Hard drive - Cant access it - why?

[John Smith]

Advice appreciated.
In brief - 500GB Maxtor External Hard drive plugged into Windows 7 pc - can
read what's on the drive ok. When plugged into an XP pc however can't access
it. How to be able to access it on an xp pc?

More info..it belongs to a mate of mine. Its in my possession now, however,
to try to sort it.
A clue as to how it got like it is...friend uses it with his xp pc. A few
weeks ago he said it presented with do you want to format the drive, he said
yes (don't ask!)..it whirred away for a couple hours he said then stopped.
He switched it on and couldn't access anything and assumed he'd wiped the
lot. He now can't access it from his xp pc. It seems he has lost much of the
content but still some untouched, and, as I say accessible via my w7 pc but
not my xp pc.
When I plug it into my xp pc an icon is shown in My Computer but when
clicking to open it, it displays...drive E is not formatted, do you want to
format it now?..
It also shows in Disc Management as E partition basic healthy capacity
127gb, free space 117gb, then graphically as disc 1 basic on-line and as E
is split into three bits - 104gb unallocated, 811gb! healthy and 259gb
healthy (unknown partition).
It also shows in Device Manager - shows up ok there as Maxtor Basics Desktop
USB Device and says the device is working properly.
So, question 1 is How to view the contents of the EHDrive on the xp pc?...
....and question 2, once the above is resolved, is there any chance friend
will be able to once again access the stuff that has disappeared when he
formatted 3/4 of the drive?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Andrew E.]

If it shows in diskmgmt.msc,L.click on the drive,go to actions,all,click on
"make active" if present.You should be able to access the hd now.Also,to
eliminate the other partitions,boot pc to xp cd,press r key at menu
(recovery
console),select 1 for C: press enter key for password,type: DiskPart
In DiskPart,delete the partitions,create one,press ESC key,type:
FORMAT E: /FS:NTFS type:EXIT When thru,or exit after ESC & format in XP.

 

[John Smith]

First

attach it to the machine that can read it ok
and back up all needed data.

Once you have everything backed up

you can remove the drive from the enclosure and install it internally
to find out if the drive has a problem...or if the electronics in the
enclosure are bad

But it wouldn't run ok on the w7 pc.

maye also want to run the mfg's HD diagnostic

thats an idea I'll get in touch with Maxtor

 

[smlunatick]

But it wouldn't run ok on the w7 pc.




thats an idea I'll get in touch with Maxtor

Maxtor was bought out by Seagate.