BIOS detects HD, but it doesn't show up in Windows Explorer.

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Starfire

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Anyone know a possible reason why one would detect it and the other wouldn't?

It's a Maxtor 30GB DiamondMax Plus 8 ATA/133.
 
Go to Device manager and see that the new hard drive appear correctly. If its ok, right click on MyComp/Manage, then navigate to Disk management. From here you can make new partitions.
Its not shown up in Explorer cos its not formated and don't contain any win compatible partitions.

Regards.
 
I want to use this HD for my Playstation 2. I was loading it into my removable HD bay to check if it was functional.
 
Starfire said:
I want to use this HD for my Playstation 2. I was loading it into my removable HD bay to check if it was functional.

Sooooo... if you do what Gars suggests you will find out if the hard drive is good. Have you done this?

I just partitioned and formatted a 100GB external hard drive using Gars instructions, and everything worked perfectly
 
actually an un-formatted drive should show up in windows explorer. Its just that when you try to explore or open it it will bring up the Format message.
 
Unless the drive doesn't have any partitions on it, in which case it will not show up on any file explorer.
 
This is true Didou,
once a drive is partitioned properly, it will show in My Computer too. You will "see" an unpartitioned, unformatted hard drive in Disk Management, under Computer Management. Here you will be able to partition and format any drive that is recognized by the bios, as long as you can unmount the device first
 
Dear Starfire,
go to START, and on the word Control Panel, right-or opposite click your mouse. You should see a drop down menu. Select Manage, select Disk Management, scroll down the list until you see your mysterious hard drive. Right click on it, and select partition and format. After this is done, you should see the drive normally...

I can't be any clearer :confused:
 
The hard drive shows up in device manager, but not in Windows Explorer.
:giddy: :giddy: :giddy:

Here's an alternate set of instructions to do what tmagic has accurately described.

  • Click START
  • Click RUN
  • Type DISKMGMT.MSC
  • Click OK
  • Find your 30GB drive. Right click on it in the right window pane to bring up a context menu with options such as deleting, creating partitions, formatting etc.. If you have the option, create a partition. If there is already a partition, delete it and recreate it. Format it using NTFS.

Here's a nice guide with pictures:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/disk_management.htm

Please don't post again until you've used Disk Management to make an attempt at deleting, creating and formatting a new partition on your 30GB drive. But if you have problems along the way, we'll be glad to help you out... You just need to actually read our suggestions, try our suggestions and post the results if you're having problems. ;)
 
But if you have problems along the way, we'll be glad to help you out... You just need to actually read our suggestions, try our suggestions and post the results if you're having problems.

I was updating the person above who told me to check in device manager to see if it was showing up there. I have been reading the suggestions. I need to format this drive so it will work in my Playstation 2. It needs to be specially partitioned and formatted with some program. Do you know which one it is?
 
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