[OilMan6]

OilMan6 :confused:
31 October 2005
0630 Hrs.

SUBJECT:

Both computers will not recognize three new external hard drives.
How do I give these three hard drives
the values of G:, H:, and I:?

Operating System being used:

Windows XP Professional with SP#2.

Background information:

I have two computers.
A. a Hewlett Packard tower.
B. a Gateway tower.

All six external hard drives are hooked up
via three foot firewire cables.

These firewire cables are hooked up through...
A. Hewlett Packard tower - three port Belkin PCI card.
B. Gateway tower - Startech, front mounted 3 1/2 panel
and PCI combo setup.
(three cables are hooked up through
the 3 1/2 front panel.)

Details about six external hard drives:

A. Hewlett Packard tower - 1st hard drive - windows xp professional, sp#2.
2nd hard drive - windows xp professional, sp#2.
3rd hard drive - unformatted, brand new.

B. Gateway tower - 1st hard drive - windows xp professional, sp#2.
2nd hard drive - windows xp professional, sp#2.
3rd hard drive - windows xp professional, sp#2.

What I already know:

1. Both computers indicate
that the fire PCI card (Hewlett Packard tower)
and the Startech combo setup (Gateway tower),
the drivers associated are "Working Properly".

2. To resolve this problem, I have to work through...

A. "My Computer" function,

B. or, "Control Panel" fuction.

Questions:

1. Could you give me detailed insturction
on how to make computers recognize
the three new external hard drives?

2. How do I give these three hard dirves
the values of G:, H:, and I:?

Thank You.

Awaiting your response.

OilMan6.

[NeedKarma]

As for #2:
Try this. Right-click on My Computer, select Manage, under Storage clikc on Disk Management, in the right-hand pane you can right-click on a drive letter and select "Change Drive letter and Paths".

[ScottGem]

Drives have to be partitioned to be recognized by Windows. If the drive is partitioned but not formatted, it will be listed but you will have to format to use it.

[Chery]

I also have an external HDD question.. Which is better - several small or one large and partioned 2 or 3 parts? I was thinking of getting one large one to store my music and daily backup of PC's important files - which would have to be at least 120 GB.


By the way, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

[NeedKarma]

I also have an external HDD question.. Which is better - several small or one large and partioned 2 or 3 parts? I was thinking of getting one large one to store my music and daily backup of PC's important files - which would have to be at least 120 GB.

My opinion is that one large hard drive gives you the simple point of failure scenario. I opt for several hard drives e.g. three 60GB hard drives.

[OilMan6]

As for #2:
Try this. Right-click on My Computer, select Manage, under Storage clikc on Disk Management, in the right-hand pane you can right-click on a drive letter and select "Change Drive letter and Paths".

31 October 2005
0948 Hrs.

FM: OilMan6

TO: NeedKarma

SUBJECT: Reply to your insturction.

Tried what you advised me to do.

It didn't help...

During the last portion of the guidance,
The following happened...

Step five - "in the right pane ... right click a drive letter."

What went wrong...

There is no letter indication for the three external hard drives.

All that is indicated is...

C: - Master internal hard drive.
D: - DVD unit.
E: - CD drive.
F: - Slave internal hard drive.

There is no reference to
Anyone of the three external hard drives.

Thank you.

Awaiting your response.

OilMan6.

[Chery]

Thanks for your advice. I was just hoping that I would not have to use all my USB connections, but then again I could use one drive at a time, almost like the memory sticks.


Thanks,

[ScottGem]

Chery,

Using USB hubs you can run over 100 USB devices off one USB port. So you shouldn't need to worry about using them. I have a 120G external drive and I was not able to partition it. This may be a limitation of externals or something I couldn't find.

[Chery]

Thanks Scott. My PC might be able to handle it, but I also have a laptop which I prefer to use, Sony Vaio, and when I tried to add an extra hub, and one posrt for bluetooth, it kind of went confused on me. Once I have time to concentrate on the laptop again, you'll probably get a lot of questions from the then. I took off the original OS and other crap, reformatted and put on a new OS, and now am slowly downloading all the manufacturer's drivers again, so it'll take a little time.
Since I work a lot with graphics for my coloring books, I want the I-pen bluetooth which is more comfortable for my hands and more precise. I have pens for all my PCs as I rarely use a mouse.