Comp guys, questions about HDs

[Zeus]

I recently installed my third HD, a 250GB Maxtor my wife got me for my b-day. On my primary IDE channel, I have my 12GB Quantam (it's about 9 years old now, so don't laugh :-) as my master and the 40GB Maxtor as the slave (that one's 6 years old; I got it when I purchased my comp). On the secondary channel, I have the 250GB drive as my master and the LG DVD-R DL writer as my slave. I HAD the LG as a primary and a Panasonic DVD-ROM as a slave before.

My bios picks up all of the above hardware correctly. When I got into Winblows Device Manager, I can see that it has recognized my HD. However, when I Explore My Computer, I still have the same drives as before, including the Panasonic DVD-ROM. So, basically, Winblows isn't changing its mapping even though it and the bios have recognized the addition of the new HD. Also, the Device Manager still has the Panasonic even though it's not connected.

So, how do I get Winblows to update it's configuration and map my new drive?

Sine should be able to answer this one easily I'd hope. BTW, where the hell is our overlord? I haven't seen a post from him here in about a month or so. Seraph?

[Shellie]

Sine has been working late since he got promoted here recently. He rarely gets on his pc when he's home and when he's at work, he doesnt have time to post.

Zeus, I assume you tried to refresh?

You may need to format/partition the drive before windows will recognize it. If you have xp pro, you can go to drive management in the administrative tools and partition the drive, which will also give it a drive letter.

[Shellie]

Seraph?

Sera..or just Shellie
Seraph makes me feel like I got my username from the Matrix...

[Ishamael]

Sine can always find the time to waste posting here. He's simply not trying hard enough. Don't make me come out there!

[Imakeholesinu]

I recently installed my third HD, a 250GB Maxtor my wife got me for my b-day. On my primary IDE channel, I have my 12GB Quantam (it's about 9 years old now, so don't laugh :-) as my master and the 40GB Maxtor as the slave (that one's 6 years old; I got it when I purchased my comp). On the secondary channel, I have the 250GB drive as my master and the LG DVD-R DL writer as my slave. I HAD the LG as a primary and a Panasonic DVD-ROM as a slave before.

My bios picks up all of the above hardware correctly. When I got into Winblows Device Manager, I can see that it has recognized my HD. However, when I Explore My Computer, I still have the same drives as before, including the Panasonic DVD-ROM. So, basically, Winblows isn't changing its mapping even though it and the bios have recognized the addition of the new HD. Also, the Device Manager still has the Panasonic even though it's not connected.

So, how do I get Winblows to update it's configuration and map my new drive?

Sine should be able to answer this one easily I'd hope. BTW, where the hell is our overlord? I haven't seen a post from him here in about a month or so. Seraph?

If you have it, go to start, programs, administrative tools and then computer management. Under the storage option on the left in the explorer window find Disk Management. Once there make sure your new drive is a basic partition and not a dynamic partition (it's yellow, basics are blue). If you right click where the drive info is you can find all sorts of options, I'm not sure which one will help you but it sounds like you might be running a dynamic or some other sort of partition.

[Oracle]

What Barret said. Otherwise, the drive will need to be formatted and partitioned, which can be done from the same menu that Barret described in Computer Management. A drive letter may have to be assigned as well, but after formatting the drive, it should pick one up automatically.

[Shellie]

Didnt I say that in my post?

[Zeus]

OK, I found it. It's black, which I assume means it has no partition (ie. not formatted). Problem is, it says it's only 128GB when the drive is a 250GB drive. Do I have to install a Winblows updated to make it see the full drive?

[Nev]

I haven't really had to mess with partitions in awhile, but I think most recent versions of XP ought to be able to handle 250GB okay...could be wrong. I'd actually check to make sure your BIOS can handle very large hard drives before checking Windows.

[Lox]

As far as I remember, there's a registry entry that allows XP to handle anything over 120GB. I had to mess with it to get my 160GB and 200GB drives to be available at their full potential.

Google it and I'm sure you'll find it.

[Zeus]

As far as I remember, there's a registry entry that allows XP to handle anything over 120GB. I had to mess with it to get my 160GB and 200GB drives to be available at their full potential.

Google it and I'm sure you'll find it.

Thanks, I'll look into that right now