SUBJECT: Where O Where Is My External Hard Drive?

*
*
This is my first attempt at building an external hard drive. I was very careful to check with the forum before purchasing:

Thermaltake Max 4 Active Cooling HDD Enclosure

AND

Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive
3.5 Inch, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD1001FALS

The first of three external hard drives I plan to build, seemed very easy with the enclosed instructions.

The problem arouse when I tried to install this hard external drive on my Windows XP Professional.

You see, I am having a freezing problem on my Windows XP so I decided this would be the perfect time to start my external hard drive
library. This way, In safe mode, I could move my V.I.P. files, photos, etc. to my first new external drive making it possible
to format my PC hard drive and put Windows 7 Professional on it.

I was warned to use and test my new external hard drive first before saving V.I.P files to it and I plan to do just that. I was also warned to be very sure I could find my V.I.P files on the new external hard drive before formatting my PC's hard drive and I plan to do this as well.

1.) I first turned on my newly connected external hard drive, fully
planning to Format it.

2.) I went to Control Panel/ Add Hard Ware etc. but couldn't find it
on my PC to format it!

3.). I went back to Add Hard Ware and found it listed as "Generic
Volume".

4.) I then went to My Computer/ Manage/ Device Manager/ and searched
under Storage, where I found a red X over "Removable Storage".

It is quite obvious to me I don't know what I am doing here (sigh). so, here I am.

I am not too proud to beg for help. Please, Please, Pretty Please, Somebody, any experienced body, please walk me through this!


Thank You For Your Time :&gt


====================================

Dell Dimension XPS 400/9150

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8GHz) w/Dual Core Technology
Processor, 80547, PENTIUM D SMITHFIELD FOR
DESKTOPS..., 820 SKT-T, Male

Hard Drive: 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive
> > (7200RPM) ,DIM,P 3.5IN,1.44MB,FD,
MG WD-HAWK

Memory: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

Modem: 56K PCI Data Fax Modem

Video Card: 256MB ATI Hyper Memory PCI-Express
> > X16 (DVI/VGA/TV out) Radeon X600 SE (320-4383)

CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive: 16X DVD ROM and 48X CD-RW

=====================================