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General discussion

hard drive enclosure

Feb 5, 2005 8:56PM PST

I purchased a Western Digital 200 GB ATA-100 EIDE internal hard drive. I also purchased a hard drive enclosure that supports ATA 133/100/66/33 hard disk drives, and is multi-platform. I also own a PC. I installed the internal drive in the enclosure and when I plugged in the firewire the 'safely remove hardware' icon pops up, but the hard drive icon does not. What seems to be the problem? Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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(NT) (NT) Time to partition and format the drive in that case.
Feb 5, 2005 9:22PM PST
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Format
Feb 5, 2005 10:09PM PST

I had the same problem to start. My computer would recognize the drive but I could do nothing with it. I could not even format it in the enclosure. I had to put it my tower, format it, then it was fine in the enclosure.

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how?
Feb 6, 2005 7:27AM PST

Thanks for your reply. How do I go about partitioning and formatting the drive if my computer does not recognize the hard drive? Thanks again!

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Depends on what OS.
Feb 6, 2005 8:29AM PST

The forum Tip asks for such information. If you have XP, look in Help and Support for Disk Management.

Bob

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XP
Feb 6, 2005 9:29AM PST

If we assume you have XP then you must have SP1 installed. You can also use a Promise card but if you are only going to do a format and then put in the enclosure than SP1 is the way to go.

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I have XP
Feb 6, 2005 9:56AM PST

Excuse my ignorance, but is SP1 a driver?

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SP1 or SP2
Feb 6, 2005 11:18AM PST

Service pack 1 or 2 must be in your system to recognize above the 137 barrier.

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Just a few things to check
Feb 6, 2005 10:33AM PST

Make sure the jumper on the drive is set to CS (cable select) before putting it in the enclosure. Make sure the power connector is fully seated. When you power up the enclosure, make sure the drive is spinning. Once the firewire or USB cable is connected and recognized, go to Start/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/Disk Management. On the right side of the box you should see a list of drives and their drive letters. If your enclosure drive is seen, it will be shown as unpartitioned space. Do a right click. You will be able to partition and then format the drive. If you don't see it here, there is a problem to be dealt with.

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My enclosure drive is seen...
Feb 6, 2005 11:46AM PST

but when I right click it says 'the device is working properly.' I see no option to partition the drive. Thanks for your help!

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Right click in what tool?
Feb 6, 2005 11:58AM PST

From what I can guess (you didn't tell), it appears you haven't run the Disk Management tool yet. Or you haven't partitioned it.

Bob

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I right clicked on my enclosure drive...
Feb 6, 2005 12:18PM PST

under the disk management. No, I haven't partitioned the driver yet. That's what I'm trying to figure out how to do.

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Thanks!
Feb 6, 2005 2:31PM PST

I just finishing partitioning my drive. It works now. One more question, at school I use Macs (OS 10), but I just formatted the drive on my PC at home. Will the Mac recognize my drive? Thanks again everyone!

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Try it.
Feb 6, 2005 9:27PM PST

The worst that could happen is you get to partition/format it again.

Bob