Help - new HDD doesn't show up.

Ostriig on 16/2/2009 at 13:56

Got a new 500GB SATA2 HDD. Didn't have a second SATA power lead for it, so I got an adaptor for it. Started up, logged into Vista, it told me it found new hardware and was installing drivers for it, then gave me the "Ready to use" message, but when I went to Computer, only my old C:\ shows up, along with the DVD drive. However, both drives do show up in Device Manager and are reported to be "working properly". Anyone got a clue?

Adam Nuhfer on 16/2/2009 at 14:06

I didn't see any mention of you formatting the new HDD.

So, my first question would be......

The Brain on 16/2/2009 at 14:11

You need to make new partition into your new hard disk and format it.

Ostriig on 16/2/2009 at 14:19

Christ on two sticks, that's it. I just got off the phone with my mate, too, the one I got it from. Thing is, I normally know about that, but the guy I bought it from got it new and said he tested if for me. I'd assumed said testing also meant he'd formatted it in the process, but apparently he used some different specialized software or somesuch and the disk is still unformatted.

Cheers guys!

Adam Nuhfer on 16/2/2009 at 14:57

Some additional food for thought.

On a brand new first time format, stay away from the quick format option.

If your running WIN OS, yes, it will take a little while on the regular format option. On my WIN XP Pro it took about 2 hours for a 500 GB.

Ostriig on 16/2/2009 at 16:53

Yup, went for a full format from the Windows XP installation disc. Took about an hour or so, I think. Unfortunately, what I didn't expect was that starting up the installation and resetting once the format was done would still have a different bootloader installed. So next thing I know I'm on the laptop, scrambling to figure out how to restore the Vista boot on my desktop. Crud.

Well, anyway, I got it all patched up now. Did another quick format once I got Vista up and running again, to get rid of any XP files that had been copied onto the new HDD.

Al_B on 16/2/2009 at 20:11

Did you try partitioning and formatting using the disk management interface within vista itself (run diskmgmt.msc)? Although I haven't used it that way myself it should allow you to set up the drive without using a boot disk and without leaving vista.

Ostriig on 16/2/2009 at 20:44

Heh, I didn't even know that existed, just now saw that screen for the first time. I'll remember to try it should I need it another time. When I understood the drive wasn't formatted, I just went down the seemingly (at the time) easiest path - caveman approach.

Al_B on 16/2/2009 at 21:26

Yeah - I didn't use it at first myself. It's pretty handy when you have a USB memory stick that overlaps a network drive as you can easily change drive letter assignments from there.