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General discussion

External hard disk doesnt appear

Sep 11, 2004 8:00PM PDT

Hi,
I have bought an external hard disk comprised of an icy box IB-350 USB and a hitachi 80GO hard disk inside, model HDS728080PLAT20.
I have installed it, and it appears in my device manager under Hard Disk controllers, and Disk readers (rough translation from French). However I dont have any access to it. In my computer it doesnt appear. When I right click my computer I have an option to connect to drives from E-Z but that doesnt do anything.
In device manager I tried to type in a drive for the disk, I get the cursor but cant type anything.
Any ideas? The manual doesnt explain more. The only problem in installation was that it said to set the jumper to master on the HDD, but I couldnt see how to do this.
I have windows 98SE.
I can call the manufacturers in Germany on Monday, but would like to see if there's an obvious error here.
I'm not an advanced user.
Thanks
Sarah

Discussion is locked

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Re: External hard disk doesnt appear
Sep 11, 2004 10:04PM PDT

The drive needs to be partitioned and formatted before Windows cab access it. The procedure can vary in 98 depending on what the manufacturer offers. I might remove the drive from the enclosure attach it as a secondary drive and partition and format from there.

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Re: External hard disk doesnt appear
Sep 11, 2004 11:01PM PDT

Thanks, that explains it.
Does anyone else know how to format an external HD without installing it internally?
I actually dont know how to format it internally unfortunately.
I'll call the manufacturers on Monday otherwise.
Sarah

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Re: External hard disk doesnt appear
Sep 12, 2004 12:23AM PDT

The shortcomings of Win98 are evident here. A simpler solution is to attach the USB drive to a Windows 2000 or XP machine and use the Disk Management tool to partition and format. Of course you will need to use FAT32 instead of NTFS as your file system.

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Re: External hard disk doesnt appear
Sep 12, 2004 12:28AM PDT

You can read the long struggle an owner had at http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7588-0.html?forumID=70&threadID=28121&messageID=317652 Unfortunately they were in denial that the drive case really didn't work on USB 1.x.

If it all works, then for Windows 98 I would run FDISK and see if running FDISK allows you to change to the drive to create the partition. Once that is done, a reboot and then format it.

I think you noted "EZ" driver or such. In this case, it's not used.

Bob

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Re: External hard disk doesnt appear
Sep 12, 2004 12:45AM PDT

Thanks Bob,
Having read this , can you tell me what the drive jumper is and how I set it to Master?
Sarah

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Master?
Sep 12, 2004 1:29AM PDT

ALL the drive cases I used noted to use CABLE SELECT. The master is accomplished in the wiring in the drive case.

I'm sure that somewhere there is a model that uses the old Master/Slave settings, but you can look at the drive to see how to set the jumper.

I'd stick with cable select unless the drive casing tells otherwise. But even then I know how bad the discount documentation is and know to go with what works at the end of the day.

Bob

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Re: Master?
Sep 12, 2004 1:40AM PDT

Sorry Bob, but I'm not up to date with the terms. Can you explain what the jumper is/looks like?
I looked at the HD and apart from the 40 pin ribbon cable and the 4 pin molex, which seem to have fixed settings, there is just one space free for a cable with 9 points. Above this is a sticker with different allignments for slave and master. I presume I dont have to open up the HD?
What is cable select?
By the way I can see the HD on a Mac Powerbook we have so I could format it on this, but I presume it would be useless for PC afterwards.
Thanks,
Sarah

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Looks OK to ME!
Sep 12, 2004 2:12AM PDT

"By the way I can see the HD on a Mac Powerbook we have so I could format it on this, but I presume it would be useless for PC afterwards."

If I take this at face value, then the drive is jumpered proper. And it's likely the Mac would be able to use it and the PC not, as you suspect.

Here's a TEST for us. Open a COMMAND PROMPT (start, run Command) and type in this.

FDISK /STATUS

With the drive attached of course... Respond with the results.

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The other issue. Remember that Windows 98se doesn't come with USB 2.0 support. And I supplied that other discussion where some drives doesn't work on USB 1.1. Worth noting is that the device may be a ZOMBIE and make the owner think it will work, but it won't.

http://www.usbman.com has details about getting your USB 2.0 working.

Bob

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Re: Looks OK to ME!
Sep 12, 2004 4:21AM PDT

Hi,
The command prompt only returned my C hard disk. Didnt see anything else. But the new hard disk is in my device manager which is odd.
I have USB 1. I havent found the right information on the site yet, but is it really possible to transform USB1 to USB2 with a driver?
If I format the hard drive on someone elses PC with USB2, presuming it works, do you think I could then use it on my computer?
Thanks,
Sarah

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"I have USB 1"
Sep 12, 2004 4:31AM PDT

At this point I have to ask you to read the supplied link about the poor soul that battled for a very long time trying to get their external USB drive to work on USB 1.

You have revealed you didn't read it or didn't follow that USB 1 may never work with your selected USB enclosure.

I don't want to sound mean, but how blunt must I write here to get the message across?

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" but is it really possible to transform USB1 to USB2 with a driver?"

NO! USB 1 hardware can not do USB 2.

And NO! to the second question. In my experience you will need the USB 2 ports and drivers for said hardware (note www.usbman.com)

This, to me is rather odd to be writing since all this dialogue is in the prior discussion. Why must I repeat it?

Bob

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Addendum.
Sep 12, 2004 4:33AM PDT

If you haven't looked at usbman.com, installed motherboard or USB drivers for your machine and OS, then it shouldn't work even if your case enclosure is really capable of USB 1.

I can lead you to the answers, but you must execute on the new knowledge.

Best of luck,

Bob

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Re: External hard disk doesnt appear
Sep 13, 2004 4:45AM PDT

Sara,

Not to rain on your parade
-->>
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=250
The ICY BOX promises to change the way we look at personal external storage. The ICY BOX is an external hard drive enclosure designed to be driverless*, portable and provide fast connectivity. External hard drives are very convenient but aren't as fast as the same hard drive that is connected internally and directly to a PATA or SATA header, however, the ICY BOX may just change that.

*Windows2000 or XP only. <<<---- from Web Site

The last line says' it all ... NO support for Win98

Bill
.