1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

external hard drive help please

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by cphicks, Jan 18, 2007.

  1. cphicks

    cphicks Regular member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2006
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    hi everyone i just bought a external hardrive called maxtor personal storage 3200. now all you are meant to do is plug it in and windows will give the drive a name. well i done all that but its not shown in my computer not on the screen, do i have to format it first so that it shows up?? im really upset with this can any one help please thankyou chris
     
  2. dragonz17

    dragonz17 Regular member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2004
    Messages:
    323
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    Have you tried plugging the AC adaptor in the mains and at the back of the hard drive caddy? (Some external hard drive caddies require their own power supply)

    Also see if the USB leads are properly inserted in their locations. (Back of caddy to the USB Adapters at the back of the PC tower)
     
  3. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
    has to be partitioned & formated.
    1:Boot into Windows XP.
    2:Open Computer Management and select Disk Management.
    3:Initialize the drive.
    4:partition the drive.
    5:Format the drive.
    6:Assign the drive letter.
    7:Initiate changes
     
  4. cphicks

    cphicks Regular member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2006
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    to ddp, sorry my friend im new with this external drive the leaflet tells me windows xp should have read the frive and they say it has one big parton on it,now i right clicked my computermthen i selected manage then computer management and disk management. thats where i got to beause on the box on the right side just showed the c: drive
    and underneath it that box showed a box saying disk o which is the c: drive then cd rom o which is my dvd and cd rom1 which is my dvd rw . now can you please advise my what you mean by initiate the drive because i cant see my external one on the screen and how do i initiate the drive. sorry, im a right pain but i just dont know what to do. thank you for your patience chri hope to hear from you soon
     
  5. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
    is there a yellow exclamation mark in device manager that it might be your external hd?
     
  6. cphicks

    cphicks Regular member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2006
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    hi again yes there is its in the other devices part now i clicked on that and it says install driver but i have no software with it, and also when i installed it a box came up saying found new hardware and again ask me you search for driver in floppy and the other drives
     
  7. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
    moved to correct forum
     
  8. cphicks

    cphicks Regular member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2006
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    oh yeah also i clicked on the question mark and looked in the device status and it said driver not installed code 28 if that means anything, i thought you just plug it in and it loaded the drivers sor some reason i would not be a setting in my cmos would it ???
     
  9. cphicks

    cphicks Regular member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2006
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    sorry my friend what would it come under ?? which forum
     
  10. nickberry

    nickberry Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2005
    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    i think ddp was advising it had already been moved.

    seriously, i dont think it should require any drivers to be loaded to work. Like Dragonz17 says: is the AC power pluuged in? because without it, it would act just like you say it is, so you may wanna check that.. It wont be a setting in the CMOS or BIOS because the OS runs at a higher level, to put it simply (above the HAL)...
     
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2007
  11. cphicks

    cphicks Regular member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2006
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    cheers nickberry, well i checked all the leads and like i said earlier mate a window comes up saying found new device and do i want to search for drivers i say no and thats it, this has really got me cheers mate
     
  12. nickberry

    nickberry Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2005
    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    does windows recognise the device by name ie 'maxtor personal storage 3200' or similar - or does it just call 'USB storage device' (or similar)?
     
  13. nickberry

    nickberry Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2005
    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    upon further google-ing it appear many people have had problems with this external drive and most of the time it seems it is because they are plugging this USB2 device into a USB1 port?

    have you check you are pluging it into a USB2 (also known as EnhancedUSB) port - not all of the ports on your motherboard are USB2 but most motherboards have at least one...
     
  14. cphicks

    cphicks Regular member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2006
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    hi nick well it says maxtor 3200 and its in the other devices not in the usb part. like i said before it brought up a box saying found new hardware
     
  15. nickberry

    nickberry Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2005
    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    okay - ignoring the hard drive for a moment, check this for me, do you have a USB 2.0 / Enhanced controlller listed in the device manager?


    also - if you switch the view to 'devices by connection' where does the unrecognised device appear? i find 'devices by connection so much easier to understand as you can see eveything as it is actually connected up physically...
     
  16. cphicks

    cphicks Regular member

    Joined:
    May 9, 2006
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    hi nickberry, well mate i looked at the manual and in the device manager and yes i have usb 2 and looked in device manager as you said and i have a enchanced usb controller but as you look at where it says enchanced controller theres a connection leading away from it and thats a usb root hub
     
  17. nickberry

    nickberry Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2005
    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    hiya cphicks! - thats great - each USB controller has a USB hub attached to it (a USB hub consists of 2 USB sockets). And the unkown device - where does that appear? how many USB controllers are listed ? do you have any other USB devices you can use to locate the one that is USB2?
     
  18. nickberry

    nickberry Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2005
    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
  19. nickberry

    nickberry Regular member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2005
    Messages:
    285
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    26
    Last edited: Jan 18, 2007

Share This Page