External HD wont show up...???

HawgsHead · May 26, 2007, 03:10 AM

I bought a Seagate 500GB external HD and it will not show up under"My Computer".However it is showing up under device mgr......Whats up with this thing?

RaveneR · May 26, 2007, 06:08 AM

first of all, even though the drive has been detect by Device Manager, it has not yet been activated and formated for use.

go to Control Panel > Adminstrative Tools > Computer Management

in the Computer Management window, click on Disk Management on the left side, there you should be able to see an unallocated 500GB of your ext. HDD. Initialise it, format it, and you should be able to use it.

HawgsHead · May 26, 2007, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaveneR

first of all, even though the drive has been detect by Device Manager, it has not yet been activated and formated for use.

go to Control Panel > Adminstrative Tools > Computer Management

in the Computer Management window, click on Disk Management on the left side, there you should be able to see an unallocated 500GB of your ext. HDD. Initialise it, format it, and you should be able to use it.

Heyyyyy Raven....thanks!

Necrosis · May 26, 2007, 09:44 AM

Hmm..odd having an external not showing up. I've never seen an external not show up right away.

HawgsHead · May 26, 2007, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrosis

Hmm..odd having an external not showing up. I've never seen an external not show up right away.

Yeah,thats what I was thinking...But its showing up everywhere except under "My Computer".

RaveneR · May 26, 2007, 04:05 PM

i think is reason is because its an unallocated drive space, it can be detected in device manager because there is power running through it, and it is sending data back that "Ok i'm receiving your pings, i'm right here" but you have yet to identify what you want it to be as, therefore it doesnt know whether to show up in My Computer or not.

HawgsHead · May 27, 2007, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaveneR

i think is reason is because its an unallocated drive space, it can be detected in device manager because there is power running through it, and it is sending data back that "Ok i'm receiving your pings, i'm right here" but you have yet to identify what you want it to be as, therefore it doesnt know whether to show up in My Computer or not.

OK...I did what Raven told me to do....nope.That that didnt work....next?It's showing up fine.Its just not showing up where I can use it.I went to the Seagate site thinking this mite be a driver issue.Site sez driver is in Win-XP & should load right up on boot...????

RaveneR · May 27, 2007, 04:35 AM

hmmm so you:

initialised it?

formated it?

assigned it a drive letter?

enough power running through it?

Tipstaff · May 27, 2007, 06:13 AM

The external hard drive, was it a pre-made box, or did you buy the hard drive and external box separately, and put it together yourself? Also, is it an IDE or SATA hard drive that is inside the box?

One thing to consider when you put your own box together, and you use an IDE drive, is that you need to switch the hard drive from it's default 'Cable Select' to 'Master' (or 'Master with No Slave'. Not every external box needs this to be set, as they will adjust for it, but some external boxes do.

Also, is this external box powered by the USB port, or does it have it's own external power supply? If it's powered by the USB port it could be that the drive isn't getting enough power to spin up, either because of the box itself, or that you are trying to pull power from a USB port that has other devices sharing that resource (normally the first top 2 USB ports on the back have it's own power, 4/5 internally on the board have it's own power, and the bottom 2 on the back along with 6/7 on the board share resources). Plug in too many devices, and something could get starved. In some cases the drive will still show up in Device Manager, but then it will not be accessible because there's not enough juice to power up the drive completely.

HawgsHead · May 27, 2007, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaveneR

hmmm so you:

initialised it?

formated it?

assigned it a drive letter?

enough power running through it?

I think thats whats missing....a drive letter.How do I do that?

HawgsHead · May 27, 2007, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

The external hard drive, was it a pre-made box, or did you buy the hard drive and external box separately, and put it together yourself? Also, is it an IDE or SATA hard drive that is inside the box?

One thing to consider when you put your own box together, and you use an IDE drive, is that you need to switch the hard drive from it's default 'Cable Select' to 'Master' (or 'Master with No Slave'. Not every external box needs this to be set, as they will adjust for it, but some external boxes do.

Also, is this external box powered by the USB port, or does it have it's own external power supply? If it's powered by the USB port it could be that the drive isn't getting enough power to spin up, either because of the box itself, or that you are trying to pull power from a USB port that has other devices sharing that resource (normally the first top 2 USB ports on the back have it's own power, 4/5 internally on the board have it's own power, and the bottom 2 on the back along with 6/7 on the board share resources). Plug in too many devices, and something could get starved. In some cases the drive will still show up in Device Manager, but then it will not be accessible because there's not enough juice to power up the drive completely.

Its a Seagate.All 1 piece.I took it upstairs,hooked it to my MacBook and all is well.It showed right up.

RaveneR · May 27, 2007, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawgsHead

I think thats whats missing....a drive letter.How do I do that?

heh, in Computer Management, in the drive formatting popup, as you click and choose on the type of format you want and yadayada, look carefully and it will ask if you want to assign a drive letter to it or not. should be automatic, but i'm not sure about yours.

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jun 3, 2007, 07:04 AM

So Seagate got lazy and didn't format the drive... easy enough to fix

RaveneR · Jun 3, 2007, 08:52 AM

of all the harddrives that i've bought, none of them were formatted beforehand...

May 26, 2007, 03:10 AM	#1
HawgsHead Rest In Peace Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Danville Virginia.The United States of America"In the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob We Trust" Posts: 2,012 Rep Power: 0	External HD wont show up...??? I bought a Seagate 500GB external HD and it will not show up under"My Computer".However it is showing up under device mgr......Whats up with this thing? __________________ Rig specs to the left in the boxes....X-Box 360 w/Hitachi 42" HDTV....If Darwins theory of evolution is true then why are monkeys still monkeys?It takes much more faith to believe in Darwin's theory over the Genesis account of creation.

May 27, 2007, 06:13 AM	#9
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 190 System Specs	The external hard drive, was it a pre-made box, or did you buy the hard drive and external box separately, and put it together yourself? Also, is it an IDE or SATA hard drive that is inside the box? One thing to consider when you put your own box together, and you use an IDE drive, is that you need to switch the hard drive from it's default 'Cable Select' to 'Master' (or 'Master with No Slave'. Not every external box needs this to be set, as they will adjust for it, but some external boxes do. Also, is this external box powered by the USB port, or does it have it's own external power supply? If it's powered by the USB port it could be that the drive isn't getting enough power to spin up, either because of the box itself, or that you are trying to pull power from a USB port that has other devices sharing that resource (normally the first top 2 USB ports on the back have it's own power, 4/5 internally on the board have it's own power, and the bottom 2 on the back along with 6/7 on the board share resources). Plug in too many devices, and something could get starved. In some cases the drive will still show up in Device Manager, but then it will not be accessible because there's not enough juice to power up the drive completely. __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

May 26, 2007, 06:08 AM	#2
RaveneR DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 196 Rep Power: 0	first of all, even though the drive has been detect by Device Manager, it has not yet been activated and formated for use. go to Control Panel > Adminstrative Tools > Computer Management in the Computer Management window, click on Disk Management on the left side, there you should be able to see an unallocated 500GB of your ext. HDD. Initialise it, format it, and you should be able to use it.

May 26, 2007, 09:44 AM	#4
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Hmm..odd having an external not showing up. I've never seen an external not show up right away.

May 26, 2007, 04:05 PM	#6
RaveneR DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 196 Rep Power: 0	i think is reason is because its an unallocated drive space, it can be detected in device manager because there is power running through it, and it is sending data back that "Ok i'm receiving your pings, i'm right here" but you have yet to identify what you want it to be as, therefore it doesnt know whether to show up in My Computer or not.

May 27, 2007, 04:35 AM	#8
RaveneR DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 196 Rep Power: 0	hmmm so you: initialised it? formated it? assigned it a drive letter? enough power running through it?

Jun 3, 2007, 07:04 AM	#13
H3X4D3C1M4L DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 6,794 Rep Power: 0	So Seagate got lazy and didn't format the drive... easy enough to fix

Jun 3, 2007, 08:52 AM	#14
RaveneR DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 196 Rep Power: 0	of all the harddrives that i've bought, none of them were formatted beforehand...