Maxtor Hard Drive help

[Lil'mermaid]

Can anyone here help me please? My dad has just put in a new Hard Drive in to the computer but now we cant get the computer itself to realize that the new hard drive is there. We cannot format it until it does. It says its working but we cannot find it. We dont want to take the old one out, just add the new to it.

Please help me... Tempers are short here, and if I cant get it to work, I cant load the software to get my new mp3 player to work.

 

[barnum42]

RTFM :lol:

I don't know what your level of PC knowledge is, but I would say look in the booklet that came with the new hard drive and read it through. Trust me here, there should be no more than a few pages and your problem could be caused by not carrying out one of the instructions.

Assuming you have it connected to the correct cable and have power going into it, check for a thing called jumper settings. Make sure they are set to "slave".

You may also have to enter the bios of your PC to tell it to look for the Hard Drive. How you access this varies from PC to PC, so you may need to dig that manual out also.

If this does not work, you may also have to look at your original hard drive and check it's jumper settings are set to "master". If there is nothing printed on the original hard drive to tell you how to set this, make a note of the model and look up "jumper settings model number" on Google.

Good luck

 

[Lil'mermaid]

I read the print out booklet. It hasnt got a designation of its own. (as in A, C,D and whatnot) Its in, its working its just not being recognized.

 

[Tim G]

Take out the drive again... set the jumper on "Slave"
If it's a modern one, set the drives in the BIOS on "Auto"
If it's really an old one, chances are that the BIOS doesn't recognize your new (large) Harddrive and the BIOS needs an upgrade (if any)
And don't forget to check your cables.

 

[barnum42]

Have you checked the bios settings? If the current setting is to only look for one hard drive it does not matter what you do inside the guts, it will not recognise it.

Check that is the case and the jumpers are set correctly.

 

[barnum42]

If it's really an old one, chances are that the BIOS doesn't recognize your new

Good point. I had an old PC that would not recognise a large Hard drive and had to use special software to get it to work.

How old is the PC and how big is the hard drive? I have heard a lot of problems with 160 gig drives. That's why I went for a 120 gig.

 

[Lil'mermaid]

The BIOS is already set to "auto".

Whats a jumper? Where is it?


Man... I sound soooooooo inept right now. I just want this fixed before my dad gets back.

 

[Lil'mermaid]

Good point. I had an old PC that would not recognise a large Hard drive and had to use special software to get it to work.

How old is the PC and how big is the hard drive? I have heard a lot of problems with 160 gig drives. That's why I went for a 120 gig.

Its not old, and it was set up to have another hard drive already.

What the hell is a jumper?????

 

[barnum42]

Its not old, and it was set up to have another hard drive already.

What the hell is a jumper?????

How big is the Hard drive?

The jumper settings should be explained in the manual. At risk of annoying you further - have you read the manual cover to cover? They should be mentioned in the manual. If not, it's a lousy manual.

The jumpers are best described as a small set of maybe six or eight prongs in two rows with one or two plastic sheaths that go over the prongs in various configurations that tell your PC whether the drive is the main one "master" or the second one "slave". The manual should tell you how to configure this for slave.

 

[Lil'mermaid]

Just talked to my dad. He installed the freakin thing and says that he set it to slave.

Should there be a new destionation (i.e. G drive?) or will it still be listed under my C drive?


Thanks for tryin to help me.

 

[barnum42]

If you are running XP (which will be the case if it's a new PC) it will assign it a new letter - whatever runs next after your existing hard drive and disc drives.

If it is not the problem could be:

The jumper is not set to slave - double check it.

The original drive's jumper is not set to master - check it.

The BIOS is not set up correctly - double check it.

The ribbon cable is not seated fully/faulty - check connections or use a different cable.

There is no power getting to it - power cable not fully in or power cable not working. Try a different power cable.

The hard drive is broken - not a lot you can do in that situation. They are fragile things

The hard drive is over 120 gigs in size and this can cause problems for machines - I work for a sofware company and our main geek avoids 160 gig drives as he finds them too much hassle.

Go over all the basics again. Slowly and calmly. Don't say "I did that first time around" and make that the reason for not checking. Trust me, the number of times customers have done this to me, and when I went to their machines or dialled up or just kept repeating to them to check this setting or that they then discovered a basic error. The frustration that for some reason builds up when using a computer has a tendancy to blind us to basic mistakes.

 

[tigsmom]

OK, the DH did the installation because we ladies (who use this damn thing) just don't understand all this complicated stuff.

Followed the book...set the drive to slave.
Checking the computer it says the drive is working...so its connected, right?
Troubleshot it...no problems.
Its an 80 GB drive to supplement the 20 that came with the machine.(which is 2 years old)

The problem is that there is no new drive designation, ie. G Drive.
We need a destination to format the drive to. (does that makes sense?) :veryconfu

 

[Woody13]

What brand computer (Sony, HP, Gateway, etc.) and what is the model number? Also, what OS is on the machine (XP Home?)? Did you attempt to use the MaxBlast software that came with the new drive? Is the original (C: drive) a Maxtor as well or another brand (if another, which brand?)?:wave:

 

[barnum42]

I just did a reboot to check my bios settings before I spouted off.

Are you saying that the slave drive can be viewed in the BIOS, that is is visible and it's returning the correct size?

20 Gig is quite old for a PC hard drive, so there is the possibility that your BIOS can't handle the 80 gig drive. Your PC manufacturer may be able to verify if this is the case. There could be something in their online support.

 

[barnum42]

I've just searched the Maxtor knowledge base and come up with an article for you to read and action

http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1068&p_created=1024520983&p_sid=ns2D76jh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NjYxJnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9c2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcHJvZF9sdmwxPSZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj0mcF9jYXRfbHZsMT0mcF9jYXRfbHZsMj0mcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1Ecml2ZSBsZXR0ZXIgbm90IGFzc2lnbmVk&p_li=

I'm afraid it's now qaurter to one in the AM here and I must depart for bed. If the above does not help, I'll leave you in Woody's capable hands.

Goodnight :wave:

 

[tigsmom]

I've just searched the Maxtor knowledge base and come up with an article for you to read and action

http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1068&p_created=1024520983&p_sid=ns2D76jh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NjYxJnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9c2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcHJvZF9sdmwxPSZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj0mcF9jYXRfbHZsMT0mcF9jYXRfbHZsMj0mcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1Ecml2ZSBsZXR0ZXIgbm90IGFzc2lnbmVk&p_li=

I'm afraid it's now qaurter to one in the AM here and I must depart for bed. If the above does not help, I'll leave you in Woody's capable hands.

Goodnight :wave:

Thanks...I think thats the problem. Didn't know we had to format to get the Drive letter...thought it was the other way around.

G'night...thanks for the help. :kiss:

 

[tigsmom]

Well, its done. Took everything apart to make sure it was all installed correctly. Found out the trouble was the software...it was no good. *sigh*

Ended up formatting it thru Disk Management (I think thats what it was).
Anyway its done....thanks everyone for the help!

 

[Woody13]

Glad to hear that you got it up and running! I don't know what OS you are using, but if you have XP, you should really consider changing from FAT32 to NTFS on both drives (if you have not done so already). NTFS is much more secure and the change can be made without any loss of data.:wave:

 

[tigsmom]

Glad to hear that you got it up and running! I don't know what OS you are using, but if you have XP, you should really consider changing from FAT32 to NTFS on both drives (if you have not done so already). NTFS is much more secure and the change can be made without any loss of data.:wave:

Don't do this to me......

I have NO IDEA what you are talking about. I'm just happy he didn't put an ax thru the damn thing! (we have XP)

 

[Woody13]

Don't do this to me......

I have NO IDEA what you are talking about. I'm just happy he didn't put an ax thru the damn thing! (we have XP)

I spit my Diet Pepsi out my nose!:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Ok, you're cool. But if you ever want to walk on the wild side with NTFS, just whistle. It's easy. You just pucker up and blow.:animwink: