XP doesn't recognize second hard drive after fresh install

[Guest]

XP Pro SP2
I needed to do a fresh install on my primary hard drive. I made a backup on
my second hard drive. After completing the fresh install on my primary, XP
does not allow me to access the second hard drive. The drive is not visible
in "My Computer". Device manager sees the drive. Disk manager SEES the
drive, but when I right click on it to select a drive letter, EVERYTHING is
greyed out except for "DELETE PARTITION" and I *KNOW* I don't want to do
*THAT*.

How do I get XP to see the second hard drive so that I can restore my data
files?

Thx

 

[Guest]

Do you have the drives set on cable select or master /slave?

 

[nesredep egrob]

XP Pro SP2
I needed to do a fresh install on my primary hard drive. I made a backup on
my second hard drive. After completing the fresh install on my primary, XP
does not allow me to access the second hard drive. The drive is not visible
in "My Computer". Device manager sees the drive. Disk manager SEES the
drive, but when I right click on it to select a drive letter, EVERYTHING is
greyed out except for "DELETE PARTITION" and I *KNOW* I don't want to do
*THAT*.

How do I get XP to see the second hard drive so that I can restore my data
files?

Thx

To get anything working, you must have windows working. Use your CD to start
installing the program on the first disk. Backup cannot work without a system of
some kind.
It is not the same as making an Image of your previous first disk

Borge in sunny Perth, Australia

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. As mentioned in the original post, the second hard
drive *IS* seen by the OS. It shows up in both "device manager" and "disk
manager". The hardware settings are correct. Disk manager sees the drive
FINE and shows it as "Healthy/Active" but it doesn't show up in "My Computer"
as a drive. The option to assign it a drive letter in disk manager is greyed
out.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. I *DID* use my XP CD. That is what I meant when I
said I did a "fresh install" on my primary hard drive. I formatted and
partitioned and installed XP Pro SP2 on my primary. After that, I popped in
my second hard drive as usual (it is a "drive bay" hard drive for a laptop),
but XP does not see it as an accessable drive.

 

[Vincent Xu [MSFT]]

Hi,

Before we go any further, please let me know the following information:

1. This disk is new attached or already contains information?

2. What's the color of the disk shows in Disk management?

3. When you right click the disk, the optioin "new logical drive" is grayed
out, correct?

4. Open Disk Management and Right Click on the Disk 'X' headingand take
Properties. When the details box opens, click on theVolumes (TAB). Take a
screen shot to let me know the detailed information.

Thanks for your time.


Best regards,

Vincent Xu
Microsoft Online Partner Support

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[Guest]

Unfortunately, I was "under the gun" and had to proceed. The only way I was
able to get XP to recognize the secondary drive was to delete the partition,
format it, and start from scracth.

But to answer your question, the disk was NOT new. It contained my BACKUP!
Again, EVERYTHING was greyed out EXCEPT "Delete Partition" In my humble
opinion, an operating system that doesn't recognize the file system on a hard
drive that is SEEN by the BIOS *AND* it's own disk management tool, is not a
good operating system. What is the point of making a backup to a secondary
drive if the OS won't mount it after a fresh install. It just doesn't make
any sense.

Lucky for me, I don't trust ANYTHING having to do with computers and had
made backups over the network as well and was able to recover from them. But
frankly, I think Microsoft needs to come up with a solution to this problem.
I have researched this issue and I know for a fact this is a common problem.
Anyway, enough frustration for now.

Thanks for responding. If you know what the solution is, please post it so
I will know what to do the NEXT time this happens.

Regards,
Frank

 

[Vincent Xu [MSFT]]

Hi Frank,

I'm sorry to hear that you have to format the disk to make it work.

Normally, the secondary disk should show in Windows Explorer after the
first disk reinstalled.

Since you have wiped the disk, I think it is hard for us to track down this
issue. However, my suggestion is:

1, You can use diskpart to manage the secondary disk to see the results.
Please check following link:
<http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en
-us/diskpart.mspx?mfr=true>

2, If you encounter the problem next time, please take a screen shot of the
grayed out scenario to let us know the detailed information.

3, If possible, I suggest you create the seconedary disk as extend
partition.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Vincent Xu
Microsoft Online Partner Support

======================================================
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
======================================================
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others
may learn and benefit from this issue.
======================================================
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties,and confers no rights.
======================================================



--------------------

 

[kolapalli]

I am having the same problem. I was on win2k. Installed a seconday hard
drive (200GGB) and copied all my data. On my primary drive(80GB)
installed windows xp pro sp2. Now windows xp does not mount the
seconday drive. I can see it as healthy in disk management, diskpart
also recognizes the drive but windows won't assign a letter and mount
it.

Pls help.