Help with new hard drive!

[Bizkitkid2001]

Hello ya'll!! I have yet another problem with my computer:rolleyes:

I had boutght a new hard drive from newegg, a WDC WD400BB 40GB 7200 RPM. I set this drive as slave so that when I go into windows, i can format it as fat 32. I loaded into windows, installed the windows drivers, and everything was going fine. I went into windows explore but couldn't see the new hard drive. So I went into device manager and device manager said that the hard drive in working properly. So I rebooted the machine, but windows was still not asigning a driver letter to it. Exited windows, started on a boot disc, typed in D: (thats what the drive letter should be) and found out that the boot disc had installed some diagnostic tools. So I typed in Format D: but I got a message saying that formatting is not supported on this drive. So I went into windows again and went to the command prompt and typed in Formatt D: but since windows hasne't assigned a drive letter to it, I got a message saying that the drive does not exist. SO my problem is, is that windows can detect the drive but it can't assigne a drive letter too it? Do you guys have any suggestions?

I am running windows XP

THnaks,
BiZkItKiD2001

[xxmindcrimexx]

give this a try....

start > run > diskmgmt.msc

you should be able to assign a letter that way.


xxmindcrimexx

[rangeral]

Try starting up with a regular bootdisk go to fdisk and look for fixed disk drive this drive should be disk 2 select it then create partition and format it. Is the drive detected in bios?

[BJUK]

Asumeing the drive is showing in the BIOS. You must go to fdisk and create partition and format it as rangeral said. Windows will not give it a drive letter until you do.

Fdisk is simple to use just make shure you have the right drive before actioning any changes.

:t :t :t :t :t

[Bizkitkid2001]

I figured it out. I forgot to the most important step, THE FDISK!!!:rolleyes: How stupid of me!! I FDISKED it then formatted it then installed windows XP. I am going to start a thread telling people how you can install windows XP upgrade without having windows 98 or me installed on your system:D

[BipolarBill]

Actually, you can partition and format the drive right in WinXP setup. This allows you to choose NTFS if you like.

[Bizkitkid2001]

What is better about NTFS?

[BipolarBill]

It supports drives/partitions greater than 32GB, it allows encryption, it fragments much less than FAT32 and is less sensitive to hard shutdown corruption.

[Bizkitkid2001]

Will I still be able to load video games to it. Like will everything still work the same? Will I lose everything on the drive if I do change it? Will I be able to store more stuff on the drive? Will I have to formatt my drive again and reinstall windows? I have this drive set as a master now and have a little 8 gig as the slave.

I'm asking this because my step-dad said that a lot of things can't be installed on an NTFS drive.

[BipolarBill]

Your step-dad needs lessons. :rolleyes: Nothing will change except the formatting of the drive.

Don't switch yet. Use FAT32 for awhile. Switch when you're ready. :cool:

[Bizkitkid2001]

How will my format be different? Will I have to do it a different way?

My dad does know much about computer hard ware, but he has a jod doing C++ and other types of programing languages.;)

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by Bizkitkid2001
How will my format be different? Will I have to do it a different way?Can you tell the difference between FAT16 and FAT32 once it's in use? Can you tell the difference between walking on an oak floor as opposed to a cherry wood floor?

I don't know of any program that's incompatible with NTFS other than some older disk utilities (which don't work on XP anyway) and DOS. The reason that NTFS is more secure than FAT32 is that some bozo can't boot up from a DOS disk and steal your data or screw up your setup unbeknownst to you. Before you start thinking that this is a disadvantage to you, remember that you can reinstall WinXP or install a parallel instance of it to retrieve your own files.