Board logo

XP not seeing second HD
Northy - 4/3/06 at 10:29 AM

I've just put an extra hard disk into this PC and Windows (XP Home) is not seeing it.

Its there in the bios, and actually even in device manager in Control Panel, but I can't see it in explorer or use it.

Any ideas guys? I'm running out of HD space!

richijenkin - 4/3/06 at 10:33 AM

You might need to assign it a different drive letter. Right click on 'my computer' then 'manage' , then click on 'disk management'. Right click on the missing hard drive, and choose 'change drive letter and paths'.

chasmon - 4/3/06 at 10:36 AM

What age is the PC that you are using?

If it is older the BIOS may struggle to support it...

Although XP supports larger HD sizes it requires the Bios to support Int 13 Extensions, and also have this feature enabled.

Or I hope its something simple like the other suggestions


[Edited on 4/3/06 by chasmon]

[Edited on 4/3/06 by chasmon]

flak monkey - 4/3/06 at 10:37 AM

It needs formatting if its a new HDD otherwise windows will not see it.

Go to the disk management interface and right click, and select format. (Do it in NTFS).

David

graememk - 4/3/06 at 10:38 AM

try formatting it fist . . . . should find it will work then.

britishtrident - 4/3/06 at 10:49 AM

Needs to be partitioned first-- then formated


To expand a bit you won't see it in "My Computer" until a partion is created, Xp will then asign a drive letter on restart. You can then format it to create the file system after which you can use it.

[Edited on 4/3/06 by britishtrident]

mangogrooveworkshop - 4/3/06 at 10:55 AM

Hold it Hardware first
Have you got power on it
Do you have the ribbon cable in the right way
Have you got the jumpers set right

Now the software boys can have you

stevebubs - 4/3/06 at 06:22 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Northy
Its there in the bios, and actually even in device manager in Control Panel, but I can't see it in explorer or use it.


So Power etc is all there - and the disk is seen by Windows. Highly unlikely to be a h/w problem (sorry Mango)

quote:

Needs to be partitioned first-- then formated

To expand a bit you won't see it in "My Computer" until a partion is created, Xp will then asign a drive letter on restart. You can then format it to create the file system after which you can use it.


Yep - this would be my first guess

quote:

You might need to assign it a different drive letter. Right click on 'my computer' then 'manage' , then click on 'disk management'. Right click on the missing hard drive, and choose 'change drive letter and paths'


Yep...been a while, but you may have to right click and create a partition first.

Stephen

[Edited on 4/3/06 by stevebubs]

RoadkillUK - 4/3/06 at 08:08 PM

Try Here, That should help

indykid - 4/3/06 at 09:25 PM

cheers lee.

i've got the job to do shortly. 120GB just isn't enough!

tom

trogdor - 4/3/06 at 11:49 PM

i know that feeling, i only have 32gb on my computer,

however my housemate comp is directly connected to mine and he has about 560gb of hard drive space!

is great waching all the films and series he has over the network!

oh yeah the hard drive will deffo need partioning then formating. i had this prob myself when i was installing a friends new hard drive. was puzzled for ages til i worked it out! had never installed a brand new hard drive until then! always ones that had been formatted before at some point.

[Edited on 4/3/06 by trogdor]