[Denisejm]

Hi,

My computer:

XP Pro x64
- ASUS A8V-VM SE Socket 939 Micro ATX Motherboard - UDMA133, SATA (RAID)
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0 Gb/s 320Gb hard drive (RAID array not set up)
- AMD Athlon Gforce 8400 64 X2 4200+ Toledo 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor

I recently purchased this ext hdd:

Seagate Barracuda ST31000340AS 1TB 32MB Cache 7200RPM SATA2 NCQ Hard Drive - Sealed New w/ 5-year warranty

By combining proven components and state-of-the-art technology, the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 family delivers up to 1 TB of storage. Designed with Seagate 2nd generation perpendicular recording, the capacity, reliability and performance of this drive ensure the longevity of digital content for years to come.

Features:
Proven second-generation perpendicular recording technology
Massive capacities of 1 TB
Up to 32-MB Cache
Fast SATA 3Gb/s NCQ interface
Speedy performance at 105Mb/s sustained data rate
　
Specification: Manufacturer Seagate
Manufacturer Part # ST31000340AS
Data Storage Formatted Capacity 1TB
Data Transfer Rate To/From Media 300 MBps
Buffer 32 MB
Seek Time Average 8.9 ms
Rotational Speed 7200 rpm
Interface Serial ATA-300
Dimensions
(H x W x D) Unit 4 in x 5.8 in x 1 in
Weight Unit 1.3 lbs
System Requirements PC n/a
Mac n/a
Warranty 5-Year Warranty (Direct from Seagate)
Includes in the Box Sealed Bulk Pack

The drive doesn't show up in My Computer but it does in Disk Management. However, it can only be made into Dynamic or Basic (which I've never heard of) and neither way makes it show up in My Computer. It's like a drive that's available but unusable.

I've attached some screenshots.

- The first screenshot shows Disk Management in the upper left hand corner, My Computer in the upper right hand corner and Properties > Volume > lists it as Disk 1, Master Boot Record MBR. (?)
- The second screenshot shows Properties > General, where it says that the drive is working properly
- The third screenshot shows Disk Management, where I made the drive Basic. The screenshot shows that it's recognized in Disk Management but not in My Computer.

Is this drive incompatible with my computer or did I buy a drive that's made for a different use than most ext hdds, or something else? Can it be made to work with my computer?

Edited by Denisejm, 06 January 2009 - 10:42 PM.

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Drives don't show up in My Computer unless they've been formatted. Follow the wizard through and make it a Basic format (Dynamic is not supposed under XP Home). From there you can format it.

[Neil Jones]

Drives don't show up in My Computer unless they've been formatted. Follow the wizard through and make it a Basic format (Dynamic is not supposed under XP Home). From there you can format it.

[Denisejm]

I followed the wizard last night and formatted the drive. I've never had to format an ext hdd in order for it to show up in My Computer. I have 22 ext hdds and none of them required it, so I didn't think of it until after I posted here.

The drive doesn't work anyway. Last night, I had to play around with the power and SATA cable, moving them slightly this way or that way in order for the drive to work. I copied some files to it and, this morning when I booted up, the drive wouldn't boot up no matter which way I moved the cables, so I'm going to do an RMA.

Thanks for replying