locating external hard drive

[Aurora Stover]

This is a very basic question, but I'm a mac-user who's not very good with
PC's, let alone Vista, so here goes:

Long story short, I'm having trouble opening (?) an external hard drive.
It's not showing up under Computer where all the drives and removable disks
are listed, allowing you to open them and store things in them. I've
verified that it's turned on, recognized by the computer, and enabled.

[If you want the backstory, here it is:
I had to take the files on my external hard drive and temporarily store them
in a PC, and I had no trouble doing that because when I connected the drive
to the PC, it showed up, and I selected "open the folder" or something like
that, and just copied and pasted the contents to the PC's internal hard
drive. But now that I'm ready to transfer them back onto my external, I
can't locate it (i.e. it's not showing up under Computer where all the drives
and removable disks are listed). I know that the computer has recognized it,
because it shows up in Device Manager. I just need to be able to open as if
you're opening a folder so that I can put stuff back in it.]

Any instructions on how I can find this drive will be greatly appreciated.
I need to leave the country in two days with these contents on my external,
so it's really important that I figure this out soon.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Aurora Stover]

It seems that a lot of people have already written in the forums that you
need to partition, format, and assign a letter to the drive, but the thing
is, I didn't have to do any of that before. I was able to access the
external hard drive and it showed up under Computer.

 

[Aurora Stover]

And please tell me there are options besides formatting it, cos I have files

It seems that a lot of people have already written in the forums that you
need to partition, format, and assign a letter to the drive, but the thing
is, I didn't have to do any of that before. I was able to access the
external hard drive and it showed up under Computer.

This is a very basic question, but I'm a mac-user who's not very good with
PC's, let alone Vista, so here goes:

Long story short, I'm having trouble opening (?) an external hard drive.
It's not showing up under Computer where all the drives and removable disks
are listed, allowing you to open them and store things in them. I've
verified that it's turned on, recognized by the computer, and enabled.

[If you want the backstory, here it is:
I had to take the files on my external hard drive and temporarily store them
in a PC, and I had no trouble doing that because when I connected the drive
to the PC, it showed up, and I selected "open the folder" or something like
that, and just copied and pasted the contents to the PC's internal hard
drive. But now that I'm ready to transfer them back onto my external, I
can't locate it (i.e. it's not showing up under Computer where all the drives
and removable disks are listed). I know that the computer has recognized it,
because it shows up in Device Manager. I just need to be able to open as if
you're opening a folder so that I can put stuff back in it.]

Any instructions on how I can find this drive will be greatly appreciated.
I need to leave the country in two days with these contents on my external,
so it's really important that I figure this out soon.

Thanks a lot.

 

[RalfG]

You would only need to format a drive that had not already been prepared
beforehand, or a drive that has an existing format on it which is
incompatible with Windows. As you guessed, if you do format the drive it
will erase the current contents. I don't know what OS you were using the
drive with but AFAIK only FAT32 format is fully compatible with both MAC and
Windows (someone will correct me if I'm wrong) or Vista/XP and Win98/ME. If
you haven't changed the format of the external drive since you used it last
then it shouldn't be necessary to format it again.

Assuming it's a USB drive, try changing the port that the drive is connected
to. Try connecting and turning on the drive after the computer has booted.
Connect the drive directly to the computer, not through an external hub. If
the drive is USB powered make sure the auxiliary USB power cable is also
connected or if there isn't one that at least no other high-power USB
devices are connected to the same hub.

And please tell me there are options besides formatting it, cos I have
files

It seems that a lot of people have already written in the forums that you
need to partition, format, and assign a letter to the drive, but the
thing
is, I didn't have to do any of that before. I was able to access the
external hard drive and it showed up under Computer.

This is a very basic question, but I'm a mac-user who's not very good
with
PC's, let alone Vista, so here goes:

Long story short, I'm having trouble opening (?) an external hard
drive.
It's not showing up under Computer where all the drives and removable
disks
are listed, allowing you to open them and store things in them. I've
verified that it's turned on, recognized by the computer, and enabled.

[If you want the backstory, here it is:
I had to take the files on my external hard drive and temporarily store
them
in a PC, and I had no trouble doing that because when I connected the
drive
to the PC, it showed up, and I selected "open the folder" or something
like
that, and just copied and pasted the contents to the PC's internal hard
drive. But now that I'm ready to transfer them back onto my external,
I
can't locate it (i.e. it's not showing up under Computer where all the
drives
and removable disks are listed). I know that the computer has
recognized it,
because it shows up in Device Manager. I just need to be able to open
as if
you're opening a folder so that I can put stuff back in it.]

Any instructions on how I can find this drive will be greatly
appreciated.
I need to leave the country in two days with these contents on my
external,
so it's really important that I figure this out soon.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Aurora Stover]

Thanks for your response. I know what the problem is. It HAS been formatted
on my Mac. So now my question is, how do I format it on the PC?

By the way, it's USB2/IEEE and I currently have it connected via firewire.

You would only need to format a drive that had not already been prepared
beforehand, or a drive that has an existing format on it which is
incompatible with Windows. As you guessed, if you do format the drive it
will erase the current contents. I don't know what OS you were using the
drive with but AFAIK only FAT32 format is fully compatible with both MAC and
Windows (someone will correct me if I'm wrong) or Vista/XP and Win98/ME. If
you haven't changed the format of the external drive since you used it last
then it shouldn't be necessary to format it again.

Assuming it's a USB drive, try changing the port that the drive is connected
to. Try connecting and turning on the drive after the computer has booted.
Connect the drive directly to the computer, not through an external hub. If
the drive is USB powered make sure the auxiliary USB power cable is also
connected or if there isn't one that at least no other high-power USB
devices are connected to the same hub.

And please tell me there are options besides formatting it, cos I have
files

It seems that a lot of people have already written in the forums that you
need to partition, format, and assign a letter to the drive, but the
thing
is, I didn't have to do any of that before. I was able to access the
external hard drive and it showed up under Computer.

:

This is a very basic question, but I'm a mac-user who's not very good
with
PC's, let alone Vista, so here goes:

Long story short, I'm having trouble opening (?) an external hard
drive.
It's not showing up under Computer where all the drives and removable
disks
are listed, allowing you to open them and store things in them. I've
verified that it's turned on, recognized by the computer, and enabled.

[If you want the backstory, here it is:
I had to take the files on my external hard drive and temporarily store
them
in a PC, and I had no trouble doing that because when I connected the
drive
to the PC, it showed up, and I selected "open the folder" or something
like
that, and just copied and pasted the contents to the PC's internal hard
drive. But now that I'm ready to transfer them back onto my external,
I
can't locate it (i.e. it's not showing up under Computer where all the
drives
and removable disks are listed). I know that the computer has
recognized it,
because it shows up in Device Manager. I just need to be able to open
as if
you're opening a folder so that I can put stuff back in it.]

Any instructions on how I can find this drive will be greatly
appreciated.
I need to leave the country in two days with these contents on my
external,
so it's really important that I figure this out soon.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Aurora Stover]

(When I right-click on it in Disk Management, "format" is greyed out. If I
right-click on the left pane, everything is greyed out, on the middle pane,
everything except "delete volume" is greyed out, and on the right pane,
everything except "new simple volume" is greyed out.)

Thanks for your response. I know what the problem is. It HAS been formatted
on my Mac. So now my question is, how do I format it on the PC?

By the way, it's USB2/IEEE and I currently have it connected via firewire.

You would only need to format a drive that had not already been prepared
beforehand, or a drive that has an existing format on it which is
incompatible with Windows. As you guessed, if you do format the drive it
will erase the current contents. I don't know what OS you were using the
drive with but AFAIK only FAT32 format is fully compatible with both MAC and
Windows (someone will correct me if I'm wrong) or Vista/XP and Win98/ME. If
you haven't changed the format of the external drive since you used it last
then it shouldn't be necessary to format it again.

Assuming it's a USB drive, try changing the port that the drive is connected
to. Try connecting and turning on the drive after the computer has booted.
Connect the drive directly to the computer, not through an external hub. If
the drive is USB powered make sure the auxiliary USB power cable is also
connected or if there isn't one that at least no other high-power USB
devices are connected to the same hub.

And please tell me there are options besides formatting it, cos I have
files
on it...

:

It seems that a lot of people have already written in the forums that you
need to partition, format, and assign a letter to the drive, but the
thing
is, I didn't have to do any of that before. I was able to access the
external hard drive and it showed up under Computer.

:

This is a very basic question, but I'm a mac-user who's not very good
with
PC's, let alone Vista, so here goes:

Long story short, I'm having trouble opening (?) an external hard
drive.
It's not showing up under Computer where all the drives and removable
disks
are listed, allowing you to open them and store things in them. I've
verified that it's turned on, recognized by the computer, and enabled.

[If you want the backstory, here it is:
I had to take the files on my external hard drive and temporarily store
them
in a PC, and I had no trouble doing that because when I connected the
drive
to the PC, it showed up, and I selected "open the folder" or something
like
that, and just copied and pasted the contents to the PC's internal hard
drive. But now that I'm ready to transfer them back onto my external,
I
can't locate it (i.e. it's not showing up under Computer where all the
drives
and removable disks are listed). I know that the computer has
recognized it,
because it shows up in Device Manager. I just need to be able to open
as if
you're opening a folder so that I can put stuff back in it.]

Any instructions on how I can find this drive will be greatly
appreciated.
I need to leave the country in two days with these contents on my
external,
so it's really important that I figure this out soon.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Choose "delete volume" and then you can create a new volume, assign a
letter, and format it.

(When I right-click on it in Disk Management, "format" is greyed out. If
I
right-click on the left pane, everything is greyed out, on the middle
pane,
everything except "delete volume" is greyed out, and on the right pane,
everything except "new simple volume" is greyed out.)

Thanks for your response. I know what the problem is. It HAS been
formatted
on my Mac. So now my question is, how do I format it on the PC?

By the way, it's USB2/IEEE and I currently have it connected via
firewire.

You would only need to format a drive that had not already been
prepared
beforehand, or a drive that has an existing format on it which is
incompatible with Windows. As you guessed, if you do format the drive
it
will erase the current contents. I don't know what OS you were using
the
drive with but AFAIK only FAT32 format is fully compatible with both
MAC and
Windows (someone will correct me if I'm wrong) or Vista/XP and
Win98/ME. If
you haven't changed the format of the external drive since you used it
last
then it shouldn't be necessary to format it again.

Assuming it's a USB drive, try changing the port that the drive is
connected
to. Try connecting and turning on the drive after the computer has
booted.
Connect the drive directly to the computer, not through an external
hub. If
the drive is USB powered make sure the auxiliary USB power cable is
also
connected or if there isn't one that at least no other high-power USB
devices are connected to the same hub.

message
And please tell me there are options besides formatting it, cos I
have
files
on it...

:

It seems that a lot of people have already written in the forums
that you
need to partition, format, and assign a letter to the drive, but the
thing
is, I didn't have to do any of that before. I was able to access
the
external hard drive and it showed up under Computer.

:

This is a very basic question, but I'm a mac-user who's not very
good
with
PC's, let alone Vista, so here goes:

Long story short, I'm having trouble opening (?) an external hard
drive.
It's not showing up under Computer where all the drives and
removable
disks
are listed, allowing you to open them and store things in them.
I've
verified that it's turned on, recognized by the computer, and
enabled.

[If you want the backstory, here it is:
I had to take the files on my external hard drive and temporarily
store
them
in a PC, and I had no trouble doing that because when I connected
the
drive
to the PC, it showed up, and I selected "open the folder" or
something
like
that, and just copied and pasted the contents to the PC's internal
hard
drive. But now that I'm ready to transfer them back onto my
external,
I
can't locate it (i.e. it's not showing up under Computer where all
the
drives
and removable disks are listed). I know that the computer has
recognized it,
because it shows up in Device Manager. I just need to be able to
open
as if
you're opening a folder so that I can put stuff back in it.]

Any instructions on how I can find this drive will be greatly
appreciated.
I need to leave the country in two days with these contents on my
external,
so it's really important that I figure this out soon.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Aurora Stover]

Thanks. That worked.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

You're welcome.

Thanks. That worked.