I have referred to:

The original enclosure which supports up to 3 TB: http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-3-5-Inch-Aluminum-Enclosure-EC-3US35/dp/B003CJQ69A/ref=pd_sim_sbs_pc_5

The new enclosure specifically tested with 4 TB drives (also has a fan): http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-3-5in-SuperSpeed-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003F5NS9W

The 4 TB hard disk drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178338

Solution

If you are seeing it on Disk management but not in explorer that mean you didn't assign a letter to that partitions , just assign a letter for them and they will start showing .

Comments

[Ramhound]

The enclousure its likely treating the disk differently. Have you considered reformatting the drive while its in the new enclousure?

[Brandon]

That's a totally viable option, but I would like to know if this is correctable without formatting though, especially if something like this happens in the future (perhaps with another enclosure, etc), and I don't have a means of copying the files from it.

[Colyn1337]

Does it work If you remove the disk from the enclosure and connect it directly to the computer (either directly to the logic board or with a usb adapter)?

[Brandon]

It is a laptop computer, so the first option is not really viable. And I'm not sure what you mean by USB adapter, other than an enclosure. Also, I'll add in the product information above.

[Colyn1337]

Could you expand a bit on how that affects whether he can see his data when swapping into a larger enclosure?

[Brandon]

Thanks, but this does not really answer my question. The enclosure did not have a 2.2 TB limit; it supports "up to 3 TB" drives, as stated on the box. I was actually able to see the whole 4 TB, but I was just apprehensive about the fact that the enclosure was not tested with 4 TB drives.

[Nikola Dimitrijevic]

I maybe didn't understand the point of question quite well. What I have experienced is that enclosures might have issues depending on the chipset and firmware used. I'm not sure is there a rule, but on the same MoBo with 2 different USB controllers and I was able to use the disk with one and not with another. Also, I have had a chance to see the same behavior with eSATA and IEE1394 enclosures. I'm talking about 4TB HDDs. So only that I was able to conclude is that there is some electronics or firmware incompatibility. This is just an experience and nothing else

[Daniel B]

To add to this: To circumvent the MBR limit, some enclosures use a horrendous technique: They emulate 4K sectors. This causes major issues when accessing the disk without the enclosure. Because, obviously, all addresses everywhere are wrong.