xp won't find hd

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Bugsey Hogan, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. Bugsey Hogan

    Bugsey Hogan Private E-2

    western digital 20 gig hd can't be seen by my xp system. finds all other drives I've tryed. It's in bios ok. Program from western digital says it's ok have done low level format using ths prog. Is it stuffed or not.?
     
  2. foogoo

    foogoo Major "foogoo" Geek

    Does it show up in Drive Management?
    Start>Run>compmgmt.msc
     
  3. plodr

    plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member

    Doesn't a low level format essentially kill the disk like writing all zeros or ones to the drive?
    If that is the case, I suspect you may have to format it either FAT32 or NTFS for windows XP to notice it.

    If WD includes other tools, use something to format it so windows can see it.
    If there aren't any tools, a linux live CD would let you format the disk.
     
  4. Bugsey Hogan

    Bugsey Hogan Private E-2

    Thanks plodr I'll try that next time I'm working on that computer
     
  5. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    I was going to ask the same thing ;)
    Another way to get there is to right click My Computer > Manage. Then select Storage, then Disk Management. It should show up in the list of drives. Sometimes if a drive has no partition and is not formatted, it won't show up in My Computer because it's not ready for use...
     

MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds