Guest JaneC Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 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 Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 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 Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 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 Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 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 Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 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 Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 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 Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 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 Posted August 12, 2007 Posted August 12, 2007 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 Posted August 17, 2008 Posted August 17, 2008 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 > > >
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