Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2010 12:03:27 GMT
Hi Guys, Sorry for the numpty question but I'm hoping one of you more computer literate guys can spare a few minutes to solve a problem that is beyond me but which I suspect is fairly basic and simple when you are in the know  . I have recently 'invested' in a 200GB HDD (s/h off eBay) and a cheap powered caddy to put it in, with the intention of using is solely as a back-up of last resort for my FLAC music files. I have tried installing it on 3 seperate computers and got the same failure each time, namely that the OS sees it immediately and successfully installs it, confirmed by Device Manager, but Windows Explorer seems unable to see it and therefore it is not available to use. The three PCs involved are a Vaio MM PC running Win7 and a desktop and netbook running XP. Could someone please, in laymans language, explain to me how I can un-blinker the eyes of the Windows Explorer such that the hard drive is seen and recognised and made available to me? Thanks for any response. Dave. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2010 12:55:20 GMT
I am no computerexpert at all but had a similar problem.
In my case the HDD was not partioned and could not (easily) do that within the ext. housing too becasue no drive letter was assigned but the USB did recognise the external housing.
I mounted the HD in a PC and then partioned and formatted it using Partition Magic.
I vaguely remember having to tell my bios I had installed a HD too for it to work but am not sure if this was during the same 'crisis'
Put it back in the external housing and all worked from then on.
Don't know if the problem is the same nor the solution.
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Spirit
Been here a while! 
That's where I'm gonna go when I die
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Post by Spirit on Sept 13, 2010 13:09:22 GMT
Hi Dave, It does sound like Frans has described - there's either no partition on there (most likely), or windows hasn't assigned a drive letter to the hard drive (probably due to lack of partition)... Use whichever OS you have a Professional version of (hopefully one of them) Go into Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Storage, Disk Management. See if the drive appears in the list at the bottom. If it does, r-click somewhere to the right of where it says 'Disk x, Basic, 200 GB', and you'll either want Create Partition, or Change Drive Letter and Paths (if that's an option). Or something along those lines... Don't remember exactly, and I don't have any blank drives to check with. Let us know how you go  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2010 13:17:39 GMT
Hi Frans, Thanks very much for your usual helpful response. It sounds as though what you describe is exactly my problem, no drive letter allocated, and therefore not partitioned. Thinking aloud, the seller advised that he had formatted the disc to wipe it clean, IIRC. I'll pop down to my local PC repair shop and ask them to partition it for me, or otherwise resolve the problem. I don't mind screwing up this HDD by trying to sort it myself but I would hate to screw up one of my PCs and have to re-rip 4,500 FLAC files  . Thanks again, Dave. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2010 15:23:19 GMT
Perhaps he didn't actually re-format but only wiped the partitions/formatting to clean it.  I used a 'hirens bootdisk' and old PC (from the attick  ) for this procedure. I couldn't get it to format in XP in the external casing but am absolutely no computer expert so it is very likely there is an easy way to do it. I don't like to mess with PC's with original files on it either. Now I have every file backed-up on 2 different HD's after 1 of my external HD crashed containing all my files. Fortunately most audiofiles were on another 2.5" HD and a lot of photo's and some movies were on another PC but lost a bunch of movies and probably some pictures too. a learning curve ... |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Sept 13, 2010 17:59:02 GMT
Yeh.... go into disk manager and rename that drive "music backup" or something.....
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2010 18:29:06 GMT
Hi guys,
Sorry but I've only just checked back in here and so missed the advice about addressing the partition problem. We have a very helpful PC repair shop in the ext village and as I had to go into the village I took the HDD with me and asked for help. They slipped it into a freestanding dock, looked at the monitor, pushed a few keys and handed it back to me, partitioned. Took it home, slipped it in the caddy and connected it up and hey presto, result, Win Exp acknowledged it's presence and allocated it a drive letter.
Problem solved and total charge: zero.
Thanks again for all your replies.
Dave.
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