External Hard Drive installation question

Hi, I just bought an external harddrive (160G, 8M, 3.5", Maxtor) and a matching case (Polaris 3.5" HDD enclosure, IDE to USB2.0), I’m running Windows XP home edition on a new ASUS laptop.

The guy in 3C said putting the thing together (i.e. hard-drive into the box) is really easy, and it was, everything very self-explanatory, all plugs only fit one way, etc., no possibility for errors (I think).

Then I plug it in and the system immediately detects it, installs it and tells me it’s ready to use. Now I would have expected the new drive to show up in Windows Explorer, but it didn’t. I proceeded to follow the original installation instructions, i.e. insert disc, click “Install” etc… However, there is no button “Install” and when I select “USB” (the installation CD brings up a kind of window with several icons that can be selected (1394, MP3, PCI card, Serial ATA, USB, UserGuide) and a number of command buttons below (Execute, Copy, Unpack, Explore, Scan, Info, Options, Exit).

Hitting the button “Execute” when “USBDrivers” (shows up when clicking an “USB” as listed above) is selected it starts a driver installation, which initially made me happy, but only until it was stopped with the message “Driver only for Windows 98” …

Well, that’s it so far … Doing a hardware scan shows that the system still detects the drive and says it’s working fine, but it still doesn’t show up, am I simply looking in the wrong place??

Thanks a lot, as always expert support is highly appreciated. I want to do a backup of our data before the movers come and pack up our stuff next week …

P.S.: what completely pisses me off is that the only BackUp software included is a 30-day trial version, full version can be purchased! Nice … :fume:

Firstly, the driver’s only for Windows 98 cos any versions after that detect and install this sort of thing automatically.

One thing that can matter is that the external hard drive’s jumper has to be set for “Master” (have a look at the back of the hard drive if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

Can’t think of anything else at the moment.

I remember when I installed an external hard drive for my laptop, it took me a while to figure out to get the drive letter to appear. I forget exactly how I did it, but I think I found it with some sort of system utilities program and formatted it. After formatting it, it appeared as a normal drive.

Open the Control Panel, and go to Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management, see if you can find the drive there. It might be disabled or something.
Err… I see you’re running XP Home Edition. I have Professional, so it might be a little different.

Thanks guys, I followed Andre’s instructions (seems to be the same set-up in home & professional editions), but the drive was not listed under “Disk Management” in the Admin Tools.

I then went into Systems Tools as suggested by aldibarbac and did find the drive listed in the Device Manager. I clicked trouble shooting and did a Hardware Update Wizard thingy, but the system suggested that there are no better drivers available (locally & on-line) for this particular drive.

Doing the right-click thing on the drive in the Device Manager lists as one possibilty “disable”, which suggests to me that it is currently enabled, no?

Interestingly, in the Device Manager, it was listed under “Disk drives”, together with another hard drive, but only one, yet I have two internal H/Ds which both work o.k. … ??? (or might that be one drive that’s split? how do I check that?)

Can this problem be solved or do I have to go back to 3C and listen to them explaining that because I opened the boxes I can’t get a refund or some such BS … ?

Irishstu, would that be on the case (nothing there) or on the HD itself? I’ll just open it up again, don’t worry, thanks!!

O.k., I opened the thing up again and changed the jumer position to “DS (Master)” (it was in “CS Enabled”, the other options are “Cap Limit” and two more settings (one with only one pin) that are not labelled).

Hooked it up again and - nothing. Although the drive started spinning a little by the sound of it, it was now not recognized by the system, can’t find it anywhere anymore and also can’t install a driver because the system doesn’t detet that it’s connected and switched on. Will change the jumper position back …

Any other tips?? Thanks!!

Is the external hard drive’s power cord plugged in?

[quote=“Xpet”]the drive was not listed under “Disk Management” in the Admin Tools.

I then went into Systems Tools as suggested by aldibarbac and did find the drive listed in the Device Manager. [/quote]
Strange… even if it’s not formatted, it should show up in the Disk Management section as “unformatted space” or something like that…
What exactly do you see under “Disk Management”?

Under “Disk Management” (in Admin Tools) you should see the internal drive with two partitions (C and D, probably).

You could try to use a hard drive management software, like Partition Magic or Acronis Partition Manager - those should see any drive in your system, formatted or not.

Another suggestion would be to install the drive internally, see if you can find it under “Drive Management”, and format it.

:bravo:

… how do I do that?

… how do I do that?[/quote]
Uh, sorry, now I’ve noticed that you were talking about a laptop… so forget about that suggestion.

Anyway, are you sure it doesn’t show up under “Disk Management”?
Can you post a screenshot?

When you open the “Properties” window in the Device Manager, there’s a tab called “Volumes”… does it show anything when you click the “Populate” button?

Hi Andre, first of all, thanks a lot for helping out, much appreciated!!

I did the “populate” thingy and here’s what it looked like afterwards:

Does that help?

Now here’s a screenshot of the Disk Management window. It’s listed as “unknown” (Disk 1) as you can see, I didn’t see that yesterday because the pop-up window popped up as a small window and I simply didn’t enlarge it, which I did today - doh!!

So, yes, it’s there, what can I do with it now? Thanks a lot, how can I ever reciprocate?? :notworthy:

I knew it! I KNEW it! :wink:

Now, when you right-click on the “unallocated” space, you should see an option to format the drive, or to “initialize” or something like that.
I don’t have an unformatted drive, so I don’t know exactly what the options look like, but I remember you have to initialize the drive and then create partitions.
You have a 160GB drive, so I guess you’ll want to create several partitions.

Andre, my hero, thanks so much! How can they not include an installation manual for something so complicated? Well, maybe not complicated, but kind of hidden and not obvious for the layman … :fume:

Anyway, thanks to you I was able to get the thing running:

If you can make it (from Xinzhu …), do come by the China Pa on Anhe Rd. tonight and I’ll buy you a couple of beers!! The last gig with my band before I leave Taiwan next week :cry: , so my last chance to make it up to you!! If you come, I’m the guy playing bass! :wink: THANKS!!!

O.k., two more questions if it’s allowed:

  • what’s the reason for the partitioning, why is it better than having one large drive - access speed?

  • what’s a recommended free backup software I can download somewhere, or is there something in Windows I can use? Couldn’t find anything …

Thanks a lot again!!! :notworthy: :notworthy:

Damn… I just got home now. I’ve been gone all day… to Taipei :frowning:. Sorry I missed your gig (and the beers! :wink:).

Err… no, it doesn’t really have anything to do with performance. It might help to keep things organized… but it’s not really necessary.

Sorry, I don’t use any backup software, so I can’t really recommend you anything.
There is a backup utility included in XP, but it seems to be pretty basic.
microsoft.com/windowsxp/usin … uly14.mspx

[quote=“Xpet”]Andre, my hero, thanks so much! How can they not include an installation manual for something so complicated? Well, maybe not complicated, but kind of hidden and not obvious for the layman … :fume:
[/quote]

Or why can’t Windows make it much simpler? :slight_smile: When you insert a blank CD, it’ll ask you what to do. But a drive?

Even Bill Gates admits current computers are too hard to use. But does he know how to make it simpler? We’ll see.

[quote=“Andre”]There is a backup utility included in XP, but it seems to be pretty basic.
microsoft.com/windowsxp/usin … uly14.mspx[/quote]

Andre, thanks again! Sorry you missed your free beers, if I ever coem to Xinzhu again (a business trip maybe, you never know …) I’ll look you up again! :wink:

I’ll check out the link you sent, thanks!

@ Gary: inconceivable, innit!?!

:slight_smile: not really. Microsoft has never been a company known to make user friendly software. Windows Vista will change a bit but it’s still far along from where it needs to go.

For backup, check out this article.

pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1847366,00.asp