[Reactor]

Welcome people!

I bought a shiny new hard drive two days ago, and built in into my machine. The problem is, Windows XP will not detect it, and I don't know what to do. This is a Western Digital 500 GB hard drive with 16Mb cache, and I have Windows XP Professional service pack 3.

Any suggestions? The CMOS setup can detect it, but the Windows can't...

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I assume it is a sata drive.

During install of the XP you need to load the drivers from a floppy using the F6 key.

[123Runner]

I assume it is a sata drive.

During install of the XP you need to load the drivers from a floppy using the F6 key.

[Reactor]

That's right, it's a SATA drive. It would function as a data storage and emergency override. Can you tell me how to make Windows detect it? I never did such thing so far, and I'm afraid I shall mess something up...do I really need to reinstall Windows XP or I just need the install CD, and boot from it?

[123Runner]

Sorry for going down the wrong path. I read your post as if you needed to put an OS on it.
You do not need to reinstall the OS.

Are you getting a "found new hardware"?
Is it USB or internal in the computer?

[Reactor]

It's internal, I built it inside. It is connected to the PC via two cables - the power supply cable, and a bright pink SATA cable (this goes to the motherboard). I see it in the system tray alright - the problem is, the hard drive only appears under the "Safe disconnect hard drive", so it seems Windows XP somehow can "feel" it...yet, I can't use it, will not appear when I open "My computer".

I was thinking about it needs to be re-formatted or such, but if I can't access it, how could I format it? It also does not have any partition (it should be D:\), and there is no such option as "Found new hardware" on the system tray - I see only "Safe disconnect" as an option.

[Neil Jones]

Go into the Control Panel -> Adminisrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management.

You can initialise and format the drive from in there.

By design Windows does not show an unformatted drive in My Computer.

[Reactor]

Thank you - I formatted the HDD,and now, it works flawlessly, the system now auto-detects it without any problems. Now I know how to deal with shiny new hard drives.