[Luckyjfl]

Hi Guys,
I have two Hds and the primary is partitioned into just two parts. My 2nd HD was ok for a long time and was Local F. I also have two cd Roms. One is a Combi and the othe is a dvd writer. Now the problem is, My second Hd is showing up in the Systems properties , but not in My Computer. The same applies to the DVD writer, that is not showing up at all either. I really have not got a clue what to do here. I did try disconnecting the 2nd HD and rebooting, then reconecting again, after switching it off again.
Any ideas Guys would be appreciatted.

Thank you.[size=2]

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Three things to do, one is check in Device Manager to see if the hard disk controllers are listed and operating properly. Something you could try is completely disconnect the optical drives and hook the second hard drive to that IDE cable to see if it picks up. The third thing is download the diagnostic software from the slave drive maker's website to a floppy and run it on the drive to see if it is OK. That is always a good idea when you suspect a drive is going bad.

[Tyger]

Three things to do, one is check in Device Manager to see if the hard disk controllers are listed and operating properly. Something you could try is completely disconnect the optical drives and hook the second hard drive to that IDE cable to see if it picks up. The third thing is download the diagnostic software from the slave drive maker's website to a floppy and run it on the drive to see if it is OK. That is always a good idea when you suspect a drive is going bad.

[Kemasa]

I would bring up the computer management, then select the disk management and see what it says about the disks. It tends to give good information about the status of the filesystems and the disks.

I kept forgetting how to find this program, so I created a link and the properties shows it as:

%SystemRoot%\system32\compmgmt.msc /s

It opens with mmc.exe, but somehow you can get to it in the menus (which is why I prefer Linux :-).

[Luckyjfl]

Hi Guys, sorry for not getting bk to you more quickly, I lost my internet etc. anyway, I went into the disk management like suggested and it is showing: Disk 0 = 189.91 GBs, Disk 1 114.48 GBs, free as colour is green. It is also showing my two DVD roms.

In the Bios it is showing the Slave HD ok and likewise in System Properies. But it is Not showing it in the MY Computer page. I will continue doing like you suggested and try the diagnostics from Maxtor, if there is one.
Cheers again.

[Kemasa]

I am confused, are you saying that the disk is showing correctly in the disk management? If so, what is the status of the filesystem and other information that it gives?

Or is it just showing the single disk with two partitions?

[Luckyjfl]

Right, I had a closer look at that Computer management page. It does show the 2nd HD as Disk 1. The Primary is showed as disk 0. What I cannot understand is why it is not showing in My Computer.
Cheers again.

[Kemasa]

Ok, it should also give you information about the status of the filesystem from the disk management, what does it say with regards to each partitiion on the second disk?

Also, can you access the drive specifically? The disk management will give the drive letter and you can use either the command window or an existing window to show the informatiion.

[Luckyjfl]

The first one has this information.
=====================================
Disk o ( C ) 189.91GB NTFS Healthy System
Basic
189.91GB
Online

======================================
The second one has this info
======================================
Disk 1 114.48 GB Free Space
Basic
114.48 GB
Online

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

[Kemasa]

Hmmm, it looks like iit does not see a fiilesystem on the disk at all.

How big is the disk? It says there is 114Gb of free space and all of it is free. If you notice, the first disk shows that there is a NTFS Healthy system and the second does not.

Do you know how all of these are connected? I assume that you have two IDE channels, what is the master and slave on each? You say that your DVD also does not show up properly. If both the problem disk and DVD are on the same channel, you might try replacing the cable (just to be sure) and/or make sure that the cable is connected well.

[Luckyjfl]

Hi Kemasa,
I found out by trial and error that the HD in question has some sort of diagnostic problem on it. I tried to even format it on its own and reinstall winxp on it, but it failed. I did however manage to get back my two cd Roms . I think now is a good time to sit back and leave it for a while and then consider doing a Maxtor diagnostic on it. I will disconect the rest when I do that though.

Thanks again for the help you have given me and also all the other Guys. It was really appreciatted.