Unable to mount XP Drive via USB External Drive

[Charley Jones]

I have an USB External Drive that mounts FAT and NTFS
Drives (Pre XP) correctly. I've noticed that Windows XP
drives do not mount properly using USB. In disk manager,
I can see the disk, but can't mount it or do much else
with it. As far as I know, the xp drive is not encrypted
and works fine the host computer. Any advice?

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Upon plugging the external drive into the computer, it should just add
it to My Computer as an external drive. You shouldn't have to do
anything else. And what do you mean by it works fine the host computer?
Do you mean it plugs in and works in a different computer, but not
this one?

 

[Guest]

Nathan,
Thanks for your reply.

No, it does not register in My Computer,
But it does show up on My Computer | Manage | Disk Manager.
No drive letter is assigned,
But otherwise the drive is healthy.
You can select the drive, in DM,
But can't do much other than format.
You cannot assign a drive letter.
The task here is to remove existing information from the drive,
BEFORE formatting.

This is an XP system drive from another computer.
If you return the drive to the original computer,
It will boot fine and read fine, in that computer.

I have experienced this problem with 3 XP system drives so far,
FAT, and 2000 NTFS volumes seems to mount fine,
I've been unable to mount an XP NTFS drive to date.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

There are a couple things you may need to do. First off, in Disk
Management, is it possible to import the drive as a foreign drive?
Second, if the drive is formatted NTFS, it can prevent others from
seeing its contents as a security measure. Here is a guideline on how
to take ownership or at least add your SID so you can view/modify
contents on the NTFS volume:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;823306

If this method does not work, try giving permission to all on the
computer that does work.