Question about portable hard drives!

[DoctorP]

Geeks come alive and school me please!

Today I bought a 2.5" enclosure and a Western Digital 40GB hard drive. Seems simple enough to set up. I plug the hard drive into the front of the enclosure, close it all up and connect to the pc right?

The pc (Windows XP) shows the device is working properly, but it does not show up as a hard drive on my computer. What am I doing wrong? Someone please help me!

 

[トラちゃん1]

If it came with drivers, install them. If you have already, un-install them and re-install them.
I don't know how computer illiterate you are, but make sure the hard drive is turned on ( Do this after you plug it into the computer ). Usually they come with a switch.
Be sure to 'correctly remove the device when finished.

*Edit: I'm guessing this is a Portable USB Hard drive?

 

[DoctorP]

It is a USB drive and the power comes from the USB

 

[トラちゃん1]

ok, you say it does'nt show up as a hard drive. Does an extra drive show up in ''my computer'' at all?
You've checked that it is shows up in 'device manager' ?

 

[Mike Cash]

How large is the largest drive currently inside the computer, and how large is this one you're adding?

There can be a problem with Windows not recognizing drives over a certain size. I believe it is 137gb. Fortunately, there is a software solution for this.

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http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,120355,00.asp

 

[nice gaijin]

It's possible that the drive needs to be formatted before you can use it. If it's not a capacity issue (I haven't had one since the limit was 30gb) try removing the drive and plugging it in like a normal internal drive, then using your favorite partition software (I recommend Partition Magic) to format the drive.

After that, you should be able to pop it in the enclosure and off you go

 

[DoctorP]

it does show up in device manager. It is showing as a hard drive, and it also shows up under USB devices. But I am just wondering why it will not show up on "My Computer"? I am assuming that I can not use it for storage until it shows up there?

And yes...I am very technical illiterate when it comes to computers!

 

[Davey]

have a look over here,,, maybe you think im an ******* now haha:

Page Not Found | WD Support

 

[Mike Cash]

it does show up in device manager. It is showing as a hard drive, and it also shows up under USB devices. But I am just wondering why it will not show up on "My Computer"? I am assuming that I can not use it for storage until it shows up there?
And yes...I am very technical illiterate when it comes to computers!

Right-click "My computer" and select "Management", expand the section with an icon of disc drives, then select "mangement" (I have Japanese Windows, so I'm guessing at the actual names for this stuff in English). You'll need to monkey around on the right side to allocate a drive letter, mount the drive, and whatnot.

 

[DoctorP]

have a look over here,,, maybe you think im an ******* now haha:
Page Not Found | WD Support

nah...I don't think that! Actually I've been tooling around on that site while waiting on replies...but it still isn't working right! Thanks Dutch.

 

[DoctorP]

Mike Thanks! I was already there, but being illiterate wasn't helping! You have to click on the "black bar" (at least in my case) and select how large of a partition you would like...then it walks you through the other steps and it will format the drive for you. Looks like all will be ok after the format is complete...I'll let you guys know! Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[DoctorP]

Problem is now corrected! Thanks for your help guys! Now I can back up my files...all for under $70!

 

[Mike Cash]

Hey, I've done this several times....and I have to relearn the process every single stinking time. I can never recall it, and in fact had to google it in order to tell you about it.

 

[ullvarg]

I got a follow up question on this.
I'm thinking of bringing 1 of my 200gb hard drives from my server as a external unit but the problem is that it's partitioned into a 120gb and a 80gb hard drive.
Does anyone know if I can stick it into a external drive Chassy without repartitioning the drive. I don't really feel like burning everything onto DVDs just to load it back onto the drive again and I don't have enough room on my other drives to load it onto one of them temporarily.
So if anyone knows plz tell me

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

I got a follow up question on this.
I'm thinking of bringing 1 of my 200gb hard drives from my server as a external unit but the problem is that it's partitioned into a 120gb and a 80gb hard drive.
Does anyone know if I can stick it into a external drive Chassy without repartitioning the drive. I don't really feel like burning everything onto DVDs just to load it back onto the drive again and I don't have enough room on my other drives to load it onto one of them temporarily.
So if anyone knows plz tell me

Yeah - just bring the drive, buy an enclosure and plug it in. The enclosures start at around 2000 yen for something cheap and cheerful.
Are you looking to buy a new/used computer here? PM me if you want a quote.
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[ullvarg]

I recently bought a new laptop so I don't think I will buy 1 in japan, but you never know ;D. But thx for the info on the drive, feels good to know that I don't have to burn 50dvds just to bring my most important files

 

[mr.sumo.snr]

So long as the enclosure has a 100-240v rated AC adaptor there's no reason you couldn't pick one up where you are and then just buy a power cord adaptor plug.

One of my most useful devices is a 2.5"/3.5" IDE plug to USB 2.0 cable coupled with a AC adaptor with a standard hard disk 4-pin power cable output. It lets me hook up any IDE hard disk to my workstation in an instant. They also sell them in SATA flavor or multi SATA/IDE. Glancing at the AC adaptor I notice that it's rated 100-240v - it uses a regular computer mains power cable.

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