Cannot see Harddrive letter of disk

[Karl]

I wonder whether any of you might have a clue how to fix this problem.


I have the following "drives"
C: 9.4 GB OS WINXP
D: CD ROM
E: Seagate 10.2 GB
F: Lite-on Burner
G: Cardreader
H: Applications (Partioned, part of WD 80 GB. C and H drives)
I: Hitachi External Harddrive 82.3 GB

Under Explore I see all EXCEPT the external I drive. I know it is
there because it shows up under Admin. tasks, Comp. Mgt., Disk Mgt..

The drive shows as drive I and healthy. The drive is formatted and in
Quicken I can backup to drive.

It is just that I cannot see the drive and contents in My Computer or
Explore. OS is Windows XP Home edition

Thanks for anyone's help in this perplexing problem.

 

[R. McCarty]

If you have used Tweak-UI, it is possible to mask out
certain drive letters. If you don't have Tweak-UI you
can download the SP1 version at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...c8-8b63-4c03-8986-d7f45a6aa1fa&DisplayLang=en
Run the program, Expand the My Computer category
and then expand Drives. If Drive I is not checked then
the drive is being hidden.

 

[Karl]

I downloaded the file TweakPowerToys and all went fine. But when I tried to
install I got this message:

"The procedure entry point GetDLLDirectoryW could not be located in the
dynamic link library Kernel32.dll"

I have used PowerToys before and never had a problem, but this stumps me.

Any ideas?

 

[R. McCarty]

As I stated in the earlier post, the link for Tweak_UI is for SP1.
If you don't have SP1 installed, you will need to uninstall Tweak-UI
and go to Microsoft's web and locate the pre-SP1 version.

 

[Karl]

Excellent advice. I downloaded and installed SP1 for XP and was able to now
also install MS PowerToys. Thanks.

But other than in Disk Mgt. I cannot see my 80 GB Hitachi external drive. In
Disk Mgt. I can see it and it says healthy.

I can also backup my Quicken to it. So it works, but I cannot see anywhere
the contents.

What causes this?

 

[Hagar]

Excellent advice. I downloaded and installed SP1 for XP and was able to now
also install MS PowerToys. Thanks.

But other than in Disk Mgt. I cannot see my 80 GB Hitachi external drive. In
Disk Mgt. I can see it and it says healthy.

I can also backup my Quicken to it. So it works, but I cannot see anywhere
the contents.

If you have another disk manager, like TotalCommander, try that.
Alternatively, try doing a directory of the drive in a DOS
window.
If those work, your problem is with windows explorer (NOT
internet explorer)
Sometimes restarting windows explorer works, and sometimes
typing the drive letter in the address bar works. In the latter
case, though, windows explorer will claim that long file names
are not supported on that drive.

What causes this?
this stumps
me.
ht
tp://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=afa135c8-
8b63-4c03-8986-d7f45a6aa1fa&DisplayLang=en fix this
problem. formatted and
in My Computer
or

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The original sender is unknown. Any address shown in the From header
is unverified.

 

[Karl]

I have to correct myself. I said I could see the external drive I: in Disk
Mgt. That was true under Windows XP BEFORE I installed SP1. Now after SP1 I
do not see it there either.

It is connected via USB, Firewire. I tried different cables, no change.

I will go and buy another USB (not Firewire cable) and try that.

This is most perplexing and has never happened before. I had this drive
before as external drive and it worked fine. It is only after installing
WINXP anew, that I run into this problem. I have even re-installed WINXP and
still it does not see the drive.

But it is humming all along fine.

 

[R. McCarty]

Are you sure you do not have "Phantoms" present that are
masking out this external drive ?

Un-Plug the non-functioning Peripheral.

Device Manager, View - Tic "Show Hidden Devices"
Check categories USB, Disk Drives - Uninstall any devices
that are shown grayed out (Lighter shade devices that are
present.)

Reboot PC and then re-plug the USB device.

 

[Karl]

I got it working finally.

I had to switch USB cables around ( why this works is beyond me) but I can
finally see all.

Karl