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General discussion

Problem with seagate expansion external hard disk

Aug 28, 2010 4:27AM PDT

when I connect my seagate expansion external hard disk 500gb having p/n:9sf2a2-500 in windows xp(sp2) system, found new hardware wizard pops up and when I click next it says Cannot install this hardware.
After which a message is shown in the taskbar saying "A problem occured during hardware installation". The hard disk did not come with any cd also I have learnt that external hard disks doesnt require any type of software.The hard disk is not shown either in Mycomputer or device manager.I see the light blinking on the external hard disk but I dont feel any spinning of disks when I place my hand on the external hard disk.
So anyone here please suggest me what to do?

Discussion is locked

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Is this a brand new drive, first install?
Aug 29, 2010 1:48AM PDT

If this is a brand new drive, never used before, you still have to format the disk.
Is this the only forum you have posted this problem? Saw another forum where the author said he dropped a p/n:9sf2a2-500 drive.
Is this a factory external drive unit, or a drive you placed in a case?
The power supply should spin drive constantly.

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Yes its a new hard disk
Aug 29, 2010 3:12AM PDT

yes its a brand new disk. How can I format it if I dont find it anywhere(mycomputer or device manager).I dont feel the drive spinning just the light blinks.

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Step by Step "How to partition drive"
Aug 30, 2010 12:52PM PDT

This works for XP or Vista
Read warning notice between step 9 and 10. I will not be liable.
All of this can be had by using "Help and Support" and searching for "partition a hard drive", "create and format a hard disk", "to create and format a partition (volume)"

Partitioning a hard drive and formatting.
When you create partitions on a basic disk using Disk Management, the first three volumes you create will be formatted as primary partitions. Beginning with the fourth volume, each volume will be configured as a logical drive within an extended partition.
Initial procedure without the new hard drive connected.
1. Press Start button.
2. Press ?Computer?
3. Write down all Hard Disk Drives found, ie: HP (C:), Recovery (DHappy
4. Close open windows.
Install the new hard drive. If it?s internal, you had to power down, locate drive bay and required cabling. If it?s an external USB, just connect and power on. Wait until it initialized. It should be detected.
1. Press START button
2. Open Control Panel (with Vista/XP, you must be in Classic View).
3. Open Administrative Tools
4. Click to open Computer Management. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
5. In the Navigation pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.
6. The table loads, in the center you will see ?Volume?. Below are the list of Partitions currently present. ie: HP (CHappy Layout Simple, Type Basic, File System NTFS, Status Healthy (System,Boot,PageFile, etc).
7. Below this window pane, you will see:
8. DISK 0 Basic, the formatted size, and Online.
9. Below that should be DISK 1, your new drive. This is the drive you added, and need to setup.
********************************************************************
WARNING: EXTREME DANGER IF YOUR CONFUSED
Do not be confused by DISK # Removable, or by CD-ROM 0 or 1.
DO NOT modify DISK 0. If you DO NOT understand this, DO NOT proceed with the next step.
*********************************************************************
10. Right-click an unallocated region on your NEW hard disk, and then click New Simple Volume.
11. In the New Simple Volume Wizard, click Next.
12. Type the size of the volume you want to create in megabytes (MB) or accept the maximum default size, and then click Next.
13. Accept the default drive letter or choose a different drive letter to identify the partition, and then click Next.
14. In the Format Partition dialog box, do one of the following:
o If you don't want to format the volume right now, click Do not format this volume, and then click Next.
o To format the volume with the default settings, click Next.
15. Review your choices, and then click Finish.

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Worked like a charm!
Sep 18, 2010 10:57AM PDT

I was having the same issue and your instructions made it really simple to fix the problem. Thanks much!