[HyDekar]

Hey all...
I just ordered a Samsung 200GM/7200rpm/8M/PATA hdd with a Skymaster Metal Gear Substance external case. Now I plugged it in through USB 2.0 it worked perfectly, except it looks like the power LED is shot, but I can live with that (took ages to get here, don't want to wait ages for a replacement and pay extra postage)...

Now I thought the first thing on my agenda would be just a quick format, to make sure it was completely clean. So I right-clicked on it, clicked format, made sure it was all set up properly, NTFS, etc... And checked 'Quick Format'... Seemed to work fine, but then suddenly the computer said there was no harddrive there...

The only thing I can backtrack it too is the formatting of it, so I'm not sure what to do... It worked fine, formatted it, didn't work...

I've made sure everything inside the case is correctly connected, etc...

Thanks for your help!

- HyDekar

UPDATE:

I just plugged it in directly to my motherboard as an internal hdd and it works fine... so I'm trying a FULL format on it, instead of a quick one... Once that's finished I'll try it again, and see where it gets me...

Edited by HyDekar, 29 September 2005 - 04:05 AM.

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Hi. I have put together 4 external hard drives. The enclosure manufacturers all touted them as plug and play. Well, my experience was not really...I found that I always had to put the hd I chose to use into my computer and do a full format on it first. Once I did that, yea "plug and play".

[austin_o]

Hi. I have put together 4 external hard drives. The enclosure manufacturers all touted them as plug and play. Well, my experience was not really...I found that I always had to put the hd I chose to use into my computer and do a full format on it first. Once I did that, yea "plug and play".

[HyDekar]

Sorry I didn't update...

I tried a full format, and it still didn't work... I also pulled apart the enclosure, and I couldn't find anything visually wrong with it, but I'm not sure...

Thanks for your suggestion austin_o. Unfortunately it didn't work

[Tyger]

It sounds to me like there was some software on the drive when you got it, or perhaps in the flash memory of the enclosure, if it has some, and it got removed during the format process. My experience with installilng hard drives with XP is that you get two prompts from New Hardware before it is fully recognized by the machine. Another thing you might do is try reformatting it with the installation of system files, then it will be bootable. You might try at the drive and especially the enclosure maker's sties for any help. These are just things you might try that may work.

[austin_o]

If the hd formatted ok when removed from the enclosure and installed as internal hd, it has to be a problem with the enclosure. Most of these require the HD jumper be set to master. Check that first. I agree with the suggestion that you go to the enclosure manufacturer's web site for additional assistance. I put a samsung 160 G hd into an enclosure I bought from http://www.xpcgear.com/. Once I put the hd in my pc, formatted and installed in the enclosure it worked fine. I use it between an xp system and a w2k system. It was easier to mount the drive in w2k then it was in xp. So much the touted plug and play....

[HyDekar]

Thanks guys... I'll contact Skymaster and see what they think...

I'll get back to y'all if I have any progress, or questions...

Thanks again...