Just bought a new USB2.0 Hard Drive External Storage System. I coonected it through USB and gets recognized by the computer but would not appear in my computer? I have never used it before and I assumed I would see it there, just like a Memory Stick when inserted.

Assist
Ona.

Howdy and welcome to AMHD:

That is typical when the hdd has not been formatted yet..

If you are using XP, go to Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management..

Now, click on Disk management..

When the new window opens, right click on the external drive and select "format"..

Once formated, you should be able to "see" it..

Murray

And if the USB Disk already fomated and contained Partitions and you are using Server 2003 then you just have assign the Drive Letters using Disk management
Because in Server 2003 you have to assign the Drive Letter like ( E: D: J: etc) although the Disk is already and having Data…

Just bought a new USB2.0 Hard Drive External Storage System. I coonected it through USB and gets recognized by the computer but would not appear in my computer? I have never used it before and I assumed I would see it there, just like a Memory Stick when inserted.

I have a similar problem where the device manager recognises the HDD when plugged into the USB port BUT does not appear in My Computer or the disk management snap in?

Any ideas?

It is working!
I connect my external 80 GB HDD Samsung to notebook via USB, and it appears only in control panel, disk devices, but not in windows explorer.
So, as the post from Jan 10, 2007, 03:19 PM is describing I try Disk Management. In its window I see my HDD, but not initialised or connected, I don't remember correct phraze. So I was looking for option, were to initialise disk. I right click on icon of this HDD Samsung (in window on right side down you see icon of your c: hdd as e.g. disk 0 and below is next disk e.g. disk 1 - this was not connected) and there was option initialise or connect. And when I connect disk, on same rightclick menu appears option "format." So I format disk- wizard starts. Wizard ask for assign drive letter (e.g. F:) etc... and it is all.

Small notice, I configure external disk with jumpers as slave, but I think, that this is not important for external device. But, as we said in my country - with windows one don't know...

Peter

I have a similar problem except that the external drive does not show up in computer management. I have also tried partition magic and it isn't seen there. It does show up in device manager though. So now I'm stumped. Is there a way to force computer management to pick it up? Thank you.

I finally figured out my problem. It was a bad case. Once I installed it into a new case it was recognized immediately in computer management.

Thanks, I had the same problem in windows server 2003 active directory.
I fixit with your given advice.
But now I am looking for the real resin way ad give no drive characters on USB disks?
Haze somebody a clou?

If your new Hard drive is not visible in Explorer, but can be seen in Disk Manager, there are two possible solutions:

1) Windows can not assign assign a drive letter to your new hard drive because it used by something else (often an assigned network drive). In that case open Disk Manager (Right click on My Computer and select Manage). Click on Disk Management. In the right pane, right click on your new disk and select the option "Change drive letter or path..." and change it to a drive letter that is not in use yet.
If the option "Change drive letter or path" is not available look at solution 2. After this right click again on your drive and put it online.

2) Windows has an internal conflict with the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) interface. Go to Configuration screen and hardware management and disable your IEEE 1394 (you can enable later again).
Boot your PC. Open Disk Management again and follow the instruction under solution 1.

Your hard drive should be visible now in Explorer. Some new hard drives do not have partitions yet or might not be formatted yet. In that case, it might still not be visible yet. Go to Disk Management again and right click on your hard drive and select "Add Partitions". Add one (or more) partitions.
You can put formatting off. It should now be visible in Explorer. If the drive was not formatted by the manufacturer, Explorer will automatically ask you to format it.

Hope this solves most of the problems mentioned here

Help me Ronald Bulthuis

HELLLLLPP !

I just read Ronald's post and it sounds like the answer to a problem I have with a Western Digital WD7500 external drive. It was operating fine until I switched it from USB2 to Firewire one day. The next time I booted everything up I experienced difficulty reading items on the drive in My Documents... soon after the drive vanished all together.
I can find mention of the WD7500 by doing the following...

I go to Control Panel , click Add Hardware
Click "Yes I have already connected the hardware" and "Next"
WD7500AA is visible in the list
I click "Next" and the Wizard says " Here is the current status of the device you selected " and under that "The device you selected is working properly "
After that I click "Finish"
... I have done this many times over a month and the device does not show up .

I have also used the "Device Manager " and found the WD7500 listed under "Disk Drives "
I have tried right clicking on it and " Install Driver " and " Uninstall Driver " to no avail.

If I click "Properties" and then the "Volumes" tab followed by " Populate" the Status is listed as " Unreadable "... this is obviously a bad sign, does it indicate an action can be taken to make the WD7500 readable?

I have tried connecting the WD7500 to another laptop and had exactly the same situation so I doubt it's the computer trying to receive information which is the problem.

HELP... please !