External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

[Guest JaneC]

Hi Guys,

 

I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

External Hard Drive.

 

It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages in the

device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER". I've even

downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive, however I

cannot explore it.

 

Can anyone help?

Cheers,

Jane

[Guest DL]

Re: External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

 

And what does Disk Management show?

The drive has to be partitioned/formated before it is visible to My Computer

 

"JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:F69FFE9B-4EE5-42B2-8375-7E2A5F2B13BC@microsoft.com...

> Hi Guys,

>

> I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

> External Hard Drive.

>

> It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages in

> the

> device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER". I've

> even

> downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive, however

> I

> cannot explore it.

>

> Can anyone help?

> Cheers,

> Jane

[Guest JaneC]

Re: External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

 

Thanks DL

 

I did have this drive connected to an Apple Airport & was able to access it

through that no problems, I've even transferred files onto it. My problem is

occurring because now I have plugged it directly into a USB drive on my

computer. If I reformat it, I will lose data on it. Could it be something to

do with the airport?

 

I've jut gone into Disk Management and it lists the hard drive along with

the others already on my computer. Although it is displaying that the memory

is 100% free and I know I have at least 50GB of data on there. Also the "File

System" is blank while the other three have FAT FAT32 & NTFS.

 

Any ideas?

 

 

"DL" wrote:

> And what does Disk Management show?

> The drive has to be partitioned/formated before it is visible to My Computer

>

> "JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:F69FFE9B-4EE5-42B2-8375-7E2A5F2B13BC@microsoft.com...

> > Hi Guys,

> >

> > I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

> > External Hard Drive.

> >

> > It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages in

> > the

> > device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER". I've

> > even

> > downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive, however

> > I

> > cannot explore it.

> >

> > Can anyone help?

> > Cheers,

> > Jane

>

>

>

[Guest Detlev Dreyer]

Re: External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

 

"JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

> External Hard Drive.

>

> It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages in the

> device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER". I've even

> downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive, however I

> cannot explore it.

>

> Can anyone help?

 

Is that drive partitioned and formatted?

 

--

d-d

[Guest Anna]

Re: External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

 

 

> "JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:F69FFE9B-4EE5-42B2-8375-7E2A5F2B13BC@microsoft.com...

>> Hi Guys,

>>

>> I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

>> External Hard Drive.

>>

>> It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages in

>> the

>> device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER". I've

>> even

>> downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive,

>> however I

>> cannot explore it.

>>

>> Can anyone help?

>> Cheers,

>> Jane

 

 

"DL" <address@invalid> wrote in message

news:O3KDg8B3HHA.464@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

> And what does Disk Management show?

> The drive has to be partitioned/formated before it is visible to My

> Computer

 

 

Jane:

As DL points out, the USB external HDD must be partitioned/formatted before

the system will recognize it for purposes of accessing data, etc. However,

I'm assuming that this is a commercial (WD) USB external HDD that you

purchased, not just a USB external enclosure that you purchased and then

installed a WD HDD. If that is so the drive has been partitioned/formatted

at the factory.

 

I'm not sure I understand your comment that you "installed a driver" for the

USB external HDD. Ordinarily no driver is necessary to be installed for this

type of device in an XP environment. The system should recognize it without

any need for an auxiliary driver. It should truly be "plug & play".

 

Do this...

 

Click on Start > right-click My Computer > Manage > Computer Management >

Disk Management.

 

Is the USB device listed there? Does it have a drive letter assigned to it?

If it's listed but does not have a drive letter assigned to it, can you

assign a drive letter by right-clicking on the device's listing (assuming

the device is even listed in DM)?

 

But I have the feeling the device will not be listed in DM.

 

Should that be so, try this...

 

Boot your machine *without* connecting/powering on the USBEHD. After you

boot to your Desktop, then connect & power-on the external drive. See if the

system recognizes it then.

 

If there are still problems, try another USB port on your PC assuming you

have more than one. Ensure that the device is *directly* connected to a USB

port on your PC and not through any USB hub.

 

If still problems, is there any chance you can gain access to another PC and

try out the USBEHD on that machine?

Anna

[Guest Paul Randall]

Re: External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

 

 

"JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:F69FFE9B-4EE5-42B2-8375-7E2A5F2B13BC@microsoft.com...

> Hi Guys,

>

> I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

> External Hard Drive.

>

> It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages in

> the

> device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER". I've

> even

> downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive, however

> I

> cannot explore it.

>

> Can anyone help?

> Cheers,

> Jane

 

Apple Airport probably did not partition and format the drive in a

PC-compatible way. Try using it with a Mac computer. If you partition it

with a PC, you will likely lose your data.

 

-Paul Randall

[Guest Panic]

Re: External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

 

Can you reconnect the drive to the Apple Airport and copy the files to disks

or CDs? If so, then you can format it and still have the files that were on

it.

 

"JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:2E1E83FF-49A5-4E49-9752-63AB1D85391D@microsoft.com...

> Thanks DL

>

> I did have this drive connected to an Apple Airport & was able to access

> it

> through that no problems, I've even transferred files onto it. My problem

> is

> occurring because now I have plugged it directly into a USB drive on my

> computer. If I reformat it, I will lose data on it. Could it be something

> to

> do with the airport?

>

> I've jut gone into Disk Management and it lists the hard drive along with

> the others already on my computer. Although it is displaying that the

> memory

> is 100% free and I know I have at least 50GB of data on there. Also the

> "File

> System" is blank while the other three have FAT FAT32 & NTFS.

>

> Any ideas?

>

>

> "DL" wrote:

>

>> And what does Disk Management show?

>> The drive has to be partitioned/formated before it is visible to My

>> Computer

>>

>> "JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

>> news:F69FFE9B-4EE5-42B2-8375-7E2A5F2B13BC@microsoft.com...

>> > Hi Guys,

>> >

>> > I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

>> > External Hard Drive.

>> >

>> > It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages

>> > in

>> > the

>> > device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER".

>> > I've

>> > even

>> > downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive,

>> > however

>> > I

>> > cannot explore it.

>> >

>> > Can anyone help?

>> > Cheers,

>> > Jane

>>

>>

>>

[Guest DL]

Re: External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

 

It will be to do with incompatibilities between Apple & MS file systems.

You need to connect to an Apple & backup your Data.

Before partitioning & formatting the drive in MS windows (you will lose all

data on the drive)

 

"JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:2E1E83FF-49A5-4E49-9752-63AB1D85391D@microsoft.com...

> Thanks DL

>

> I did have this drive connected to an Apple Airport & was able to access

> it

> through that no problems, I've even transferred files onto it. My problem

> is

> occurring because now I have plugged it directly into a USB drive on my

> computer. If I reformat it, I will lose data on it. Could it be something

> to

> do with the airport?

>

> I've jut gone into Disk Management and it lists the hard drive along with

> the others already on my computer. Although it is displaying that the

> memory

> is 100% free and I know I have at least 50GB of data on there. Also the

> "File

> System" is blank while the other three have FAT FAT32 & NTFS.

>

> Any ideas?

>

>

> "DL" wrote:

>

>> And what does Disk Management show?

>> The drive has to be partitioned/formated before it is visible to My

>> Computer

>>

>> "JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

>> news:F69FFE9B-4EE5-42B2-8375-7E2A5F2B13BC@microsoft.com...

>> > Hi Guys,

>> >

>> > I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

>> > External Hard Drive.

>> >

>> > It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages

>> > in

>> > the

>> > device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER".

>> > I've

>> > even

>> > downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive,

>> > however

>> > I

>> > cannot explore it.

>> >

>> > Can anyone help?

>> > Cheers,

>> > Jane

>>

>>

>>

[Guest Tom Cassell]

Re: External Hard Drive not showing in My Computer

 

I am not sure I understand of your query. But if you have an external drive

connected to both a Mac and a PC the drive has to be formatted by the Mac and

given a partition no larger than 20 Mg. You can save the info on the Mac

whilst it is partioned.

 

"Paul Randall" wrote:

>

> "JaneC" <JaneC@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

> news:F69FFE9B-4EE5-42B2-8375-7E2A5F2B13BC@microsoft.com...

> > Hi Guys,

> >

> > I have just connected and installed a driver for a new Western Digital

> > External Hard Drive.

> >

> > It all seems to be functioning properly, there are not error messages in

> > the

> > device manager, however the drive does not appear in "MY COMPUTER". I've

> > even

> > downlaoded a dignostics program from WD and it can read the drive, however

> > I

> > cannot explore it.

> >

> > Can anyone help?

> > Cheers,

> > Jane

>

> Apple Airport probably did not partition and format the drive in a

> PC-compatible way. Try using it with a Mac computer. If you partition it

> with a PC, you will likely lose your data.

>

> -Paul Randall

>

>

>