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General discussion

External HD no show in My Computer, does show in Dev. Mnger.

Feb 20, 2005 12:10AM PST

I just installed a Western Digital IDE 120GB, 7200rpm, 8MB buffer, in a Venus DS3 USB/Firewire combo external enclosure. Both highly recommended hardware items.

I plan to use this hardware for imaging with Acronis True Image 8.0 to back up my hard drive.

The installation went very well: disk initialized, primary partition, jumpered as Master, formatted, NTFS, Firewire connection, disk type: Basic, partition style: MBR, drive letter assigned, OK, healthy, etc.
Installation: All Good

Drive shows in Disk Manager as all good as above.
Drive shows in Device Manager as all good as above.

The problem is: The Drive does not, repeat not, show in My Computer or in Windows Explorer.

Help, guidance, ideas?

Thank you for your help.

Discussion is locked

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(NT) (NT) Forgot to say: XP Home, P4 2.4Ghz. Thnx, jaybee333
Feb 20, 2005 12:14AM PST
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Another forum member did similar.
Feb 20, 2005 12:15AM PST

They had partitioned and formatted the hard disk in the machine. Moved it to the enclosure and it didn't work.

Partitioning, formatting the drive in the enclosure however did work.

I'm unsure where you prepared the drive. Or if you have HIDDEN DRIVE LETTERS in EXPLORER. EXPLORE is not a good file or drive manager. It's mandate is not a "file lister" or such. Remember that. TWEAKUI can show if such letters are hidden.

Bob

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Got it! Thanks!
Feb 20, 2005 2:20AM PST

Had to go to TweakUI and place a check mark next to the drive letter I had assigned to the drive. Now the external firewire drive shows correctly in My Computer and in Windows Explorer.

Thanks so much for your help!

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About that master jumper. All my externals used CS.
Feb 20, 2005 12:16AM PST

None have indicated to use Master.

Bob

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My External Hard Drive also does not show in My Computer
Apr 10, 2005 11:19PM PDT

Hi, I think it is a Microsoft problem associated with Service Pack 2. I installed a 120 GB Hitachi External Hard Drive seven month's ago. Up until about two months ago, the drive showed in My Computer and acces was normal. Since installing SP 2, I have had to download a new driver for my Pen Drive and also My scanner. I can access my External Drive via RUN and the drive letter or through Disk Management. It is healthy and via those path's I can use the drive as normal. Clean Up, Tool Utilities, Defrag etc all reconise the drive but not My Computer.

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external hard drive no show in windows explorer
Apr 25, 2005 1:18AM PDT

I bought a Maxtor 6Y16OLO 160 gb external hard drive from ebay. I have a Mobil Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.20 GHz with XP V2 Service Pack. I am a real amateur, a typist, so being advertised as truly plug and play I was alarmed to find that despite it appearing in the Device Manager it did not appear in Windows explorer. I found a solution in the Maxtor web site. http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/cls_adp.php?p_sid=E5QQLQDh&p_lva=787&p_li=&p_search_text=windows%20explorer&p_sp=cGx1ZyAmIHBsYXkgbWF4dG9yIGhhcmQgZHJpdmUmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD13aW5kb3dzIGV4cGxvcmVyJiBwbGF5IG1heHRvciBoYXJkIGRyaXZl&p_cluster=0000|46|10005&p_faqid=1335&p_created=1042574998&p_topview=1.
I had to initialise and partition the disk and assign it a Volume. It then appeared in windows Explorer. In short R/click My computer, click Manage, Click Disk Manager. Your ext h/drive will appear and perhaps a wizard to guide you. If no wizard click follow the website hints and initialize and partition the disk and give it a volume when it asks for one. If already initialized and partitioned you may be able to skip that & simply ensure it is assigned a volume.